CNN – Asia/Pacific

By Kocha Olarn and Helen Regan, CNN Firefighters in central Thailand have spent days battling a wildfire that has engulfed two mountains and part of a forest park. The fire started at the Khao Chaplu mountain in Nakhon Nayok province, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Bangkok. Authorities said the blaze ignited during a

By Kathleen Magramo, CNN At least 29 people were killed Wednesday night after an inter-island ferry caught fire in the southern Philippines, with many of the 250 passengers jumping overboard into dark waters trying to escape the blaze, authorities said. The Philippine Coast Guard said Thursday that search and rescue efforts are ongoing after the

By Simone McCarthy, CNN Taiwan’s relationship with the United States has “never been closer,” its President Tsai Ing-wen said after arriving in New York City Wednesday, as Beijing warned her visit could lead to “serious confrontation” between China and the US. Taiwan faced “tremendous challenges,” Tsai said from the city, where she is making the

By Riley Zhang and Jessie Yeung, CNN Valery Gergiev, the star Russian conductor fired in Germany last year for his refusal to condemn the invasion of Ukraine, was given a warm welcome in China this week as he started a three-day performance at the country’s top art center. “It is like coming home,” Gergiev said

By Simone McCarthy Taiwan has every right to “connect with the world,” its President Tsai Ing-wen declared Wednesday as she embarked on a diplomatic mission to Central America, which will include transit in the United States — and has already been condemned by China. Tsai departed Taiwan on Wednesday for a 10-day trip in which

By Nectar Gan, CNN For 12 years, Program Think, an anonymous Chinese blogger, mounted an open challenge to China’s tightening authoritarian grip and expanding surveillance state. The freewheeling blog offered a mixture of technical cybersecurity advice and scathing political commentary — including tips on how to safely circumvent China’s Great Firewall of internet censorship, develop

By Shafi Kakar, Hande Atay Alam and Helen Regan, CNN A prominent activist for girls’ education in Afghanistan was arrested by the Taliban on Monday, according to an official, the latest step in its repressive clampdown on the rights of Afghan women. Matiullah Wesa, 30, is well known for his activism and is the founder

By Brad Lendon, Paula Hancocks and Yoonjung Seo, CNN North Korea has been building up a ballistic missile arsenal on the stated premise that it needs to deter an attack on it by United States and South Korean forces. Washington and Seoul have been showing their firepower through an increasing number of exercises, all of

By Chris Lau, CNN Wearing numbered lanyards, a small group of 80 demonstrators took part in Hong Kong‘s first authorized protest in three years on Sunday — a carefully choreographed event that campaigners say offers a chilling insight into the future of protest in the city. Numbers were capped at 100, and during the hour-long

By Tara Subramaniam and Manveena Suri, CNN A Namibian cheetah relocated to India last year as part of plans to reintroduce the species on the subcontinent died on Monday from a kidney infection, according to Namibia’s Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF). The deceased cheetah, named Sasha, was one of eight brought from Namibia to India’s Kuno

By Tara Subramaniam, CNN Russia’s Pacific Fleet fired a pair of supersonic missiles at a mock target in waters off Japan’s coast on Tuesday morning, the Russian Ministry of Defense said. “A team of two missile boats carried out a joint missile strike against a sea shield simulating a simulated enemy warship,” the ministry said

By Rhea Mogul, CNN Myanmar’s ruling military paraded an arsenal of weapons in the capital Naypyidaw on Monday, in a grand display of force days after the United States imposed fresh sanctions against the junta for inflicting “pain and suffering on the people of Burma.” The array of equipment — ranging from rocket launchers to

By Chris Lau, CNN A child riding on his father’s shoulders smiles as they stroll through a park lined with yellow autumn-touched leaves — that is the typical image of a Japanese “ikumen”. The term strings together the Japanese words ikuji, meaning care for children, and ikemen, referring to cool-looking men. Japanese authorities have widely

By Eric Cheung, CNN Honduras has formally established diplomatic ties with China and severed them with Taiwan, ending a decades-long relationship and dealing a blow to the self-ruled island democracy in its struggle for recognition. “The government of the Republic of Honduras recognizes the existence of one China in the world and that the government

By Brad Lendon, CNN A day after China said it drove a US Navy destroyer away from Beijing-claimed waters in the South China Sea, the US 7th Fleet said the same warship sailed through those waters to challenge the Chinese claims. The “guided-missile destroyer USS Milius asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the South China

By Yoonjung Seo and Chris Lau, CNN A male zebra broke loose in South Korea’s capital on Thursday, trotting down busy roads and back alleys for hours before being tranquilized and returned to a zoo. Videos on social media showed 3-year-old Sero galloping through the Gwangjin district of Seoul amid heavy traffic, strolling down narrow

By Brad Lendon and Yoonjung Seo, CNN North Korea on Friday claimed to have tested an underwater drone capable of carrying a nuclear warhead that could create a “radioactive tsunami,” however, analysts urged skepticism noting a lack of proof. A report from the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the drone, called the “Unmanned

By Yoonjung Seo, Andrew Raine and Gawon Bae, CNN Extrajudicial executions, rape, forced abortions, jail without trial, torture, starvation rations that leave prisoners so hungry some turn to eating insects. These are just some of the abuses commonplace in North Korean prisons and other detention facilities, according to former detainees whose testimony forms the basis