CNN – Asia/Pacific

By Masrur Jamaluddin, Heather Chen and Angus Watson, CNN Indonesian lawmakers unanimously passed a sweeping new criminal code on Tuesday that criminalizes sex outside marriage, as part of a tranche of changes that critics say threaten human rights and freedoms in the Southeast Asian country. The new code, which also applies to foreign residents and

By Masrur Jamaluddin and Kareem El Damanhoury, CNN Indonesia’s Mount Semeru erupted on Sunday, blanketing roads and homes in volcanic ash and prompting evacuations of nearly 2,000 residents in East Java province, according to authorities in the country. A statement Sunday from Indonesia’s disaster management agency (BNPB) said no injuries or deaths have so far

By Masrur Jamaluddin and Manveena Suri, CNN An earthquake of 6.1 magnitude hit Indonesia’s West Java province on Saturday, the country’s geophysics agency BMKG said. According to the BMKG, the epicenter of the earthquake was on land and there is no potential for a tsunami. One person was injured while four houses and a school

CNN, TWITTER, DOUYIN, WECHAT By Xiaofei Xu, Steven Jiang and Rob Picheta, CNN Chinese President Xi Jinping has acknowledged the frustration within China amid his government’s unrelenting zero-Covid strategy, a European Union official told CNN, in his first known remarks on the protests that have erupted across the country in recent days. Xi told visiting

By Xiaofei Xu, Steven Jiang and Rob Picheta, CNN Chinese President Xi Jinping has acknowledged the frustration within China amid his government’s unrelenting zero-Covid strategy, a European Union official told CNN, in his first known remarks on the protests that have erupted across the country in recent days. Xi told visiting European Council President Charles

By Nectar Gan and Yong Xiong, CNN Chinese authorities are using cellphone data to track down protesters who demonstrated against the government’s stringent Covid restrictions in Beijing, according to a recording of a phone call between a protester and police heard by CNN. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered along Beijing’s Liangma River on Sunday night, calling

By Rebecca Wright, Ivan Watson and Enwer Erdem, CNN For more than five years, Sharapat Mohamad Ali and her brother Mohamad had been unable to contact their family in far western China, where the government has been accused of incarcerating up to 2 million Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities in internment camps. They believe

By Jessie Yeung, Tara Subramaniam and CNN’s Beijing bureau After unprecedented protests swept China, several cities have taken steps to ease some Covid-19 restrictions and a top official has signaled a softer approach to virus controls — leading to speculation that an end to zero-Covid may be in sight. China’s most senior official in charge

By Wayne Chang and Xiaofei Xu, CNN China’s most senior official in charge of its Covid response told health officials Wednesday that the country faced a “new stage and mission” in pandemic controls, state media Xinhua reported — potentially indicating an adjustment to Beijing’s “zero-Covid” strategy which has sparked days of nationwide protests. “With the

By Steven Jiang, CNN Jiang Zemin, the Chinese communist leader who paved the way for the country’s emergence as a global superpower, has died, state-run Xinhua news agency announced Wednesday. He was 96. The former chief of the ruling Communist Party and state president died of leukemia and associated multiple organ failure on Wednesday in

By Kathleen Magramo, CNN A mother of two children whose remains were found in suitcases earlier this year appeared in a New Zealand court Wednesday charged with their murders. The woman, 42, was remanded in custody by the Manukau District Court in Auckland, CNN affiliate Radio New Zealand reported. The court ordered her identity and

By Nectar Gan and Philip Wang, CNN China’s vast security apparatus has moved swiftly to smother mass protests that swept the country, with police patrolling streets, checking cell phones and even calling some demonstrators to warn them against a repeat. In major cities on Monday and Tuesday, police flooded the sites of protests that took

By Simone McCarthy and Wayne Chang, CNN China’s top health officials have pledged to rectify Covid-19 control measures to reduce their impact on people’s lives, while deflecting blame for public frustration away from the policy itself, in their first press briefing since protests erupted against the government’s stringent zero-Covid policy over the weekend. Lockdowns to

CNN By Brad Lendon, CNN The United States and Chinese militaries exchanged harsh words Tuesday after a US Navy warship performed the first freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) in the South China Sea since the leaders of the two powers met earlier this month in an attempt to ease tensions. In a statement, the Chinese

By Brad Lendon, CNN The United States and Chinese militaries exchanged harsh words Tuesday after a US Navy warship performed the first freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) in the South China Sea since the leaders of the two powers met earlier this month in an attempt to ease tensions. In a statement, the Chinese military

By Kathleen Magramo and Wayne Chang, CNN Hong Kong’s leader said he’ll ask Beijing to determine whether foreign lawyers can work on national security cases in the city, a move with repercussions for the upcoming trial of jailed pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai. The announcement came Monday, hours after the Court of Final Appeal (CFA),