CNN – Asia/Pacific

CNN By Nectar Gan, CNN The Chinese metropolis of Chongqing has rolled out mass Covid testing in its central area amid a record heat wave, leaving millions of residents standing under the sun for hours as they struggle with extreme temperatures and power shortages. Stringent zero-Covid measures enacted by the southwestern mega city to contain

By Gawon Bae, Paula Hancocks and Tara Subramaniam, CNN Two weeks after North Korea declared victory over the coronavirus, the country has reported four suspected cases in a province near its border with China. The area where the suspected cases were found was “immediately locked down,” state news agency KCNA reported Tuesday. Citing the country’s

By Kocha Olarn and Kathleen Magramo, CNN Thailand‘s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has temporarily stepped aside as the country’s leader but remains its defense minister, according to a government spokesman. The unusual leadership reshuffle follows a ruling by the Constitutional Court of Thailand on Wednesday, which ordered Prayut to stand aside while it considers if

By Nectar Gan, CNN The Chinese metropolis of Chongqing has rolled out mass Covid testing in its central area amid a record heat wave, leaving millions of residents standing under the sun for hours as they struggle with extreme temperatures and power shortages. Stringent zero-Covid measures enacted by the southwestern mega city to contain an

By Simone McCarthy, CNN It’s been four years since a committee of United Nations experts called attention to “credible reports” that more than 1 million Uyghur and other Muslim minority peoples were interned in extrajudicial camps in Xinjiang in northwestern China for “re-education” and indoctrination. But since that moment in August 2018, the international community

By Sophia Saifi, Bonnie Turner and Tara John, CNN At least 903 people have died in Pakistan from severe rains and flooding this summer, as the country sees its eighth cycle of monsoon rains, Pakistan’s Minister for Climate Change told CNN Wednesday as the country appealed for international assistance. Thousands have no shelter and food

By Reuters India’s Supreme Court will hold a hearing on a petition challenging the release last week of 11 Hindu men convicted of the gang rape of a pregnant Muslim woman during Hindu-Muslim riots in 2002 in the western state of Gujarat. Dozens of women in Mumbai protested on Tuesday against their release and carried

By Heather Chen and Ivana Kottasová, CNN Malaysia’s former prime minister will be sent to prison for his role in the multi-billion-dollar 1MDB scandal after a court in Kuala Lumpur rejected his final appeal on Tuesday. Najib Razak, who served as Malaysia’s PM from 2009 to 2018, was found guilty of money laundering, abuse of

By Tara Subramaniam, Masoud Popalzai and Alex Stambaugh, CNN Flash flooding has killed at least 95 people, injured hundreds of others and swept away thousands of homes in Afghanistan, authorities in the crisis-hit country said Tuesday. The deaths occurred across 10 provinces over the past 10 days, authorities said, as the country reels from an

By Shawn Deng, Simone McCarthy and CNN’s Beijing bureau Thousands of emergency responders are battling to contain fast-spreading wildfires in China’s southwestern city of Chongqing amid a weeks-long, record heat wave in the region. The fires, which have been visible at night from parts of the downtown area, have swept forests and mountains around the

By Kathleen Magramo, CNN A tropical storm forced schools to close across the northern Philippines on Tuesday — just one day after in-person learning had resumed following one of the world’s longest pandemic-related shutdowns. Severe Tropical Storm Ma On — known as Florita in the Philippines — made landfall in Maconacon, Isabela province at 10:30

By Swati Gupta, CNN and Reuters At least 32 people have died since Friday in flash flooding and landslides triggered by heavy monsoonal rains in two of India’s northern states. The rainfall has overwhelmed villages, sweeping away houses and leaving residents stranded as rescue crews race to evacuate survivors. Twenty-seven were killed in the Himalayan

By Tara Subramaniam, CNN Australian Federal Police say they’ve seized more than 5 million doses of fentanyl, the largest shipment of the opioid the country has ever seen. Police said the drugs were hidden in an industrial machine, known as a lathe, that arrived at the Port of Melbourne in December 2021 from Canada. But

By Gawon Bae and Kathleen Magramo, CNN A woman believed to be the mother of two children whose remains were found in suitcases in New Zealand earlier this month is in South Korea, a Seoul police official told CNN on Monday. The official said the woman, a New Zealand citizen, arrived in South Korea in

By Sophia Saifi and Rhea Mogul, CNN Pakistani authorities are investigating whether former prime minister Imran Khan violated anti-terror laws and have banned him from speaking live on television, in moves likely to inflame tensions between Khan, who maintains mass popular support, and the coalition government. According to police documents seen by CNN, police opened

CNN By Eric Cheung, Gladys Tsai and Blake Essig, CNN For the last 18 years, Li Meng-han and his family have grown pomelos in a rural town near the southern Taiwanese city of Tainan. Taiwanese pomelos, known for their juiciness and softness, are highly popular on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, especially during the

By Eric Cheung, Gladys Tsai and Blake Essig, CNN For the last 18 years, Li Meng-han and his family have grown pomelos in a rural town near the southern Taiwanese city of Tainan. Taiwanese pomelos, known for their juiciness and softness, are highly popular on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, especially during the Mid-Autumn

By Heather Chen, Wayne Chang and Tara John, CNN Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Sunday said the country will repeal the colonial-era Section 377A of Singapore’s Penal Code, thereby decriminalizing gay sex in Singapore, but added that same-sex marriage will continue to be illegal in the city-state. “Sex between consenting men should not