CNN – Asia/Pacific

By Wayne Chang, Rhea Mogul and Jessie Yeung, CNN A Hong Kong court on Saturday sentenced jailed media mogul Jimmy Lai to five years and nine months in prison for fraud, in the latest legal challenge against the pro-democracy tycoon. Lai was found to have breached the terms of lease for the headquarters of his

By Nectar Gan, Yong Xiong and Selina Wang, CNN The unprecedented protests that swept China late last month, posing the biggest challenge to leader Xi Jinping’s authority since he came to power, had a peculiar focal point: a Chinese Twitter account with a cat avatar. As people took to the streets to call for greater

By Brad Lendon, CNN The United Kingdom, Japan and Italy announced Friday they are teaming up to build a sixth-generation fighter jet, designed to rival or eclipse the best warplanes now employed by the likes of China and Russia — and possibly even the United States, the main ally of the trio. “We are announcing

By Jessie Yeung and Yoonjung Seo, CNN South Koreans are about to get a year or two younger, thanks to a new law passed on Thursday that aims to standardize how age is calculated in the country. At present it’s common for South Koreans to have not just one age, but three — an “international

By Simone McCarthy and Cheng Cheng, CNN Workers across China have dismantled some of the physical signs of the country’s zero-Covid controls, peeling health code scanning signs off metro station walls and closing some checkpoints after the government unveiled an overhaul of its pandemic policy. But as many residents expressed relief and happiness at the

By Sahar Akbarzai, CNN The Taliban on Wednesday put an alleged murderer to death in the first public execution held in Afghanistan since the Islamist group returned to power. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the man was shot three times by the father of his alleged victim in an execution attended by senior Taliban officials

By Kathleen Magramo, CNN A critically-ill six-month-old baby will be placed under the temporary guardianship of New Zealand’s High Court after his parents refused to allow him to undergo lifesaving heart surgery using blood from people vaccinated against Covid-19. Handing down the judgment on Wednesday, Justice Ian Gault ruled that the boy, who cannot be

By Jessie Yeung and CNN’s Beijing bureau China announced sweeping changes to its national pandemic response on Wednesday, the clearest and most significant sign yet that the central government is moving away from its strict zero-Covid approach that prompted protests across the country. In a statement reported by state broadcaster CCTV, China’s State Council unveiled

By Yoonjung Seo, Sophie Jeong and Jessie Yeung, CNN Two former police officers were arrested in South Korea on Monday, accused of destroying evidence relating to the deadly Halloween crowd crush in Seoul, according to authorities in the country. The arrests of former intelligence officers Park Sung-min of the Seoul Metropolitan Government and Kim Jin-ho

By Nectar Gan, CNN China’s Xi Jinping on Tuesday called on the country to unite around his leadership as he addressed a memorial service for former leader Jiang Zemin, following an unprecedented show of dissent over his zero-Covid policy and authoritarian rule. At the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Xi led hundreds of

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