CNN – Asia/Pacific

By Kathleen Magramo, CNN Singapore on Thursday executed two men for drug trafficking, ignoring pleas for mercy from human rights campaigners who fear “a new wave” of hangings in the Asian city state notorious for its strict drugs laws. Singaporean Norasharee bin Gous, 48, and Malaysian national Kalwant Singh, 31, had their capital sentences carried

By Nectar Gan and Shawn Deng, CNN China’s northwestern city of Xi’an, home to 13 million people, was partially shut down on Wednesday after it reported the country’s first outbreak of a highly transmissible new Omicron subvariant that is fast dominating the United States and Europe. The city recorded 18 Covid infections from Saturday to

By Jessie Yeung and Gawon Bae, CNN South Korea, one of the world’s most fossil fuel-reliant economies, is re-embracing nuclear energy, with the government announcing Tuesday it will restart construction on two nuclear reactors and extend the life of those already in operation. By 2030, the Energy Ministry wants nuclear to make up at least

By Brad Lendon and Gawon Bae, CNN Top-of-the-line F-35 stealth fighter jets from the United States and South Korea are teaming up for the first time in a 10-day exercise meant to send a message to North Korea. Six US Air Force F-35As from Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska arrived in South Korea on

Story by Reuters North Korea appears to have released water from a dam near its border with South Korea, prompting vacationers in the neighbouring country to evacuate due to rising water levels on the Imjin River, officials said Tuesday. The water level at a bridge on the river in the South’s border county of Yeoncheon

By Iqbal Athas, Chris Liakos, Rhea Mogul and Daniela Gonzalez-Roman CNN Sri Lanka is “bankrupt,” Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said Tuesday, as the country suffers its worst financial crisis in decades, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicine and fuel. Wickremesinghe told lawmakers that negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to revive the country’s

By Yong Xiong, Hannah Ritchie and Nectar Gan, CNN A massive online database apparently containing the personal information of up to one billion Chinese citizens was left unsecured and publicly accessible for more than a year — until an anonymous user in a hacker forum offered to sell the data and brought it to wider

By Jessie Yeung and Gawon Bae, CNN As employees return to the office in South Korea, so does gapjil — the country’s longstanding problem of toxic workplace culture. Nearly 30% of Korean office workers have experienced some form of workplace harassment in the past year, according to an online survey in June of 1,000 respondents

By Heather Chen, CNN China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has called on Myanmar’s junta leaders to talk to their opponents amid concerns over escalating violence and deteriorating human rights in the Southeast Asian country. Wang is in Myanmar for his first visit since the junta overthrew the democratically elected government of Aung San Su Kyi

By Kathleen Magramo and Lauren Lau, CNN A rescue team from mainland China saved a crew member of a ship that broke in half and sank during Typhoon Chaba in the early hours of Monday morning — just hours after their counterparts in Hong Kong said a “miracle” would be needed to find any more

By Wayne Chang and Ivana Kottasová, CNN A Hong Kong lawmaker who was photographed standing close to Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier this week announced Sunday he had tested positive for Covid-19. Steve Ho Chun-Yin said he tested negative on Thursday when he attended the photo session during the celebrations marking the 25th anniversary of

Story by Reuters North Korea has criticized an agreement between the United States, South Korea and Japan to strengthen military cooperation — claiming it is part of a US plan to create a military alliance like NATO in the region. North Korea’s foreign ministry spokesperson said as much to a question put by KCNA, the