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CNN – Asia/Pacific

An Afghan soldier walks through a field of poppies during an eradication campaign in Kandahar province's Maiwand district in 2005.

Afghanistan is the world’s opium king. Can the Taliban afford to kill off their ‘un-Islamic’ cash cow?

By Kara Fox, CNN When the khaki-colored landscapes of Afghanistan are transformed by a patchwork of pink, white and purple each spring, farmers rejoice. Their cash crop of poppies is ready for harvesting. Opium cultivation has long been a source of income for rural communities across the country, a land besieged by decades of war.

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A Chinese PLA J-16 fighter jet flies in an undisclosed location on an undisclosed date in a photo from Taiwan's Defense Ministry.

Taiwan says China is a ‘bully’ after one of the largest PLA warplane incursions yet

By Eric Cheung and Brad Lendon, CNN Taiwan on Thursday accused China of “bullying” after Beijing sent a total of 24 warplanes into its air defense identification zone (ADIZ), the third-largest incursion in the past two years of heightened tensions between Beijing and Taipei. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including bombers, fighter jets, anti-submarine

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Passengers scan an app to monitor their health status before boarding a yacht in Langkawi

Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam are leaving their zero-Covid policies behind, but they aren’t ready to open up, experts warn

By Jessie Yeung and Ben Westcott, CNN After months of lockdown, parts of Southeast Asia are leaving behind their “zero-Covid” policy and charting a path toward living with the virus — despite experts’ warnings that it may be too early to do so. Covid-19 swept across the region this summer, fueled by the highly infectious

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