CNN – Asia/Pacific

By Ben Westcott, CNN A typhoon headed toward Taiwan and the southern coast of China is rapidly gaining in speed and strength ahead of an expected landfall later this week. Typhoon Chanthu has rapidly intensified in the past 36 hours from a tropical depression into a severe typhoon, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center,

By Jessie Yeung and Eric Cheung, CNN Four activists from the Hong Kong pro-democracy group that organizes the city’s annual Tiananmen Square vigil were arrested early Wednesday morning, after the group refused to comply with a police order to submit information on national security grounds. Police had sought details concerning the group’s funding and membership

By Tim Lister and Eliza Mackintosh, CNN The Taliban on Tuesday announced the formation of a hardline interim government for Afghanistan, filling top posts with veterans of the militant group who oversaw the 20-year fight against the US-led military coalition. No women or members from Afghanistan’s ousted leadership were selected for acting cabinet positions or

By Jake Kwon, Tim Lister, Lauren Said-Moorhouse, Gianluca Mezzofiore and Celine Alkhaldi, CNN The Taliban used gunfire, detentions and beatings to crush dissent over their rule on Tuesday, as scores of Afghan protesters marched through Kabul in the largest demonstration the capital has seen since the militant group seized power last month. According to photos

By Tim Lister and Radina Gigova, CNN A flimsy gray curtain divides a university classroom in Kabul in two — on one side sit the male students, on the other the female students, wearing hijabs. It’s a glimpse into what education could look like in Afghanistan under Taliban rule, as some students returned to classrooms

By Helen Regan and Kocha Olarn, CNN Myanmar’s shadow government has launched what it called a “people’s defensive war” against the military junta, urging citizens across the country to revolt. In a video address posted on his official Facebook page on Tuesday, acting president of the National Unity Government (NUG) Duwa Lashi La called on

By Ben Westcott, CNN Singapore has warned it may need to reimpose Covid-19 restrictions if a new outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant is not contained, putting at risk the city’s shift towards living with the virus. The number of new Covid-19 infections in Singapore doubled in the past week, according to the country’s

Story by Reuters Vietnam jailed a man on Monday for five years for breaking strict Covid-19 quarantine rules and spreading the virus to others, state media reported. Le Van Tri, 28, was convicted of “spreading dangerous infectious diseases” at a one-day trial at the People’s Court of the southern province of Ca Mau, according to

By Joshua Berlinger, CNN When FBI agent Mark Calnan finally met the kingpin whose drug syndicate he’d been investigating for the past six years, he was surprised. With his black hair parted down the middle and modest fashion sense, Tse Chi Lop didn’t look like the head of a multinational operation that had flooded the

By Jaide Garcia and Jonny Hallam, CNN The Taliban murdered a pregnant policewoman in front of her family on Saturday night, according to her son. Her death, in the central Afghanistan province of Ghor, adds to mounting concerns about the repression of women under the Taliban’s rule. The victim’s full name was Negar Masoomi, her

By Nic Robertson, Nilly Kohzad, Tim Lister and Helen Regan, CNN The Taliban have claimed victory in Afghanistan’s Panjshir province, with a spokesman saying the region had been “completely conquered” following two weeks of fierce fighting with a resistance group. Panjshir was the last remaining hold-out among Afghanistan’s 34 provinces to resist the Taliban. If

By Tim Lister, Radina Gigova and Lauren Said-Moorhouse, CNN and CNN contributors Heavy fighting was reported Sunday in parts of northern Afghanistan’s Panjshir Valley, where rebel fighters from the National Resistance Front (NRF) have been battling a Taliban offensive. Panjshir, a strategic slice of mountainous terrain rich with precious mineral resources around 90 miles north

By Asim Khan and Sophia Saifi, CNN Three people have died and 15 were injured in an attack on paramilitary troops in the city of Quetta in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan. Quetta is the capital of Balochistan province near the Afghan border. The province has seen a decades-long insurgency by separatists who demand independence

By Ivan Watson and CNN staff Tuhan’s family crossed the border from China’s western Xinjiang region to Afghanistan 45 years ago to escape persecution. Now, as the Taliban exerts control over the country, she fears she and other ethnic Uyghurs could be sent back to China by members of the militant group keen to curry

By Celine Alkhaldi, Sam Kiley, Rob Iddiols, Tim Lister and Lauren Said-Moorhouse, CNN A small group of Afghan women braved the Taliban-controlled streets of Kabul once more on Saturday to demand equal rights and the ability to participate in government, CNN has confirmed. In a bold public challenge to the militant group’s rule, female activists

By Angus Watson, Nectar Gan and AnneClaire Stapleton, CNN The man responsible for Friday’s knife attack in New Zealand has been named as Ahamed Aathill Mohamed Samsudeen, CNN affiliate RNZ reports. A suppression order concealing the man’s name and other details from the public was lifted after it was challenged by the New Zealand government.