CNN – Asia/Pacific

By Tim Lister, CNN The devastating bomb attack outside Kabul airport on Thursday is a brutal reminder that Afghanistan remains fertile territory for jihadi terrorism and that ISIS remains a resilient presence far beyond its birthplace. The attack was claimed — remarkably quickly — by ISIS-Khorasan, the ISIS “province” active in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

By Jessie Yeung and Eric Cheung, CNN Hong Kong’s national security police are investigating the group behind the city’s annual June 4 vigil, which commemorates pro-democracy protesters who died in the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing, according to a letter to organizers seen by CNN. The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic

By Saleem Mehsud, Kara Fox, Natalie Croker and Henrik Pettersson and Tim Lister, CNN The Taliban‘s leadership structure has long been a mystery, with little known about how it works beyond the group’s most influential figures. After seizing control of Afghanistan, the Taliban are moving to form a new government, with pledges of inclusivity and

By Rob Picheta and Zahid Mahmood, CNN Fear is mounting for women and girls in Afghanistan after the Taliban told working women to stay at home, admitting they were not safe in the presence of the militant group’s soldiers. Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid said at a news conference on Tuesday that women should not go

By Julia Hollingsworth, CNN New Zealand authorities reported 62 new locally transmitted Covid-19 cases Wednesday — the highest number in a single day since last year as the country wrestles with a growing outbreak driven by the more contagious Delta variant. Last week New Zealand confirmed its first community Covid-19 cases since February, prompting Prime

By Nick Paton Walsh, Brad Lendon, Sheena McKenzie and Ivana Kottasová, CNN The Taliban said Tuesday that they were “not allowing the evacuation of Afghans anymore” and warned that the US must stick to next week’s deadline to pull out, as a frantic Western evacuation operation at Kabul airport picked up pace. The announcement came

By Kara Fox, Tim Lister and Nilly Kohzad, CNN As the Taliban firm up their grip on Afghanistan, there is one remote region whose resistance to the militant group goes back decades. Now, the last major holdout is under threat. The Taliban have been massing forces in and around Panjshir province, the only one yet

By Jessie Yeung, Nectar Gan and Steve George, CNN Beijing was once known as one of the world’s most polluted cities, with dense smog and acrid air a daily reality for residents. Now, its skies are mostly blue — a sign the Chinese capital is entering a new era of clean air, the country’s Minister

By Nectar Gan, CNN China reported no new locally transmitted Covid-19 cases on Monday for the first time since July, according to its National Health Commission (NHC), as authorities double down on the country’s stringent zero-Covid approach. China has been grappling with the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant since July 20, when a

By Nick Paton Walsh, Sam Kiley and Sheena McKenzie, CNN Afghans who have applied for special immigrant visas to the US were told to stay away from Kabul’s airport on Monday, as American officials ramped up evacuation flights and the Taliban said all US forces needed to leave by August 31. Western countries are now

By Ben Westcott and Eric Cheung, CNN Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen received her first shot of the island’s homegrown Covid-19 vaccine on Monday, a public show of support for the new drug which is central to plans for inoculation self sufficiency amid low immunization rates and struggles to obtain vaccines from overseas. Monday’s island-wide rollout

By Sheena McKenzie, Nick Paton Walsh and Sam Kiley, CNN One week after the Taliban takeover of Kabul, the situation at the capital’s airport has become increasingly desperate, with more than 20,000 people in and around the facility trying to board flights and another seven Afghan civilians killed in crushes, amid one of the largest