CNN – Asia/Pacific

By Tara Subramaniam and Kocha Olarn, CNN Thailand’s conservative Democrat Party has come up with a novel strategy to try and win votes ahead of next month’s national elections — a campaign pledge to make sex toys legal should they win power. Ratchada Thanadirek, executive member of the Democrat Party, said the party plans to

By Brad Lendon, CNN United States and Philippine forces fired on a mock enemy warship in the South China Sea on Wednesday, the latest display of American firepower in Asia as tensions with China continue to rise. The exercise, watched live by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, was part of the annual Balikatan drills, which

By Jessie Yeung, CNN After stepping down as leader of New Zealand earlier this year, Jacinda Ardern has revealed that she is swapping the rough and tumble of politics for a stint of quiet reflection within academia overseas, heading to Harvard University this fall under two fellowships. She was appointed to dual fellowships at the

By Heather Chen, CNN A Singaporean man convicted of trying to traffic around 2.2 pounds of cannabis was executed on Wednesday, a sentence lambasted by rights groups and campaigners for its severity at a time when many other nations, including neighboring countries, have adopted a more lenient approach towards drugs and capital punishment. While cannabis

By Chris Lau, CNN Video game maker Nintendo has announced it has changed the Japanese name of Spike, the foreman who appears in “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” in advance of the film’s release in Japan later this month. The character, who first appeared as an enemy of Mario in the 1980s game “Wrecking Crew,”

By Nectar Gan and Wayne Chang, CNN A Taiwan political activist has been formally arrested on suspicion of “secession” in China, more than eight months after he was detained amid heightened tensions across the Taiwan Strait. Yang Chih-yuan, a democracy campaigner and pro-independence politician, was detained by Chinese state security in Wenzhou in Zhejiang province

By Jessie Yeung and Eru Ishikawa, CNN Move over, boomers and older millennials — Japan’s young people are stepping into office. The country’s by-elections this week have seen a number of diverse new faces thrust into the national spotlight — which supporters have celebrated as a welcome change to the country’s government, mostly run by

By Jessie Yeung and Eru Ishikawa, CNN A panel in Japan’s health ministry has approved the country’s first abortion pill, in a major step for reproductive rights decades after other countries made abortion medication widely available. The ministry’s pharmaceutical board granted approval on Friday to the MeFeego Pack, an abortion pill manufactured by British pharmaceutical

By Simone McCarthy European countries are demanding answers from Beijing after its top diplomat in Paris questioned the sovereignty of former Soviet republics, in comments that could undermine China’s efforts to be seen as a potential mediator between Russia and Ukraine. The remarks by China’s ambassador to France Lu Shaye, who said during a television

By Chris Lau and Manveena Suri, CNN A cheetah from Africa has died two months after being reintroduced to India as part of an intercontinental effort to revive the big cat in the country, the second animal from the program to have passed away in less than a month. India’s wildlife department said the male,

By Sandi Sidhu, CNN Police in India say they have arrested alleged Sikh separatist leader Amritpal Singh, bringing to an end a massive months-long manhunt. The news was announced in a tweet on Punjab Police India’s official Twitter account. Singh was arrested in Moga, Punjab, in the northwest of India, but will be taken to

By Alex Hardie, Sugam Pokharel and Ivana Kottasová, CNN A 17-year-old critically ill elephant called Noor Jehan has died at Pakistan’s Karachi Zoo, with the animal welfare charity that had been treating her calling for the zoo’s closure. The elephant was suffering from preexisting serious ailments before falling in a pond last week, Four Paws

By Heather Law A Japanese merchant ship that sank during World War II while carrying over 1,000 prisoners of war in Australia’s largest loss of life at sea has been found. The Montevideo Maru was discovered off the northwest coast of the Philippines’ Luzon island at a depth of more than 4,000 meters (13,000ft) in

By Jessie Yeung and Mayumi Maruyama, CNN In the five months since its launch, ChatGPT has been used to generate student essays, write wedding vows, and compose rousing sermons for pastors and rabbis. Now, a Japanese city is turning to the AI chatbot for something else: helping to run the government. Yokosuka City, in Japan’s

By Simone McCarthy and Nectar Gan, CNN A young Chinese woman who was arrested after attending a peaceful protest against Covid-19 restrictions in Beijing last year has been released alongside several of her friends after four months in police custody, according to a source familiar with their situation. Cao Zhixin, a 26-year-old publishing house editor,

By Sophia Saifi and Azaz Syed CNN Pakistan’s Foreign Minister will travel to India next month, the most senior-level visit in seven years in what is an opportunity for two nuclear-armed neighbors with a long history of fractious relations to break the ice. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO) foreign ministers