By Jessie Yeung, CNN Hong Kong has confirmed its first Omicron cluster, bringing an end to its long streak of zero locally transmitted cases and prompting fears of a wider outbreak as the city prepares to ring in the new year. Two cases of local transmission were detected on Thursday — a 76-year-old and a
Continue ReadingBy Gawon Bae and Rhea Mogul, CNN Pet owners in South Korea have been warned to stay on their guard after more than 100 fires were started by cats over the past three years, according to fire officials in the capital Seoul. A statement Thursday from the Seoul Metropolitan Fire and Disaster Department said cats
Continue ReadingBy Niamh Kennedy and Rob Picheta, CNN The former President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani said he was given “no more than two minutes” to get ready to flee Kabul in August, during the Taliban’s rapid takeover of the country’s capital. Ghani told BBC’s Radio 4 “Today” program that his national security adviser informed him he
Continue ReadingCNN By Nectar Gan and CNN’s Beijing Bureau Police in southern China paraded four suspects through the streets for allegedly smuggling people across sealed borders in breach of pandemic control measures — a controversial act of public shaming that triggered backlash on Chinese social media. On Tuesday, four people wearing hazmat suits, face masks and
Continue ReadingBy Nectar Gan and CNN’s Beijing Bureau Police in southern China paraded four suspects through the streets for allegedly smuggling people across sealed borders in breach of pandemic control measures — a controversial act of public shaming that triggered backlash on Chinese social media. On Tuesday, four people wearing hazmat suits, face masks and goggles
Continue ReadingBy Brad Lendon, CNN Is the Korean War about to come to an end? Some people might answer: “Didn’t that happen in 1953?” Others may know that it was only an armistice that brought hostilities to a halt in 1953 — but there’s never been a treaty to end the conflict between North Korea (and
Continue ReadingBy Philip Wang and Oren Liebermann, CNN South Korea has “effectively” agreed with the United States on a draft declaring the end of the Korean War, according to South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong, as reported by South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency on Wednesday. Speaking at a news conference, Chung said US Secretary of State
Continue ReadingBy Jessie Yeung, CNN Cantopop star and prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Denise Ho was arrested at her home on Wednesday morning by the city’s national security police. She was one of six people arrested in an early morning operation, all linked to online media organization Stand News. Police later confirmed at a news conference
Continue ReadingBy Brad Lendon, CNN Taiwan should be invited to the world’s largest naval exercise next year, according to the US’ 2022 defense spending blueprint signed into law by President Joe Biden this week. The 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) says the invitation would supplement US efforts to support the self-governed democratic island in the
Continue ReadingBy Jessie Yeung, CNN Two Save the Children staff, missing in eastern Myanmar after a deadly attack on civilians allegedly carried out by government soldiers, have been confirmed dead, the non-profit organization said on Tuesday. “With profound sadness we confirm two of our staff are among the burnt bodies found in Myanmar after an attack
Continue ReadingBy Ehsan Popalzai, CNN The Taliban have banned women from taking long-distance road trips in Afghanistan on their own, requiring that a male relative accompany them for any distance beyond 45 miles, according to a Taliban official speaking to CNN. Mohammad Sadiq Hakif Mahajer, spokesman for the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the
Continue ReadingBy CNN’s Beijing Bureau and Nectar Gan China’s Xi’an has further tightened lockdown measures and rolled out a fifth round of mass testing as it reported the highest daily count of local symptomatic Covid infections in a Chinese city since March 2020. Xi’an, an ancient city in northwestern Shaanxi province, reported 175 new local symptomatic
Continue ReadingBy Brad Lendon, CNN The defense ministers of Japan and China on Monday agreed to set up a joint communication hotline by the end of 2022, a news release from Japan’s Defense Ministry said, amid tensions between the East Asian neighbors. China’s Defense Ministry confirmed the hotline agreement in a statement without giving a date
Continue ReadingBy Erwin M. Mascariñas and Rhea Mogul, CNN Usually, Jay Lacia wakes at midnight on Christmas Day to start the festivities — but this year, all he wished for was enough food to eat. “We always celebrated Christmas, but for now, it’s too hard,” the 27-year-old father of one said, as he sat among rubble
Continue ReadingBy Ehsan Popalzai, CNN The Taliban said Monday it had dissolved Afghanistan’s election commission as well as its ministries for peace and parliamentary affairs, further eroding state institutions set up by the country’s previous Western-backed governments. The Independent Election Commission (IEC) was established in 2006 — five years after the Taliban was overthrown by a
Continue ReadingStory by Reuters A senior United Nations official said he was horrified by the reported killing of at least 35 civilians in Myanmar and called on authorities to investigate the incident that opposition activists blamed on government soldiers. The ruling military has not commented on the incident near Mo So village in Kayah State on
Continue ReadingBy Eliza Mackintosh and Nilly Kohzad, CNN Illustration by Alberto Mier, CNN In the four months since the Taliban took over Afghanistan, Nilofar, a 20-year-old university student, has rarely left her small apartment in Kabul, where she lives with her older sister, brother and father. Her days, which were once punctuated by exam preparation, fitness
Continue ReadingBy Cape Diamond, Jessie Yeung and Maija Ehlinger, CNN At least 30 people, including women and children, were killed in the eastern Myanmar state of Kayah on Friday, according to the Karenni Human Rights Group, with two members of international humanitarian group Save the Children still missing. The “charred remains” were discovered and identified close
Continue ReadingBy Jessie Yeung and Junko Ogura, CNN Japan will not send any senior officials or Cabinet ministers to the Beijing Winter Olympics in February, the government said Friday — but stopped short of calling the decision a diplomatic boycott. Japan “believes that respect for human rights is important,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said at
Continue ReadingBy Gawon Bae and Helen Regan, CNN The South Korean government has pardoned former President Park Geun-hye, who was serving 22 years in prison for corruption, the country’s Justice Ministry said on Friday. Park Kyung-mi, a spokesperson for the Blue House — South Korea’s presidential office — said President Moon Jae-in considered former President Park’s
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