CNN – Asia/Pacific

By Ben Westcott, CNN A new Chinese aircraft carrier with technology nearly equaling the capabilities of its US counterparts could be launched as soon as February next year, according to an analysis of satellite imagery by a Washington-based think tank. In images provided by Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the carrier — known

By Sophia Saifi and Helen Regan, CNN The Pakistani government and the armed militant group the Pakistani Taliban have agreed to a one-month ceasefire while negotiations get underway to end years of bloodshed. Pakistan’s Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry announced Monday a “complete ceasefire” was agreed with the group, known as the Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan

By Rhea Mogul, CNN Singapore is lifting its controversial ban on music in restaurants and bars as part of an easing of coronavirus restrictions — but authorities have warned business owners they must still keep the noise down. From Wednesday, food and beverage establishments can play “soft recorded music,” Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said at

By AnneClaire Stapleton, Hannah Ritchie and Mitch McCluskey, CNN China’s military has constructed mockups in the shape of a US Navy aircraft carrier and US warships, possibly for target practice, according to Maxar satellite images reviewed by the independent United States Naval Institute (USNI). Satellite images from China’s northwest Xinjiang region appear to show a

By Helen Regan, CNN Campaigners are making a last ditch effort to save a man with intellectual disabilities from execution in Singapore, in a case that has been described a “sickening” and a “systemic failure,” and put the city-state’s zero-tolerance drug laws back under scrutiny. Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam, a 33-year-old Malaysian man, was arrested in

By Jessie Yeung, CNN Chinese astronaut Wang Yaping made history Sunday when she became the country’s first woman to conduct a spacewalk, according to the national space agency. Wang and fellow astronaut Zhai Zhigang, two of the three-member team currently at China’s new Tiangong space station, successfully completed the 6.5 hour spacewalk in the early

By Jessie Yeung, CNN China is scrambling to contain its most widespread Covid-19 outbreak since the first wave of infections that began in Wuhan in 2019. Though subsequent flare-ups have seen higher total case numbers, this outbreak has spread the furthest, with 19 of China’s 31 provinces — more than half the country — reporting

By Kocha Olarn, Tim Lister, Scott McLean and Florence Davey-Attlee, CNN The CEO of a Thai company at the heart of a CNN investigation into fake and used medical gloves has been arrested in Bangkok. Thailand’s Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) told CNN Tuesday that Kampee Kampeerayannon, CEO of a company called SkyMed and a former

By Ehsan Popalzai, Mahsoud Popalzai, Mia Alberti and Reuters At least 20 people were killed and 30 wounded in blasts at Afghanistan’s biggest military hospital on Tuesday, according to officials. Gunfire followed the explosions at the entrance of Kabul’s Daoud Khan Military hospital, a 400-bed teaching facility near the capital’s former diplomatic quarter. IS Khorasan

By Jessie Yeung and Yong Xiong, CNN A man in China was reportedly detained for nine days after sending a meme to a group chat that was deemed offensive to police in an incident that has gone viral on Chinese social media. The man, identified only by his surname Li, allegedly sent the meme on

By Helen Regan, CNN The South Pacific island nation of Tonga went into lockdown on Tuesday, following the discovery of the country’s first Covid case since the start of the pandemic. The Tongan government ordered a weeklong lockdown for the main island Tongatapu, which includes an 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew with residents told