Asia & Pacific

SEOUL—South Korean authorities launched an investigation on Tuesday after three people died during a car test at a Hyundai Motor plant in the city of Ulsan, police told Reuters. The two Hyundai researchers and one Hyundai contractor were found unconscious in a car at around 3:00 p.m. while they were testing it in a “chamber,” […]

Air pollution shot up to hazardous levels in New Delhi on Monday, prompting the government to shut down schools, halt construction, and ban non-essential trucks from entering the city. Residents of the Indian capital woke up to thick, toxic smog this morning that became increasingly hazardous. According to the environmental agency System of Air Quality […]

A poster spotted on the streets of Tokyo is getting attention. It bears a powerful message, and a plea: “Set my mother free.” A young engineer working in Japan is trying to raise awareness for his mother, who is detained in China because of her faith.  

MANILA, Philippines—Typhoon Man-yi left at least seven people dead in a landslide, destroyed houses, and displaced large numbers of villagers before blowing away from the northern Philippines, worsening the crisis wreaked by multiple back-to-back storms, officials said Monday. Man-yi was one of the strongest of the six major storms to hit the northern Philippines in […]

TAIPEI, Taiwan—About 5,300 individuals dressed in color-coordinated clothing put together a giant display on the island’s iconic Liberty Square on Nov. 17 in an event aimed at inspiring people around the world to embrace the goodness in human nature. Three giant Chinese characters in bright yellow, each formed by more than 400 participants, represented the […]

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III met with his Australian and Japanese counterparts in Darwin, Australia, on Nov. 17 for the 14th trilateral meeting between the countries, highlighting concerns about the Chinese communist regime’s “destabilizing actions” in its neighboring waters and announcing new joint military exercises. “Today, more than ever, we’re taking concrete actions […]

MANILA, Philippines—A powerful typhoon wrecked houses, caused towering tidal surges and forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee to emergency shelters as it cut across the northern Philippines on Sunday in the sixth major storm to hit the country in less than a month. Typhoon Man-yi slammed into the eastern island province of Catanduanes […]

President Joe Biden met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Saturday for their final in-person meeting of Biden’s presidency. During their discussion, which lasted one hour and 40 minutes, Xi expressed China’s readiness to work with the incoming U.S. administration. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in […]

LUCKNOW, India—A fire tore through a neonatal intensive care unit in a hospital in northern India, killing 10 newborn babies and injuring 16 others, authorities said. The fire occurred late Friday at a hospital in Jhansi city in India’s Uttar Pradesh state. Officials said the blaze spread quickly through the ward, where 55 infants were […]

LAHORE, Pakistan—A Pakistani province declared a health emergency Friday due to smog and imposed a shutdown in two major cities. Smog has choked Punjab for weeks, sickening nearly 2 million people and shrouding vast swathes of the province in a toxic haze. A senior provincial minister, Marriyum Aurangzeb, declared the health emergency at a press […]

Pro-Taiwan advertisements are reportedly facing off with rounds of interference during an annual summit for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping both arrived in Peru’s capital city, Lima, for the event. Taiwan also sent its own delegation. A local media agency reported a billboard that […]

Seoul, South Korea—South Korean actor Song Jae-lim, a former model who rose to prominence in K-dramas, was found dead in Seoul on Tuesday. He was 39. Song’s body was found in his apartment by a friend, who had planned to have lunch with him that day, according to the Seoul Seongdong police. A police official […]

DENPASAR, Indonesia—Several international airlines canceled flights to and from Indonesia’s tourist island of Bali on Wednesday as an ongoing volcanic eruption left travelers stranded at airports. Tourists told The Associated Press that they have been stuck at Bali’s airport since Tuesday after their flights were suddenly canceled. “The airline did not provide accommodation, leaving us […]

MANSEHRA, Pakistan—A bus carrying about two dozen wedding guests fell into the Indus River in northern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least 18 people, officials said. It happened in the Gilgit Baltistan region as the bus was heading to Chakwal, a city in Punjab province, government spokesman Faizullah Faraq said. He said so far only […]

South Korea’s ruling party proposed a special chips act on Monday, aimed at supporting chipmakers with subsidies. The legislation would also allow for longer working hours for employees in the semiconductor industry. This move comes as President Yoon Suk Yeol calls for the country to begin preparing for the return of Donald Trump to the […]

MANILA, Philippines—A new typhoon barreled across an agricultural region in the northeastern Philippines on Monday after thousands were evacuated to safety while still struggling to recover from the devastation caused by three successive storms in the last three weeks. Typhoon Toraji slammed into northeastern Aurora Province and was forecast to blow over the mountainous Luzon […]

BEIJING—China has published baselines for a contested shoal in the South China Sea it had seized from the Philippines, a move that’s likely to increase tensions over overlapping territorial claims. The Foreign Ministry on Sunday posted online geographic coordinates for the baselines around Scarborough Shoal. A nation’s territorial waters and exclusive economic zone are typically […]