Asia & Pacific

KUALA LUMPUR–A total of 21 money laundering charges will be laid against former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak over a $681 million transfer into his bank account, police said on Sept. 20, money that allegedly came from scandal-linked state fund 1MDB. The money-laundering charges include nine counts of receiving illegal proceeds, five counts of using […]

Forest City, a multi-billion dollar property development near Singapore largely financed by mainland Chinese investors, is facing uncertainty after Malaysia’s prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, publicly condemned sales of its property to foreign investors. In a bid to ward off further inflation of Malaysia’s housing market, the 93-year-old leader said in a news conference on Aug. […]

SEOUL—North Korea has agreed to “permanently” abolish its key missile facilities in the presence of foreign experts, and is willing to close its main nuclear complex subject to final negotiations, South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in said on Sept. 19. Speaking at a joint news conference following their summit talks in Pyongyang, Moon and North Korean […]

The next generation of wireless mobile communications technology—known as 5G—is considered key to revolutionizing many different industries: transportation, healthcare, and manufacturing, to name a few. Countries are currently vying for leadership in 5G because that is seen as critical to economic growth. China’s ambition in the 5G race is stated clearly in its national policy. […]

SEOUL—North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said on Sept. 18, his “historic” summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore stabilized regional security and that he expected further progress at an inter-Korean summit aimed at reviving stalled nuclear diplomacy. Kim thanked South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in for bringing about the Singapore meeting in June as […]

President Donald Trump urged senators to hear from both Judge Brett Kavanaugh and the woman who accused him of sexual assault before the Senate Judiciary Committee votes whether to recommend the nominee for confirmation to a seat on the Supreme Court. The president made the comments on the afternoon of Sept. 17, after both Kavanaugh […]

TOKYO—A Japanese submarine has for the first time joined a naval drill in the South China Sea, the Ministry of Defense said on Sept. 17, in an expansion of Japanese activity in the disputed waterway claimed by China and others. The submarine Kuroshio took part in the exercise on Sept. 13 with other Japanese warships, […]

Su Chi-cheng, director of the Taiwan Representative Office in Osaka, Japan, committed suicide on Sept. 14 following heavy criticism for his supposed negligence in the rescue of citizens stranded at Kansai Airport during heavy rains caused by Super Typhoon Jebi.

In China, media is heavily censored and published articles must toe the party line, and fake news pieces are all too common. But Beijing has recently expanded its subversion techniques beyond its borders, with Taiwan and Latin America now under siege by manipulated news that promotes its agenda. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, while stumping for […]

SHANGHAI—The financial hub of Hong Kong began cleaning up Sept. 17, with financial markets and offices operating as normal, after being battered by one of the strongest typhoons in recent years. Super typhoon Mangkhut, with winds of well over 124 mph, had barreled past the northern tip of the Philippines, killing at least 50 people. It […]

Super Typhoon Mangkhut tore through Asia over the weekend, its destructive power caught in videos of swaying buildings, shattered skyscrapers, and dramatic rescues. As the storm ripped through the Philippines, on Sept. 15, footage emerged of the raging floodwaters that had wrecked homes and triggered landslides. One video shared with Reuters shows a man stranded […]

HONG KONG—Mangkhut weakened from a typhoon to a tropical storm as it moved deeper into southern China on Monday, leaving death and destruction from Hong Kong to the Philippines. The storm was still affecting southern China’s coast and the provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan and rain and strong winds were expected to continue through […]

HONG KONG–Typhoon Mangkhut barreled into southern China on Sept. 16, killing two people after lashing the Philippines with strong winds and heavy rain that left at least 64 dead and dozens more feared buried in a landslide. More than 2.4 million people had been evacuated in southern China’s Guangdong province by Sept. 16 evening to […]

HONG KONG—The Latest on Typhoon Mangkhut (all times local): 10:25 p.m. A Chinese state broadcaster says Typhoon Mangkhut has left at least two people dead after the massive storm slammed into southern China’s Guangdong province. China Central Television also says the typhoon has triggered storm surges as high as 3 meters (10 feet). Fifteen people […]

HONG KONG—Typhoon Mangkhut barreled into southern China on Sept. 16, after lashing the northern Philippines with strong winds and heavy rain that left at least 64 people dead and dozens more feared buried in a landslide. More than 2.4 million people had been relocated in southern China’s Guangdong province to flee the massive typhoon on […]

HONG KONG—Hong Kong and southern China hunkered down under red alert Sept. 16 as strong winds and heavy rain from Typhoon Mangkhut lashed the densely populated coast, a day after the biggest storm of the year left at least 64 dead from landslides and drownings in the northern Philippines. Nearly half a million people had […]

MANILA, HONG KONG–A super typhoon swirled towards Hong Kong and the Chinese coast on Sept. 16, gaining in strength over the South China Sea after hurtling through the Philippines, where it wreaked havoc that killed at least 28. Tropical cyclone Mangkhut is considered the strongest to hit the region this year, packing gale force winds of […]

TUGUEGARAO, PHILIPPINES—Typhoon Mangkhut lashed the northern Philippines with destructive winds and heavy rain that set off landslides and destroyed homes on Sept. 15, leaving at least 12 people dead, as Hong Kong and other parts of southern China braced for the powerful storm. The most ferocious typhoon to hit the disaster-prone Philippines this year slammed […]

Such switching of sides is anything but new to the conflict in Afghanistan, although it was more prolific during the earlier, more fluid chapters of the decades-old Afghan war.

TUGUEGARAO—Typhoon Mangkhut slammed into the Philippines’ northeastern coast early Sept. 15, its ferocious winds and blinding rain ripping off tin roof sheets and knocking out power, and plowed through the agricultural region at the start of the onslaught. The typhoon made landfall before dawn in the coastal town of Baggao in Cagayan province on the […]