Asia Pacific Topics

U.S. wins Dotcom extradition case

Mar 2, 2013

U.S. wins Dotcom extradition case

The United States on Friday won a court appeal in its battle to extradite Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom from New Zealand. A New Zealand appeals court overturned an earlier ruling that would have allowed Dotcom broad access to evidence in the case against him ...

North Korean despot Kim is Rodman's 'friend for life'

Mar 2, 2013

North Korean despot Kim is Rodman's 'friend for life'

Former NBA superstar Dennis Rodman hung out with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his improbable visit to Pyongyang, watching the Harlem Globetrotters together and later drinking and dining on sushi with him. “You have a friend for life,” Rodman told Kim before ...

China's televised death march of foreign killers sparks debate

Mar 2, 2013

China's televised death march of foreign killers sparks debate

In an unusual action that quickly sparked debate online, Chinese authorities showed a live broadcast Friday of four foreign drug smugglers in their last hours before execution for killing 13 fishermen. A shocking and apparently unprecedented form of reality TV for China, the program ...

Mar 1, 2013

Seoul to support U.N. probe of North Korea's human rights abuses

South Korea’s decision to support a United Nations investigation into human rights abuses by North Korea signals that Seoul’s new conservative administration is willing to pressure its neighbor on such issues — even if it hurts the chances for engagement. South Korea’s pledge Wednesday ...

Mar 1, 2013

Thailand inks deal on talks with militants

Thailand signed its first-ever public agreement with a rebel group in its Muslim-majority south Thursday, pledging to work toward peace talks aimed at ending a festering insurgency. The potentially historic pledge was signed in Kuala Lumpur by Paradorn Pattanathabutr, secretary general of Thailand’s National ...

Phoenix Island, China's 'Dubai,' falls into property flames

Mar 1, 2013

Phoenix Island, China's 'Dubai,' falls into property flames

Focus It was billed as China’s Dubai: a cluster of sail-shaped skyscrapers on a man-made island surrounded by tropical sea, the epitome of an unprecedented property boom that transformed skylines across the country. But prices on Phoenix Island, off the palm tree-lined streets of ...

Safety concerns cloud South Korea nuclear drive

Feb 28, 2013

Safety concerns cloud South Korea nuclear drive

South Korea has big plans to become a major nuclear energy player, but they are unfolding at a time when the global industry is under intense scrutiny after the 2011 Fukushima disaster. And its ambitions have not been helped by a series of domestic ...