North Korean females tell of slavery and gang rape in China cybersex dens
Tens of thousands of North Korean women and girls — some as young as 9 — are being trafficked into sexual slavery in China as they try to flee poverty ...
With health insurance and time off, empowered sex workers in Thailand battle stigma
A group of women sit around a table making dream catchers with colorful bits of yarn, chatting about their families, work and the thick smog enveloping the city of Chiang ...
In a first for Asia, Taiwan's parliament approves same-sex marriage
Taiwan's legislature voted Friday to legalize same-sex marriage, a first in Asia and a boost for LGBT rights activists who had championed the cause for two decades. Lawmakers pressured by LGBT ...
Taiwan legislature poised to vote on Asia's first gay marriage bill
Taiwan will decide whether to pass Asia's first gay marriage law on Friday as conservative lawmakers launch a last-ditch attempt to scupper the bill despite a court ruling ordering same-sex marital equality. Protesters on both sides of the debate will gather outside Taipei's parliament for ...
France said to have granted asylum to wife of ex-Interpol chief jailed in China
The wife of Meng Hongwei, the former Interpol president jailed in China for what she believes are political reasons, said Monday that France has saved her life and the lives of their two young boys by granting her asylum request. The French government office that ...
A South Korean violinist and a North Korean singer on Sunday held a rare joint performance they hope would help bring the divided Koreas closer together via music — especially at a time of emerging tensions amid deadlocked nuclear diplomacy. Violinist Won Hyung Joon and ...
Dearth of female candidates highlights obstacles women face during India's election cycle
The men contesting India's general election are vying for female voters, but the paltry number of female candidates shows the battle women face in Indian politics — as in so much else in Indian life. When not trading barbs, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ...
Trump supports plan for humanitarian food aid to North Korea, says Seoul
South Korea said on Tuesday that U.S. President Donald Trump supports Seoul's plan to provide humanitarian food aid to North Korea after the United Nations reported the country had suffered its worst harvest in decades, leaving many there chronically short of food. Trump and South ...
Poor Christian Pakistani girls trafficked to China in new, allegedly abusive 'bride market'
Muqadas Ashraf was just 16 when her parents married her off to a Chinese man who had come to Pakistan looking for a bride. Less than five months later, Muqadas is back in her home country, pregnant and seeking a divorce from a husband ...
U.S. says it's 'gravely concerned' over human rights in North Korea, days after Trump praises Kim
The U.S. State Department said Monday it was "gravely concerned" about human rights in North Korea, including its detention of an estimated 100,000 people in political prison camps, two days after President Donald Trump again praised leader Kim Jong Un. Trump is seeking a potentially ...
From grubby packaging engulfing small Southeast Asian communities to waste piling up in plants from the U.S. to Australia, China's ban on accepting the world's used plastic has plunged global recycling into turmoil. For many years, China received the bulk of scrap plastic from around ...
China defends detention of Muslims 'voluntarily' staying in Xinjiang re-education camps
At the Shu Le County Education Center, a sprawling three-story complex in China's far-west region of Xinjiang, the dormitories feature bars on windows and doors that only lock from the outside. Inside are hundreds of minority Muslim Uighurs who have no way of leaving without ...
