Asia Pacific

Japanese voters are not accustomed to nail-biter elections. But as the country holds parliamentary elections on Sunday, the party that has governed Japan for all but four years since 1955 is facing the possibility that it could lose its majority in the body’s lower chamber, the House of Representatives. Just …

When Xi Jinping held the first-ever talks in Beijing with a former president of Taiwan, seeking to press the island closer to unification, a bookish-looking official stood out for his ease around China’s leader. While others treated Mr. Xi with stiff formality, the official, Wang Huning, spoke confidently in his …

It was a sensational charge in a country where food is yet another marker of political, religious and caste divides. For centuries, the Tirupati temple in the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh has given laddu, a ball-shaped sweet, to devotees. The temple is the richest Hindu holy site in …

Five months ago, the autocratic leaders of Russia and North Korea signed a treaty on mutual defense and cooperation, deepening ties between the two countries that stretch back beyond the Cold War. Now, North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has deployed soldiers to assist Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine. More than …

The words “emergency warning” galvanized protesters in Indonesia in August. It was a rallying cry to protect the world’s third-largest democracy, which broke free from dictatorship less than 30 years ago. Thousands of protesters took to the streets. Some stormed the gates of Parliament, tearing one down in fury. The …

At first glance, it looked like so many other photos posted on social media, the kind taken by excited travelers en route. The wing of a plane, juxtaposed against fluffy white clouds, with the sun streaming through. The caption read: “U.S.A. here we go.” On board that August flight from …

A man was arrested in Tokyo on Saturday and accused of throwing several incendiary devices at the headquarters of the governing Liberal Democratic Party and slamming his car into a security fence outside the nearby office of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, the police in Tokyo said. A masked suspect was …

Panda exchanges, like the one that sent two bears to Washington’s National Zoo this week, are governed by closely held contracts. In most countries, they are never released. Lawyers for the Smithsonian, which operates the National Zoo, cited a confidentiality clause and refused to release a 2020 contract. The U.S. …

The storm hunters from Hong Kong braced themselves as Super Typhoon Yagi rattled their small jet. At 30,000 feet, they released probes into the Category 4-strength storm as it churned south of the city last month, gathering data many meteorologists consider crucial to improving forecasts. “Some prefer going with an …

China held large-scale military drills in the waters and skies surrounding Taiwan on Monday, a show of force that signaled the growing threat of Beijing’s ability to choke the self-governing island that China claims as its own. China said its army, navy, air force, rocket force and other troops took …