He ventured to Syria to tell the stories of those whose lives have been torn apart by war.

Chinese authorities are investigating allegations that senior security officials ate a critically endangered giant salamander at a lavish banquet.

A woman in central China has been prosecuted for selling her new-born baby for $7,000, state media reports said, the latest of a string of shocking cases that have shed light on the country's trade in children.

The population of mainland China stood at 1.37 billion at the end of 2014, an increase of around 7.1 million from the previous year.

Huge crowds have gathered to see Pope Francis celebrate an outdoor Mass in the Philippine capital Manila.

Indonesian divers have retrieved the black box cockpit voice recorder from the wreckage of the AirAsia plane that crashed in the Java Sea two weeks ago, local media has quoted a transport ministry official as saying.

The search mission to find the flight data recorders from the crashed AirAsia passenger plane has resumed, as weather conditions improve over the Java Sea.

Twelve people were prevented from committing suicide on Sunday morning in Shuozhou city in North China's Shanxi province, local authorities said.

Investigators say it could take a week to recover AirAsia Flight QZ8501's black box flight recorders as rough seas continue to hamper the search.

China's President Xi Jinping has demanded an investigation into Shanghai New Year's Eve crush that killed 36 people and injured 47.

The Head of Indonesia's Search-and-Rescue Agency, Bambang Soelistyo, has said the missing AirAsia flight QZ8501 is likely to be at the bottom of the sea. 

Japan's ruling coalition has won a new two-thirds majority in parliamentary elections seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic policy.

Exit polls suggest that the party of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has secured a large majority in the country's parliamentary elections.

Ex-security chief Zhou Yongkang, the most senior Chinese official to be investigated for corruption, has been arrested and expelled from the Communist Party, state media report.

Australian police have urged the mother of a baby found dead and buried in the sand at Sydney's Maroubra beach to come forward.