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Xinhua Asia Pacific news summary at 1000GMT, Feb. 25

Xinhua, February 25, 2015 Adjust font size:

The new government in the Indian capital will let the people decide its annual municipal budget in a bottom-to-top way by seeking opinions of the voting constituencies who projected the anti-graft Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to power last month, said local media reports Wednesday.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is president of AAP, will begin a pilot project to get citizens' views for area-specific budget planning for the 2015-16 fiscal, said Times of India daily. (Indian Capital-Budget-People)

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SEOUL-- South Korea's trade ministry said Wednesday that the country will use free trade deal with China as new growth engine by making inroads into the world's largest market.

South Korea and China initialed the bilateral free trade agreement (FTA), about three months after the two sides concluded negotiations on it, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The two countries began talks on the deal in May 2012. (South Korea-Trade Deal)

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ZAMBOANGA, Philippines -- Seven people were killed and 23 others injured in firefight between government troops and Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in south Philippine province of Sulu on Wednesday, said military officials.

The Philippine military said five ASG members and two government soldiers were killed while 14 other ASG members and nine soldiers were injured. (Philippines-Fighting)

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DHAKA -- A court in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka has issued arrest warrants against ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and two others in two cases filed by the country's anti-graft body.

The Special Judge Court-3 of Md Abu Ahmed Jomadar scrapped bails for Khaleda Zia, also chairperson of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) after she failed to appear in the hearing of the Zia Orphanage Trust and Zia Charitable Trust graft cases on Wednesday. (Bangladesh-Arrest Warrant-Zia)

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NEW DELHI -- Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar will visit Pakistan next week when embarking on a tour of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member countries to promote cricket diplomacy, said the Ministry of External Affairs here Wednesday.

The trip, also called "SAARC yatra (pilgrim), will start with Bhutan Sunday and end in Pakistan on March 3, said the Ministry of External Affairs. (India-Pakistan-Visit)

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TOKYO -- Top diplomats of Japan and the United States are expected to meet in mid-March in efforts to arrange a U.S. visit by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in April and to discuss a series of issues of common concern, local media reported on Wednesday.

The meeting between Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and his U.S. counterpart John Kerry is expected to cover counterterrorism as two Japanese nationals were killed recently by the Islamic State militants, local report cited unnamed diplomatic source as saying. (US-Japan-Meeting) Endi