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Xinhua Asia-Pacific news summary at 1600 GMT, March 15

Xinhua, March 16, 2015 Adjust font size:

The cyclone-hit island nation of Vanuatu declared a state of emergency on Sunday after at least eight people were confirmed killed by Tropical Cyclone Pam, local press reported.

Earlier in the day, Aurelia Balpe, Fiji-based head of delegation for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in the Pacific, told Xinhua that at least eight people in Vanuatu were confirmed killed by Tropical Cyclone Pam, citing field reports from the Vanuatu Red Cross and local authorities, which said the death toll is likely to rise. (Vanuatu- Cyclone)

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KUALA LUMPUR -- Two airplanes of Indonesia's Jupiter aerobatics team crashed on Sunday after a mid-air collision during a practice session at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace (LIMA) exhibition, local media reported.

According to the local Star newspaper, the KT-1B planes grazed each other and crashed at 2 p.m. local time (0600 GMT), with smokes seen near the Langkawi International Airport, about 415 km north of Kuala Lumpur. (Malaysia-Plane Crash)

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ISLAMABAD -- At least 14 people were killed and 78 others wounded when two suicide bombers blew themselves up at the entrance of churches in Pakistan's east city of Lahore on Sunday, hospital sources said.

An official of the Medical Superintendent General Hospital, where the wounded were being treated, said they received 78 injured people, while 14 bodies were in the mortuary. (Pakistan- Church Blasts)

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YANGON -- Myanmar on Sunday openly responded for the first time to Friday's bombing incident across the Myanmar-China border which left five Chinese citizens dead and eight others injured in China' s southwestern Yunnan province.

According to Myanmar's state radio and TV, the government expressed regret over the incident, saying that Myanmar authorities are cooperating with the Chinese side through diplomatic channel to uncover the truth of the incident.

A Myanmar delegation has entered the Chinese territory for a join investigation into the incident.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin summoned Myanmar Ambassador Thit Linn Ohn in Beijing Friday night, lodging solemn representations to him after a bomb dropped by a Myanmar warplane hit a sugarcane field in the border city of Lincang, Yunnan, killing five people and injuring eight others working there in the afternoon. (Myanmar-China-Bombing) Endi