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Xinhua Asia-Pacific news summary at 0600 GMT, March 17

Xinhua, March 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

Death toll of Friday night's double-decker ferry capsizal off Myanmar's western Rakhine State has risen to 59, officials said on Tuesday.

In the capsizal of the passenger vessel Aung Da Gon-3, 169 people were rescued.(Myanmar-Ferry Capsizal)

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WELLINGTON -- The New Zealand air force on Tuesday abandoned two relief flights to cyclone-stricken Vanuatu, saying technical problems had forced the aircraft to return.

The C-130 Hercules and the Boeing 757 were both enroute for the Pacific island nation to deliver relief supplies and evacuate New Zealanders, when they were struck by unrelated instrumentation problems, Air Commodore Kevin McEvoy said. (New Zealan-Vanuatu-Aid)

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SEOUL -- South Korea's Defense Ministry said Tuesday that it will decide on whether to deploy the advanced U.S.missile defense system on the Korean Peninsula based"on its own judgment."

Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told a routine press briefing that though neighboring countries can have their own positions on the THAAD deployment by the U.S. Forces Korea, the neighbors"should not try to exercise their influence on our national defense and security policy." (S.Korea-US-Missile Defense)

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YANGON -- Peace negotiators of Myanmar's government and ethnic armed groups resumed their peace talks in Yangon Tuesday in an effort to finalize their draft nationwide ceasefire accord, sources with the Myanmar Peace Center said.

The 7th round of peace talks between Myanmar government's Union Peace-Making Work Committee (UPWC) and 16 ethnic armed groups' Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT), which began at the Myanmar Peace Center, will touch on the remaining eight hard points out of 104, the sources said. (Myanmar-Peace Negotiation) Endi