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Xinhua Asia-Pacific news summary at 1600 GMT, March 19

Xinhua, March 19, 2015 Adjust font size:

Pakistan on Thursday defended its decision to lift a moratorium on death sentence after the United Nations and the European Union urged the country to halt executions.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ended years of moratorium on death penalty after the Taliban attacked an army-run school in Peshawar in December and killed 150, nearly all children. (Pakistan-Death Sentence)

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NEW DELHI -- India Thursday successfully test-fired its Beyond Visual Range air-to-air missile Astra in the eastern state of Odisha, said the Indian Defense Ministry in a statement.

The Indian Air Force conducted the test off the coast of Odisha near the Integrated Test Range at Balasore. An Astra missile carrying telemetry equipment in place of the warhead was fired from a Sukhoi-30 aircraft against a pilotless target aircraft, said the statement. (India-Missile)

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TOKYO -- China hopes Japan could stick to its decades-long " purely defensive defense" strategy and have an objective and rational perception on China's development, a Chinese delegation said at a China-Japan security dialogue here on Thursday.

The delegation, led by Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Jianchao, also expressed concerns over Japan's security moves in recent years and expected Tokyo to adhere to a path of peaceful development and play a constructive role in maintaining peace and stability in the region. (Japan-China-Security Dialogue)

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YANGON -- Solar Impulse 2, a solar-powered aircraft, arrived at Mandalay, the second largest city of Myanmar,on Thursday from northern India, as a part of its around-the-world trip, state-run Myanmar Radio and TV said.

The Solar Impulse 2 (Si2), piloted by Bertrand Piccard, landed at Mandalay airport at 7:51 p.m. local time (1321 GMT).

It will be the 4th stopover of Si2 after taking off from Adu Dhabi airport of the United Arab Emirates on March 9. (Myanmar- Solar-Powered Aircraft)

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TOKYO -- Japanese police arrested on Thursday a man living in Okinawa on suspicion of making bomb threat phone calls to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, local media reported.

Mitsuyoshi Kamiya, 52, has admitted to having made such phone calls three times, threatening to bomb the embassy and a U.S. military base in Japan's southern Okinawa prefecture, between March 5 and 14, Japan's Kyodo News quoted the Metropolitan Police Department as saying. (Japan-Embassy-Threat) Endi