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Xinhua Asia-Pacific news summary at 1045 GMT, March 25

Xinhua, March 25, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter plans to visit South Korea in early April amid rows over whether to deploy an advanced U.S. missile defense system, called Terminal High- Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), on the Korean Peninsula, Yonhap News Agency reported Wednesday.

A South Korean government official was quoted as saying that Carter will visit South Korea in early April and hold talks with his South Korean counterpart Han Min-koo. (S. Korea-U.S.-Visit)

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SEOUL -- The South Korean military on Wednesday conducted naval training exercises to mark the fifth anniversary of the Cheonan sinking in March 2010.

The naval maneuvers came a day ahead of the fifth anniversary of the Cheonan sinking incident where the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan sank off the disputed western maritime border, killing 46 soldiers among 104 on board the ill-fated warship. (S. Korea-Training Exercise-Cheonan Sinking)

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KABUL -- Units of police backed by the army have killed six Taliban militants during a series of operations across the country over the past 24 hours, Ministry of Interior said in a statement released here on Wednesday.

The operations, according to the statement, had been conducted in Nangarhar, Takhar, Kunduz, Faryab, Sar-e-Pul, Kandahar, Ghazni, Herat, Farah and Helmand provinces, during which four more insurgents were wounded and three others arrested. (Afghanistan- Taliban-Attacks)

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BANGKOK -- Three Chinese tourists, two females and one male, were killed after a bus crashed in Thailand' s Phuket Island on Wednesday morning, China's consular office in Phuket said.

At around 11:40 a.m. local time, a tour bus carrying 18 Chinese tourists rolled over and plunged into the valley after its brakes failed, injuring 15 other Chinese tourists, according to the office. (Thailand-Car Accident)

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ISLAMABAD -- At least 30 militants were killed when Pakistani military conducted an air raid in the country's northwest tribal area of Khyber Agency on Wednesday, an army statement said.

Inter-Services Public Relations, the mouthpiece of Pakistani army, said in a statement that the army jet fighters pounded several hideouts of suspected militants in Tirah Valley area of Khyber Agency, a semi-autonomous tribal area along Pakistan- Afghanistan border. (Pakistan-Attack) Endi