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Asia Pacific news summary at 0600GMT, March 31

Xinhua, March 31, 2015 Adjust font size:

Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said Japan will not join the China-proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) by the deadline of March 31, local report said Tuesday.

Speaking at a press briefing after Tuesday's cabinet meeting, Aso said that Japan has to maintain caution toward the AIIB, according to Japan's Kyodo News. (Japan-AIIB)

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CANBERRA -- An aging population has resulted in dementia and Alzheimer's disease becoming the second leading cause of death in Australia, according to official statistics released on Tuesday.

For many years, stroke was behind only heart disease as the biggest killer in Australia but the sharp rise of dementia and Alzheimer's disease, which was the fifth leading cause 10 years ago, has resulted in it now being ranked second. (Australia- Alzheimer)

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SYDNEY -- One of Australia's leading China experts said on Tuesday that the nation's move to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) represented a historic shift in the Australian foreign policy.

Hugh White, a professor of strategic studies at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University, said the AIIB was a very big deal for Asia's economic future, but the way its establishment has played out makes it an even bigger deal for Asia's changing political and strategic order. (Australia- AIIB)

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PHNOM PENH -- At least eight Cambodians, including a woman, were killed and 12 others were injured after a truck, carrying cassava workers, overturned on Tuesday morning in east Cambodia's Kratie province, a local police chief confirmed.

The accident took place in Snuol district when the speeding truck drove downhill and overturned into a roadside dried canal due to brake failure, said Chan Sokhim, police chief of Snuol district. (Cambodia-Road Accident)

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WELLINGTON -- The New Zealand government has reached an agreement with Iraq to give New Zealand troops the right to defend themselves during deployment there, Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee said Tuesday.

The agreement opens the way for New Zealand to send up to 143 personnel to Iraq to help train Iraqi troops in the fight against Islamic State insurgents. (New Zealand-Iraq-Agreement)

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PHNOM PENH -- U.S. House of Representatives minority leader Nancy Pelosi concluded her two-day visit to Cambodia by meeting Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to discuss a wide range of issues, according to a press statement released by the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh on Tuesday.

Pelosi said her congressional delegation was received by Prime Minister Hun Sen for more than two hours on Monday and engaged in a dialogue about issues related to freedom of expression, corruption, labor and land rights. (US-Cambodia-Visit) Endi