Off the wire
• Commentary: China, the West in Africa: more room for cooperation than competition  • Cambodian, Indonesian FM discuss bilateral, ASEAN issues  • World's oldest person dies at 117 in Japan's Osaka  • Fishing ban starts on China's major rivers  • New Zealand broadband speeds accelerate  • New Zealand troops step up Australia training ahead of Iraq deployment  • Hong Kong shares up 0.66 pct by midday  • Roundup: S. Korea's inflation hits 16-year low amid deflation concerns  • New Zealand's recorded crimes see drop last year  • Australian spy agency "pleased" with new data retention laws  
You are here: 　 Home

Xinhua Asia-Pacific News Summary at 0600GMT, April 1

Xinhua, April 1, 2015 Adjust font size:

A rift is widening dramatically between Japan's central government and local officials and citizens in Okinawa Prefecture following an order by its governor for the defense bureau to halt drilling at the site of a planned new U.S. military base in a coastal region on the island being overturned and sparking protests in the region.

Japan's Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said Tuesday he hopes the central government will begin work involved with reclaiming land from the sea in the coastal region of Henoko, in Nago City on Okinawa island, with drilling work concluded by June so the main reclamation work can begin in the middle 2015 and the new U.S. base's construction expedited.(Japan-U.S. base-News Analysis)

----

YANGON -- Peace negotiators of the Myanmar government and ethnic armed groups successfully concluded negotiation of a draft nationwide cease-fire agreement (NCA) on Monday and the draft accord was preliminarily signed here Tuesday.

The signing between the government's Union Peace-Making Work Committee (UPWC) and ethnic armed groups' Nationwide Cease-fire Coordination Team (NCCT) was witnessed by President U Thein Sein as well as UN Special Envoy Vijay Nambiar's Secretary and Chinese Foreign Ministry Special Envoy for Asian Affairs Wang Yingfan. ( Myanmar-Peace Talk-Draft)

----

WELLINGTON -- New Zealand troops will step up training with Australian forces in preparation for their deployment in Iraq to help in the fight against Islamic State insurgents, the New Zealand Defense Force (NZDF) announced Wednesday.

The New Zealand troops would continue training with the Australian Defense Force as part of the next phase of preparation for the joint mission, which is expected to begin next month.

About 50 soldiers had been in Australia last week and another ( New Zealand-Australia-Iraq)

----

OSAKA -- Misao Okawa, a Japanese woman who had been recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest living person, died at the age of 117 on Wednesday morning at a nursing home in Osaka, local media reported.

According to the nursing home, Okawa died of heart insufficiency caused by old age. She started to lose her appetite 10 days ago, and stopped breathing at 6:58 a.m. local time with family members by her side.(Japan-Old Man-Dead) Endi