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Xinhua Asia-Pacific news summary at 0600 GMT, April 8

Xinhua, April 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

Japan has indicated that it remains interested in joining the China-proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank ( AIIB) with local media reporting Wednesday that the government had earmarked 1.5 billion U.S. dollars as its contribution.

The government here has prepared a draft document on the possibility of its joining the AIIB, which is scheduled to be launched by the end of the year, with the document suggesting that Japan still has some issues pertaining to the bank's governance. ( Japan-AIIB)

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SUVA -- Fiji has recorded 501 dengue fever cases cross nation so far this year, the government-owned Fiji Broadcasting Corporation (FBC) reported Wednesday.

In the island country's Northern Division, Macuata Province alone recorded the highest number of cases at 378, and in the Western Division, where the tourism town of Nadi is, 56 cases have been recorded, while in the Central Division, where the capital of Suva is located, 47 cases have been recorded, figures from the Ministry of Health showed. (Fiji-Dengue Fever)

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TOKYO -- Japan posted a current account surplus of 1,440.1 billion yen (about 11.97 billion U.S. dollars) in February, marking the eighth consecutive monthly rise, government data showed Wednesday.

The current account surplus was the largest since September 2011, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report, suggesting the sharp depreciation of the yen and a downturn in global crude oil prices are the main reasons. (Japan-Current Account Surplus)

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SEOUL -- South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) reconfirmed their different positions on wage hike for DPRK workers in the Kaesong industrial zone during Tuesday contact, Seoul's unification ministry said on Wednesday.

Unification Ministry spokesman Lim Byeong-cheol told a press briefing that the first inter-Korean contact over the wage increase issue was held in Kaesong between South Korea's management committee for the factory park and the DPRK's General Bureau for Guidance to Central Special Economic Zone Development. (S. Korea-DPRK-Kaesong) Endi