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Xinhua Asia Pacific news Summary at 1000GMT, May 21

Xinhua, May 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Thursday named the current justice minister as new prime minister after the former prime minister stepped down for the alleged bribery scandal.

Justice Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn was nominated as the country's second-highest administrative post, 25 days after Lee Wan-koo, the former prime minister, resigned on suspicion that he received bribes, the presidential office said. (South Korea-Minister- Appointment)

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NEW DELHI -- India on Thursday for the first time successfully test-landed a fighter jet on an expressway, a high-speed road corridor, on the outskirts of the national capital, sources said.

"The combat aircraft, Mirage 2000, of the Indian Air Force successfully skimmed the Yamuna Expressway, barely 25 kms from the national capital in the morning and landed briefly before taking off again. The test-landing was part of emergency landing drills on national highways," the sources said. (India-Test Landing- Fighter Jet)

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VIENTIANE -- Social and environmental considerations must be at the heart of all major power generation development projects from genesis and up to a century hence, a gathering of international power sector representatives, investors and experts in Laos' capital have heard.

The comments were made in a panel discussion at the three-day Greater Mekong Subregion Power Summit and Expo 2015 being held in Vientiane set to conclude Thursday. (Greater Mekong Summit-Panel Discussion)

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SEOUL -- South Korea's government officials plan to hold talks with their Japanese counterparts in Tokyo Friday about Japan's attempt to list 23 of its industrial sites of the Meiji Industrial Revolution as UNESCO world heritage, Seoul's foreign ministry said Thursday.

Officials from South Korea's foreign ministry and cultural heritage administration, led by a director general-level diplomat, will meet with their Japanese counterparts to express concerns over Japan's attempt and urge them to come up with ways of easing Seoul's concerns. (South Korea-Japan-Talks)

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COLOMBO -- Four ministers resigned from Sri Lanka's coalition government on Thursday, making it the first large defection since a united government was formed by President Maithripala Sirisena in March.

The minister's are members of the opposition Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) who merged with the ruling United National Party (UNP) in order to strengthen the political environment in the country. (Sri Lanka-Ministers-Resignation) Endi