Xinhua Asia Pacific news sumamry at 1000GMT, June 23

Some 14 militants have been killed in Afghan army operations since early Monday while five army troops also died in clashes and landmine explosions within the same period, the country's Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

"A total of 14 terrorists were killed and five others were detained following army operations throughout the country over the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement providing daily operational updates. (Afghanistan-Militants-Death Toll)

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COLOMBO -- Around 100 employees of a local garment factory in Avisawella in the outskirts of capital Colombo were admitted to hospital on Tuesday due to food poisoning, the police media unit said.

A police officer from the unit told Xinhua that the employees had fallen ill after consuming food from the factory on Monday afternoon and had been rushed to the Avisawella Base Hospital on Tuesday. (Sri Lanka-Garment Factory Employees-Faint)

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NEW DELHI -- The Indian government has warned all its employees to be in office on time, else disciplinary action would be taken against them.

"Habitual late attendance is viewed as conduct unbecoming of a government servant and disciplinary action may be taken against such a government servant," the personnel department said in a letter issued to all central government departments Monday. ( India-Government Enployees-Office Time)

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KATHMANDU -- Hollywood film stars Leonardo DiCaprico and Joanaa Lumley will participate in the International Donors' Conference on Nepal's Reconstruction to be held here on Thursday.

Shankar Das Bairagi, officiating secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Xinhua on Tuesday, "Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprico and British film star Joanna Lumley have confirmed their participation in the conference."

The international conference is called by Nepal to gain financial assistance for the rebuilding process of the quake- ravaged country. Nepal needs 669.50 billion rupees (6.7 billion U. S. dollars) for the post-quake reconstruction, according to latest Post Disaster Needs Assessment Report. (Nepal-Donor Conference- Stars)

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SEOUL -- South Korean victims of Japan's wartime sex slavery will sue Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a U.S. federal court as the Abe cabinet has ignored calls for apology and compensation.

The victims, now in their 80s and 90s, held a press conference Tuesday at the House of Sharing, a shelter housing for the comfort women victims, or Korean women coerced into sex enslavement for Japanese military brothels during the World War II, according to local media reports. The shelter is located in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province. (South Korea-Comfort Women Victims-Suing Abe-US)

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WELLINGTON -- Passenger flights around New Zealand were taking off again late Tuesday after a radar failure grounded commercial air traffic nationwide for almost two hours.

Airways New Zealand, which monitors New Zealand airspace, issued a statement saying "an internal network failure" had occurred at 2.41 p.m. Tuesday.

"Airways immediately suspended all flights while we investigated the issue and until we could be satisfied that we could operate safely," it said. (New Zealand-Radar Outrage-Flight Grounding)

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TOKYO -- Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) eyes its triennial presidential election on September 20, with incumbent Prime Minister Shinzo Abe being expected to secure his position without a contest, local media reported.

The Sept. 20 election may be officially promulgated on Sept. 8 before Abe's LDP presidential term expires at the end of September, Japan's Kyodo News Agency cited a senior LDP official who declined to be named as reporting. (Japan-Ruling LDP-Leadership Election) Endi