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Xinhua Asia-Pacific news summary at 1600 GMT, April 4

Xinhua, April 4, 2017 Adjust font size:

A 59.60-carat oval pink diamond was auctioned for 0.553 billion Hong Kong dollars (71.2 million U.S. dollars) at Sotheby's Hong Kong jewels and jadeite spring sale on Tuesday, setting a new world record for any diamond or jewel.

Estimated at over 60 million U.S. dollars, the "Pink Star" is the largest internally flawless fancy vivid pink diamond that the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has ever graded. (Hong Kong-Diamond)

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MANILA -- The Philippines and China have re-established direct talks for the first time in six years to discuss security and trade issues, the Philippines' top diplomat said Tuesday.

Philippine Acting Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo said the biggest fruit of President Rodrigo Duterte's visit to Beijing in October last year was the re-opening of the lines that pave the way for direct consultations between the two countries. (China-Philippines-Dialogue)

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TOKYO -- Two members of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet said separately on Tuesday that they support using the controversial prewar Imperial Rescript on Education as a teaching material, despite strong protests from opposition parties and the public.

Japan's top government spokesperson, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference that the government should allow for the use of the rescript "under careful consideration so that it does not violate the Constitution and the basic education law." (Japan-Textbook)

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SEOUL -- Major South Korean presidential candidates have shown a clear division over policies on security and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), exposing their identities as conservative or liberal.

Conservative politicians here tend to take a hard-line stance toward the DPRK's nuclear program, while sometimes arguing even for nuclear armament, an eye-for-eye reaction escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula. (South Korea-Presidential Candidates) Endit