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Xinhua Asia-Pacific news summary at 1600 GMT, Feb. 23

Xinhua,February 24, 2018 Adjust font size:

MANILA -- The key suspect in the murder of overseas Filipino worker (OFW) Joanna Demafelis in Kuwait more than a year ago is now in the custody of authorities in Lebanon, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Friday.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said he has informed Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte about the arrest of Nader Essam Assaf, a Lebanese national and one of the principal suspects in the brutal torture and murder of the 29-year-old domestic helper from Sara, a town in Iloilo province. (Philippines-OFW-Murder)

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SEOUL -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Friday that talks between South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) must go hand in hand with talks to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.

Moon made the remarks during a closed-door meeting with Ivanka Trump, the daughter of U.S. President Donald Trump, Yoon Young-chan, Moon's press secretary, told a press briefing.

Ivanka arrived in South Korea earlier in the day leading a U.S. delegation to the closing ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. (S.Korea-DPRK-Ties)

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MANILA -- The approval this week of a committee in the House of Representatives of a bill that would allow divorce in the Philippines has stirred up the Catholic country, reviving an old debate on the legalization of divorce.

On Wednesday, the House Committee on Population and Family Relations submitted a divorce bill that would legalize divorce in the Philippines and dissolution of marriage for plenary deliberations. (Philippines-Divorce-Bill)

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KABUL -- Officials as well as analysts in insurgency-plagued Afghanistan have described the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline project as a "corridor of development" and welcomed it.

Work for the project, designed to transfer 33 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Galkynysh natural gas reserve of Turkmenistan annually along an 1,800 km route to Pakistan and India via Afghanistan, was formally inaugurated at a ceremony Friday. (Afghanistan-TAPI)

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MALE -- The Maldivian Foreign Ministry on Friday reiterated firm commitment to work closely with the international community to address concerns it may have following the extension of the state of emergency.

The ministry said there was no doubt that the Maldives was experiencing one of the most difficult periods in the history of the nation and therefore it was important that the international community, including India, refrain from any actions that could hinder resolving the situation facing the country. (Maldives-Politics) Enditem

 

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