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BEIJING : Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Japan may just pave the way for more stable Sino-Japan relations, with more youth exchanges and promises to meet his Japanese counterpart, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, regularly.
Some have said it is a case of economics over politics. China is Japan's largest trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching US$237 billion, according to Chinese statistics.
It is the fastest growing export market for Japan, which has now become the largest foreign investor.
JAPAN: Chinese President Hu Jintao has left Tokyo on his fourth day in Japan to travel to Yokohama and Osaka. It's his longest state visit to one country since he became president in 2003.
Over breakfast, Chinese President Hu Jintao met with Japanese lawmakers who gave their full support for the Beijing Olympic Games.
President Hu said: "Chinese society and people pledged to fulfil the promise to international community. So, we will make our best effort to make the Olympics a success in order to unite the international community into a big family."
PERAK : Malaysia's Perak state is calling on the federal government to respect the people's decision, as the state authority adopts policies that are non-discriminatory.
The new administration has vowed to rid the state of corruption and cronyism as it pursues increased investment amid a new political landscape.
Known as "the Silver State", Perak is famous for its great food, tin mines and limestone mountains and caves.
MAE SOT, Thailand: Myanmar residents living near the border with Thailand are crossing over to the northern town of Mae Sot to buy food and seek healthcare.
With the Myanmar border still closed to most foreigners, the closest place to get first-hand information about Cyclone Nargis' impact is Mae Sot in the mountains of northern Thailand.
With no airport or train station, it is a seven-hour drive from Bangkok. Through a friendship bridge, foreigners are usually allowed to enter Myanmar and stay in the border town of Myawaddy for a day. However, this access has been limited after the cyclone.
UNITED NATIONS - The UN launched an emergency appeal for 187 million dollars Friday to help Myanmar's cyclone victims, with Ban Ki-moon warning lives were at stake if the ruling military refused to allow in aid.
Nearly a week after Cyclone Nargis hit the impoverished south Asian country, attention has turned to helping the survivors now at acute risk of malaria, cholera and diarrhea, the World Health Organization warned.
But despite days of increasingly exasperated requests from world leaders, the secretive military regime has only grudgingly begun allowing in aid and rescue workers in dribs and drabs.
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YANGON: Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party called Friday on the junta to postpone a constitutional referendum this weekend after the devastating cyclone that has left tens of thousands dead.
"With this situation, it is not the appropriate time to hold the referendum," National League for Democracy spokesman Nyan Win told AFP.
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The military has insisted the referendum will go ahead Saturday in most of the impoverished state except in areas worst hit by Cyclone Nargis, which has devastated the Irrawaddy delta and badly affected the main city Yangon.
It has been postponed in 47 towns and cities until May 24.
Myanmar's generals say approval of the constitution will pave the way for elections in 2010 under their own "roadmap" to democracy, but critics say it will only solidify their iron grip on power.
Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate who has been held in house arrest for most of the past 20 years, and her NLD have called on voters to reject the document, which they say will not bring democratic change after decades of military rule.
"We did not change, we are still asking the people to vote No at tomorrow's referendum," Nyan Win said Friday.
They and other pro-democracy groups have had little ability to campaign for a "No" vote as the generals have outlawed speeches and leaflets about the referendum.
It will be the first ballot since the May 27, 1990 election which the NLD won by a landslide, but the military never recognised the results. - AFP/ac
BANGKOK - The United Nations warned Friday that another storm was headed in the direction of Myanmar, which could complicate the slow-moving relief efforts from deadly Cyclone Nargis.
An estimated 1.5 million people have been left homeless by the disaster, which has killed tens of thousands, and the storm could pose serious risks to those battling disease, said Richard Horsey, a UN relief spokesman.
TRINCOMALEE, Sri Lanka : Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels set off a powerful bomb killing 11 people and wounding 29 in Sri Lanka's east late Friday, a day ahead of a crucial local poll in the area, the military said.
The blast took place inside the crowded "New City Cafe" in Ampara town, 350 kilometers (220 miles) from Colombo, the defence ministry said, blaming the attack on separatist rebels.
Minutes before the blast, a convoy carrying a key government minister had passed the area, eyewitnesses said but police said the target of the attack was unclear.
TOKYO : Japanese lawmakers voted Friday to allow the military use of space, breaking a decades-old taboo in the officially pacifist country which has an increasingly ambitious space programme.
The move came during a rare fence-mending visit to Japan by President Hu Jintao of China, which alarmed Japan last year by conducting a test to shoot down a satellite.
A lower house committee voted to reverse a 1969 parliamentary resolution that limited Japan's use of space to non-military applications.
TOKYO: Earthquakes shook Tokyo and other areas in eastern Japan for a second day Friday, although there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, officials said.
The meteorological agency said a series of quakes hit the country's east, including one with a magnitude of 5.7 which struck in the Pacific Ocean off Ibaraki prefecture, some 100 kilometres (60 miles) northeast of Tokyo.
There was no risk of a tsunami, the agency said.
A series of strong earthquakes hit the Tokyo area on Thursday, briefly cutting off power to more than 4,000 homes and causing light injuries.
Located in the same area off Ibaraki, the biggest quake on Thursday was initially recorded at 6.7 but was later revised up to 7.0.
Japan experiences 20 percent of the world's major earthquakes and has developed an infrastructure meant to withstand violent tremors.
The nation lies at the crossing of four tectonic plates and is constantly bracing for the dreaded "Big One" feared to inflict major damage. - AFP/ac
WASHINGTON: The United States warned China Thursday that it risked "technological isolation" for developing unique technical standards of its own that also are shutting out foreign competition.
Despite widely accepted international standards, China developed standards mandated by government regulations amid a lack of transparency and due process, said Under Secretary of Commerce Christopher Padilla.
"These requirements certainly provide Chinese domestic companies an unfair advantage, but they also carry great risks for China," he told a conference in Washington on standards and innovation in China.
BEIJING : Beijing is implementing a range of new security measures in its transportation systems, state media reported on Friday, as the city tightened up against perceived threats to the August Olympics.
The reports came a day after a top Olympic security official was quoted saying the nation's military would be involved in efforts to guard against terror attacks or other disruptions to the Games.
Police have begun random night checks of motorists' documents in some parts of the capital and inspections of subway and bus passengers for flammable liquids, reports in the Beijing Youth Daily and Beijing News said.
BEIJING: The number of Chinese children confirmed dead from hand, foot and mouth disease has risen to 34 with nearly 25,000 people infected but the outbreak's spread may be slowing, state media said on Friday.
Xinhua news agency reported four new deaths, including an eight-month-old girl in southern China's Guangdong province and a one-year-old boy in the southwestern Guangxi region.
Two more children also had died in the hard-hit eastern province of Anhui, it said, adding that the number of cases nationwide had risen to 24,934 as of Thursday.
TOKYO: The US military said Friday it had given a Marine a two-year prison term and dishonourable discharge for sexual misconduct with a Japanese woman, even though he was cleared of charges of gang-rape.
The case in Hiroshima was one of a series of alleged crimes by US troops that has stirred public anger in Japan, a close US ally, leading Washington to pledge tougher discipline.
Lance Corporal Larry Dean, 20, is one of four Marines who was court-martialled after a young woman said that they gang-raped her in a car in October in the western city.
YANGON - The UN's World Food Programme said Friday it was suspending aid flights into cyclone-hit Myanmar because of "unacceptable" restrictions imposed by the country's military rulers.
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YANGON - Myanmar will accept emergency aid from the United States, state television said Friday, a week after a devastating cyclone, but did not specify how it would be delivered or distributed.
State television made the announcement after a meeting between deputy foreign affairs minister Kyaw Thu and the head of the US embassy in Myanmar, Shari Villarosa.
GENEVA - The World Food Programme said that two relief flights will be sent to Myanmar on Saturday, just hours after suspending flights due to "unacceptable restrictions" by the government.
"The World Food Programme has decided to send in two relief flights as planned tomorrow, while discussions continue with the government of Myanmar on the distribution of the food that was flown in today, and not released to WFP," Nancy Roman, WFP director of public policy and communications, said Friday.
SEOUL : South Korea and the United States will hold talks next week on the food crisis facing North Korea, the foreign ministry said Friday, as an aid group reported that people were starting to die of hunger.
A South Korean diplomat will visit Washington on Monday for the talks, the ministry said.
"The government is willing to respond actively should there be a request for humanitarian aid from the North," said spokesman Moon Tae-Young.
YANGON - Myanmar said Friday it was not ready to let in foreign aid workers, rejecting international pressure to allow in experts despite fears 1.5 million cyclone survivors face disease and starvation.
One week after the devastating storm killed tens of thousands, Myanmar's ruling generals -- deeply suspicious of the outside world -- said the country needed outside aid for those still alive, but would deliver it themselves.
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Perak's new govt seeks increased investment amid new political landscape