Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

TOKYO, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Prices of gold in Japan leaped to a new high on Wednesday as investors have been switching out of riskier assets like stocks and into perceived safe havens like gold amid concerns over a U.S. economic slowdown.

On the Osaka Exchange late on Tuesday, benchmark gold futures temporarily hit 8,554 yen (65.16 U.S. dollars) per gram, and topped the 8,500 yen mark (64.76 dollars) per gram on Wednesday, dealers here said.

BEIJING, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Twenty years on, Iraqis remain aggrieved over the U.S. invasion of their home country, which has left hundreds of thousands of people dead and almost 10 million displaced.

They still remember the scene in which former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell held a test tube filled with white powder, claiming it to be the evidence of Iraq's possession of "weapons of mass destruction" at a UN Security Council meeting on Feb. 5, 2003.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The United States flew nuclear-capable B-52 bombers to the Korean Peninsula again on Wednesday in a show of strength against North Korea amid concerns that the North might conduct a nuclear test.

The long-range bombers took part in joint aerial drills with U.S. and South Korean fighter jets over the Korean Peninsula, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said. It said it was the first deployment of U.S. B-52 bombers to the peninsula in a month.

TOKYO (AP) — Images captured by a robotic probe inside one of the three melted reactors at Japan’s wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant showed exposed steel bars in the main supporting structure and parts of its thick external concrete wall missing, triggering concerns about its earthquake resistance in case of another major disaster.

The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, has been sending robotic probes inside the Unit 1 primary containment chamber since last year. The new findings released Tuesday were from the latest probe conducted at the end of March.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea this month will begin weekly tests of sewage produced by its major cities and towns to track the spread of COVID-19 and identify future waves.

Officials at the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said Wednesday that wastewater surveillance will potentially provide a cheaper and more sustainable tool in the country’s pandemic response. They say it could also improve the detection of other outbreaks, such as influenza, norovirus or drug-resistant bacteria.

BEIJING, April 4 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — Representatives of China and Cuba signed Monday an agreement on cybersecurity, which they said ratifies the will of their governments to work for an Internet targeted to the development and welfare of the people.    

The agreement was signed by the island’s Minister of Communications, Mayra Arevich, and Cao Shuming, Vice Minister of Cyberspace Administration of China, in the context of the working visit of a high-level delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister, Jorge Luis Perdomo.

BEIJING/TAIPEI, April 4 (Reuters) - China warned U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday not to "repeat disastrous past mistakes" by meeting Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, saying it would not help regional peace and stability, only unite the Chinese people against a common enemy.

The Republican McCarthy, the third-most-senior U.S. leader after the president and vice president, will host a meeting in California on Wednesday with Tsai, during a sensitive stopover in the United States that has prompted Chinese threats of retaliation.

SEOUL, April 4 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on Tuesday vetoed a bill that made it mandatory for the government to purchase excess rice, according to the presidential office.

Yoon rejected the revised grain management act at a cabinet meeting, marking his first veto since he took office in May last year.

The National Assembly, controlled by the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, passed the revision 12 days ago.

TOKYO (AP) — Images captured by a robotic probe inside one of the three melted reactors at Japan’s wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant showed exposed steel bars in the main supporting structure and parts of its thick external concrete wall missing, triggering concerns about its earthquake resistance in case of another major disaster.

The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, has been sending robotic probes inside the Unit 1 primary containment chamber since last year. The new findings released Tuesday were from the latest probe conducted at the end of March.

BEIJING (AP) — Furious at U.S. efforts that cut off access to technology to make advanced computer chips, China’s leaders appear to be struggling to figure out how to retaliate without hurting their own ambitions in telecoms, artificial intelligence and other industries.