Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

UNITED NATIONS, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese ambassador to the United Nations on Wednesday rejected U.S. Vice President Mike Pence's accusation against China over Venezuela.

"China categorically rejects the accusation," Ma Zhaoxu, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, told a Security Council meeting on the situation in Venezuela.

UNITED NATIONS, April 10 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Wednesday called for a political solution to the Venezuela crisis and asked for the lifting of unilateral sanctions against the country.

"China calls on the Venezuelan government and opposition to seek a political solution through dialogue and consultations within the constitutional and legal framework," Ma Zhaoxu, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, told the Security Council.

BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) -- A total of 796 Chinese cultural relics arrived at Beijing International Airport at 6:54 a.m. Wednesday after an eight-hour flight from Italy.

The group of Chinese artifacts were first noticed by a unit of Carabinieri, or the national gendarmerie of Italy, on the local relics auction market in 2007, which was followed by a domestic judicial trial.

China's National Cultural Heritage Administration immediately contacted its Italian counterpart after hearing the news and started the repatriation of the relics.

BEIJING, April 11 (Xinhua) -- China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 2.3 percent year-on-year in March, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Thursday.

The increase was up from 1.5 percent in February.

Food prices climbed 4.1 percent year-on-year in March, up from 0.7 percent in February, yet on a month-on-month basis food prices went down 0.9 percent, the NBS said.

10 Apr 2019; AFP: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called a full meeting Wednesday of a top committee of the ruling Workers' Party to address what he described as the "prevailing tense situation", state media reported.

The gathering of the Central Committee comes after Kim's Hanoi summit with US President Donald Trump broke up without agreement in February, and as South Korean President Moon Jae-in flies to Washington for talks with the US leader.

BRUSSELS, April 9 (Xinhua) -- China and the European Union (EU) on Tuesday reaffirmed in a joint statement the dynamic of their comprehensive strategic partnership, pledging to uphold multilateralism and oppose protectionism.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, President of the European Council Donald Tusk, and President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker met here on Tuesday for the 21st China-EU leaders' meeting and issued the statement.

9 Apr 2019; DW: A Hong Kong court on Tuesday found the top leaders of the "Umbrella Movement" guilty of conspiracy to commit public nuisance and incitement for their roles in the 2014 pro-democracy demonstrations.

The trial has sparked concerns about the erosion of political freedoms in the semi-autonomous Chinese city.

What we know so far:

8 Apr 2019; DW: On Tuesday Kazakhstan's interim president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, said snap elections would be held on June 9, state news agency Kazinform reported.

Tokayev, a former parliamentary speaker, took up the presidential post after Nursultan Nazarbayev stepped down in March after nearly 30 years in power.

Following his departure, elections had been scheduled for next year, but Tokayev's announcement bumped them significantly forward.

TOKYO, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Japan's lower house of parliament approved a bill on Tuesday to provide broader childcare support from October as a means to address the nation's dire demographic crisis, including a declining birth rate.

The bill, which the government hopes will clear the upper house before the regular Diet session ends in June, is slated to cost 776.0 billion yen (7 billion U.S. dollars) a year and is part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to expand social security provisions.

KUALA LUMPUR, April 8 (Xinhua) -- Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong arrived in Malaysia on Monday for a working visit.

The visit is in conjunction with the 9th Malaysia-Singapore Leaders Retreat, an annual event held alternately in Malaysia and Singapore, and is the first between Lee and incumbent Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, the Malaysian foreign ministry said in a statement.