Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BEIJING (AP) — U.S. trade negotiators arrived in Beijing on Thursday to start a new round of talks aimed at ending a tariff war over China’s technology ambitions as officials hint they might be making progress.

The meetings are the latest in a rapid-fire series of exchanges seeking to end the conflict that is disrupting trade in goods from soybeans to medical equipment.

The talks will begin with a working dinner Thursday and last the entire day Friday, Chinese commerce ministry spokesman Gao Feng said during a regular briefing.

27 Mar 2019; AFP: Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific announced Wednesday that it will buy budget airline HK Express for US$628.15 million, as it moves to counter competition from the increasing number of low-cost carriers in the region.

The HK$4.93 billion acquisition leaves Cathay Pacific in control of three of the four airlines in Hong Kong, adding to its namesake carrier and regional subsidiary Cathay Dragon.

28 Mar 2019; AFP: Several anti-junta parties formed a coalition in Thailand on Wednesday, vowing to thwart a military-backed party in a bid to end years of junta rule following the country's first vote since a 2014 coup.

Thai politics are deadlocked after Sunday's vote, with two main rival parties claiming the right to govern amid allegations of ballot irregularities and the full official results yet to be released.

BISHKEK, March 28. /TASS/. Servicemen of Russia’s Kant air base in Kyrgyzstan jointly with the Kyrgyz military are conducting drills in the Central Asian republic’s territory, the General Staff of the Kyrgyz Armed Forces said on Thursday.

"Formations and units of the Air Defense Forces of the Kyrgyz Republic’s Armed Forces are holding tactical drills across the entire republic jointly with the Russian air base in the city of Kant," the statement said. The drills will be wrapped up on March 28, according to the General Staff.

BISHKEK, March 27. /TASS/. Russia and Kyrgyzstan have signed an agreement on cooperation in the area of hydropower industry worth $1.5 bln, a source in the Kyrgyz Economy Ministry’s press service told TASS on Wednesday.

"The Investment Promotion and Protection Agency and Russia’s Ruselprom have signed a memorandum on cooperation worth $1.5 bln," the source said.

BISHKEK, March 28. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Kyrgyzstan for a state visit on Thursday.

The Russian president is due to hold talks in Bishkek with his Kyrgyz counterpart Sooronbay Jeenbekov, and later the two leaders will take part in the Russian-Kyrgyz international conference and visit the museum of Soviet and Kyrgyz writer Chyngyz Aitmatov.

HANOI, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam and Brunei decided here Wednesday to upgrade their bilateral relations to the comprehensive partnership.

The decision was made at the meeting between General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and President Nguyen Phu Trong and visiting Sultan of Brunei Haji Hassanal Bolkiah.

SHENZHEN, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Shenzhen-based BGI, China's top gene-sequencing provider, said they had developed two screening technologies for early cancer detection at a press conference Wednesday.

One technology can detect the gene mutation and methylation level of circulating tumor DNA in blood plasma, thus evaluating the risk of various cancers including lung, liver, ovarian, pancreatic and colorectal cancers, according to Zhu Shida, BGI's oncology consultant.

BEIJING (AP) — China said Wednesday that it has expelled former Interpol President Meng Hongwei from public office and the ruling Communist Party as he awaits trial on corruption charges.

Meng was elected Interpol president in 2016, but his four-year mandate was cut short when he was detained without notice by Chinese authorities last October during a visit to China from Interpol headquarters in France.

At the time, Meng was also one of China’s vice ministers of public security.

HANOI, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam has banned the import of glyphosate-containing herbicides after a U.S. court ruled that a weed killer, produced and sold by U.S. agrochemical giant Monsanto, could cause cancer, local media reported on Wednesday.

Vietnam's Plant Protection Department has urged businesses to stop signing new import contracts for glyphosate-based herbicides, but products already in circulation in the country are not affected by this decision, online newspaper VnExpress reported.