介绍:
Kerry to Arrive in Beijing Wednesday
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is to visit Beijing later this week.
Talks over the North Korea nuclear issue and the South China Sea are expected to be high on agenda during his stopover.
China is the last stop of Kerry's week-long trip to Europe and Asia.
He is currently in Laos to discuss the upcoming Special US-ASEAN Summit scheduled for next month in the Californian resort of Sunnylands.
Kerry will later make a stop in Cambodia before going on to Beijing on Wednesday.
Kerry hopes for clarity on Syria talks within 24 to 48 hrs
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says he hopes for "clarity" within the next day or two on Syrian peace talks that were supposed to have started in Geneva at the start of this week.
Speaking as he kicks off a visit to Laos, Kerry says it's better to delay the talks a few days than to have them crumble at the start.
The talks between the Syrian government and opposition had been due to start in Geneva on Monday, but a Western diplomat has said they were unlikely to begin before Wednesday.
The opposition's High Negotiation Committee, which groups political and armed opponents of President Bashar al-Assad, has said it will not attend the talks until the government halts bombardments and releases detainees first.
Iran's Rouhani kicks off first post-sanctions tour in Italy
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is visiting Italy on his first European tour since a nuclear deal saw sanctions lifted against his country.
He will also travel to France later this week, a visit aimed at boosting economic ties.
Tehran has said it will buy 114 Airbus planes to revitalise the ageing fleet of its flag carrier Iran Air. This is the first major commercial deal since sanctions were lifted.
That deal is expected to be signed during the Paris leg of the visit.
Rouhani is also due to meet Pope Francis at the Vatican, the first official visit by an Iranian president since Mohammad Khatami in 1999.
India, France ink 13 pacts
India and France have signed 13 deals during French President Francois Hollande's visit to the country.
The agreements cover such areas as nuclear energy, space cooperation and renewable energy.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also says the government is close to sealing an agreement with France to purchase 36 Rafale fighter jets.
The multi-billion dollar arms deal was inked back in 2012 but wasn't implemented due to price differences and terms of transfer of technology and productions.
As part of their talks in New Delhi, Modi called France "the most trusted strategic partner" of India.
The two leaders have also vowed to cooperate on the fight against terrorism.
Dozens of deaths blamed on rare cold snap in Taiwan
An unusually cold weather front that hit Taiwan has been blamed for the death of as many as 57 people on the island.
The cold wave pushed temperatures to a 16-year record low of 4 degrees Celsius in Taipei city.
Local officials say the deaths of 40 people might be related to the sudden drop in temperatures which caused heart problems and shortness of breath for the mostly elderly people involved.
Neighboring New Taipei City has reported 17 deaths due to the cold weather.
China's New Year travel rush begins in cold wave
Transport authorities are beefing up various emergency measures to ensure passenger safety, as the Spring Festival travel rush gets underway.
The cold weather has driven much of the passenger flow from highways and civil aviation to the railways, which handled 7 million trips on the first day of the travel season.
More than 300 trains have been added to cope with the rise in traffic.
It's expected that this year's travel spree will witness nearly 3 billion trips in total, a 4-percent year-on-year increase.
Hong Kong man arrested for murder agrees with extradition to US
A Chinese national wanted in connection with the murder of two of his nephews in California is being extradited to the US.
44-year old Shi Deyun has been remanded into custody after a hearing in front of a judge in Hong Kong.
He was arrested there on Saturday upon his arrival at Hong Kong International Airport.
Shi Deyun is accused of murdering two of his teenage nephews on Friday.
It's not clear what prompted his alleged attack on the teenagers, who died of head trauma.
Tibet faces decisive poverty battle: official
The authorities in Tibet say they face a huge task ahead in the battle against poverty.
The Tibet Autonomous Region has set the goal of reducing the number of people living below the poverty line by 690-thousand by the year 2020.
However, Tibet's poverty relief office says the plateau environment, which is prone to natural disasters, has posed a challenge to poverty alleviation.
Tibet is planning to focus policy on welfare for poor people, job creation and relocation packages to help with poverty reduction.
