介绍:
China urges Japan to address concerns over weapons-grade nuclear material
China is urging Japan to address concerns over its weapons-grade nuclear material during a UN nuclear agency meeting.
China's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Cheng Jingye, expressed China's great concerns over reports that Japan refuses to return to the United States its large stockpile of nuclear material.
It includes 300 kg of weapons-grade plutonium and 200 kg of weapons-grade uranium.
The Chinese envoy urged Japan to clarify the issue, saying the large stockpile has potential nuclear proliferation risks.
Big power talks on Ukraine crisis make little progress
High-level diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis in Ukraine have made little apparent headway at talks in Paris.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has described the meeting with his Russian counterpart as "tough", but promised to continue talking.
"Russia can now choose to de-escalate this situation, and we are committed to working with Russia, and together with our friends and allies, in an effort to provide a way for this entire situation to find the road to de-escalation."
Kerry said he will meet Sergei Lavrov again later today in Rome.
The two met on the sidelines of a long-planned conference on Lebanon in Paris.
Ukraine issues arrest warrants for Crimea's PM, parliament speaker
Meanwhile, a Ukrainian court has issued arrest warrants for the prime minister and parliament speaker of the country's autonomous republic of Crimea.
Kiev's Prosecutor General's office says criminal charges have been brought against them and some other politicians in Crimea.
The move came after Crimea's parliament appointed a pro-Russian politician as prime minister and called a referendum on March 30 on the future status of the region.
Niger extradites Gaddafi's son Saadi to Libya: statement
The Libyan government says former leader Muammar Gaddafi's son, Saadi, has been extradited from Niger and is now in custody in Tripoli.
Saadi Gaddafi fled after his father was killed in 2011.
He is accused of shooting protesters and other crimes during his father's rule, when he was head of Libya's special forces.
In 2012, Interpol issued a "red notice", obliging member countries to arrest him.
NATO strike kills five Afghan soldiers - Kabul
Afghan officials say a NATO airstrike has killed five Afghan soldiers and wounded eight in the east of the country.
A defense ministry spokesman says the air raid took place in the early hours of Thursday in Logar province.
NATO says it's investigating the reported incident.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been deeply critical of international air strikes that have killed civilians in his country.
Pakistan PM meets Taliban representatives and government negotiators
Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has held a crucial meeting with government and Taliban representatives in the capital, Islamabad.
The meeting was held as the government is pushing forward with negotiations with the Taliban, despite recent militant attacks.
On Wednesday, negotiators representing both sides met for the first time in three weeks to find a way to end an insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives across the country.
The government suspended the talks last month after a faction of the Pakistani Taliban killed 23 troops it had been holding captive.
Bahrain says two children injured as bomb explodes
Authorities in Bahrain say two children were injured after they were instructed to plant a bomb.
The Interior Ministry says the two children, aged 10 and 11, have been instructed by what it calls "terrorists" to plant a bomb in a village west of the capital Manama.
The bomb exploded as they were handling it, causing serious injury to one of them.
In the same village earlier this week, a bomb killed two local policemen and an officer from the United Arab Emirates.
China set to waive all local tax preferences
Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei says the government will have all regional tax preferential policies canceled and let the market play the decisive role in allocating resources.
Speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of the annual legislative session, Lou said tax preferential policies run counter to the market economy principles.
He said such policies have caused unfair competition and market disorder in the localities.
As part of his proposed solutions, the minister said the central government will have a unified rule and localities will have to undertake the clearance of their preferential policies.
Subway service resumes in NE China city
Thousands of passengers have been evacuated from subway trains and stations in China's northeastern city of Harbin following a power failure.
The outage led to a two-hour suspension of service on Line 1, the only subway route in operation in the capital of Heilongjiang province.
The evacuation was ordered as a precaution.
It's not yet clear what caused the power failure.
The 17-km Line 1 transports about 130,000 passengers a day.
