The 7.7 magnitude earthquake which has jolted southwestern Pakistan, has so far claimed over 320 lives and injured over 500 others.

Authorities in Pakistan are now sending in emergency relief into Baluchistan, the quake stricken area.

A convoy of 60 Pakistani army trucks also left Karachi early Wednesday, carrying supplies for those affected by the quake.

Wasey Jalil is a spokesman for the Khid/mat-e-Khalq Foundation.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang have sent messages of condolence to their respective counterparts in Pakistan in the wake of the powerful earthquake.

So far no Chinese casualties have been reported

 

Xi Jinping says China to deliver on the pledge of quality education for all

 

Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged that China will continue placing education on a national strategic priority and provide quality education for all.

President Xi made the comments in a video message to UNESCO on the one year anniversary of the organization's " Global Education First Initiative."

In the message, Xi Jingping said China would increase efforts and financing to deliver on it's pledge to provide quality education for all children.

The Global Education First Initiative was launched last September by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

According to the UNESCO, there are now 57 million children remain out of school globally.

 

Xi stresses CPC criticisms and self-criticisms

 

Chinese President Xi Jinping is calling on leading party officials to relay criticisms and self-criticisms as part of the party's current "mass line" campaign.

Xi Jinping says criticisms and self-criticisms are "forceful weapons" to find and solve problems.

He says the criticisms need to be conducted honestly and based on facts.

The current one-year "mass-line" campaign was launched in June to try to cleanse the party of formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism and extravagance.

 

China urges Security Council to adopt resolution on Syria's chemical weapons as soon as possible

 

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is calling on the UN Security Council to reach a consensus and pass a resolution regarding chemical weapons in Syria as soon as possible.

Wang Yi made the remarks while attending the UN General Assembly in New York.

He said a consensus should be reached as soon as possoble to send forth a message of unity and to provide political support to the work of inspecting, verifying and destroying chemical weapons in Syria.

The top Chinese diplomat attended a luncheon with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and four other foreign ministers of the five permanent members of UN Security Council. 

Wang Yi reiterated that the Syrian issue could only be solved through political means, not a military solution.

 

chemical weapons investigation team returns to Syria

 

A UN chemical weapons investigation team has returned to Syria to complete their probe.

This time the team will gather evidence from an alleged chemical weapons attack on March 19th in the northern province of Aleppo.

The town was captured by the rebels in July.

The team is in Syria at the request of the Syrian government.

They have already determined chemical weapons have been deployed in the suburbs of Damascus. 

The fact-finding group is led by a former UN weapons inspector in Iraq.

 

Cambodian PM unveils 5-year strategy, vowing deep reforms

 

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has unveiled his new government's 5-year strategy, vowing to deepen reforms. 

The new 5-year program includes promises to reduce poverty, while at the same time, pledging to increase competition.

The planned reforms also include dealing with corruption, land management and issues with the Cambodian legal system. 

Meeting with his newly-formed Cabinet, Hun Sen has also warned its members his administration will not tolerate arrogant behavior or abuse of power among them.

Hun Sen was re-elected by parliament as Prime Minister on Tuesday through his party's majority.

 

Maldivian gov't appeals for calm after presidential polls postponement

 

The government of the Maldives is appealing for a resumption of the presidential elections.

Elections have been postponed by the Supreme Court on the island nation.

The Supreme Court this week issued an interim order indefinitely postponing the second round of voting, which had been scheduled for Saturday.

Despite this, the Elections Commission of the Maldives continues to prepare for the polls should there be a last-minute change.

Incumbent President Mohammad Waheed garnered only 5 percent of the vote during the first round of voting earlier this month.

He will have to hand over power to the winner of the second round.

 

China to Release Local Government Debt Audit Results in October

 

Internal sources have revealed that China is likely to release its local government debt audit results shortly.

The nationwide probe into local government debt began in August.

National Audit Office says all audit documents have been submitted for data aggregation.

It is expected that the amount of debt held by local governments is likely to come in at 20 trillion yuan or above.

Among which nearly 14 trillion yuan of debt are said to be financed by shadow banking system.