Malaysian FTZ generates prospects for Chinese firms

Halal industries between China and Malaysia should collaborate more closely to tap into the global Muslim market, a top manager of Malaysia's state-level free trade zone said.

TCM chain flourishes from local partership

In Kuala Lumpur's bustling Jalan Bukit Bintang shopping street, a sign hangs from a storefront bearing two curious slogans.

DPRK unlikely to pull plug on reunions, observers say

Seoul and Washington said on Monday they will begin joint military drills in late February, overlapping with planned reunions between families from the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

ROK eyes trust with China

The Republic of Korea's top diplomat on Monday mentioned the need to establish an intelligence-sharing pact with China to enhance trust between the two neighbors.

Kerry seeks to 'rule out' possibility of conflict

US Secretary of State John Kerry will seek to ease tensions between Tokyo, Beijing and Seoul as he confronts a worsening dilemma for Washington in East Asia, according to observers.

China slams idea to put Japanese kamikaze letters on UNESCO list

Beijing sharply criticized the idea of submitting Japanese kamikaze pilots' suicide notes to UNESCO's Memory of the World Register, calling it a whitewashing of Japan's wartime atrocities.

Japan distorting history, ministry says

Tokyo is "attempting to deny and even beautify" the country's history of militarism and aggression, the Foreign Ministry said, criticizing remarks by a public Japanese broadcaster.

IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Vietnamese get first taste of McDonald's fast food

Four decades after the Vietnam War ended, US fast-food giant McDonald's has opened its first restaurant in the country, aiming to lure a rising middle class away from rice and noodles.

Message in a bottle found 58 years after set adrift

It was April 1956, and the No 1 song was Elvis Presley's Heartbreak Hotel. At the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod, scientist Dean Bumpus was busy releasing glass bottles into the Atlantic Ocean as part of his work to track currents.

Xi's visit wins praise for strong diplomacy

President Xi Jinping's presence at the opening ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia was praised by the international community as a move that brings the two countries closer and reinforces China's image as a global advocate for world peace and stability.

Spanish princess testifies in graft case

Spain's Princess Cristina was questioned by a judge on Saturday in a corruption case that has deepened public anger over graft among the ruling class and discontent with the royal family.