China and Uzbekistan has vowed to further boost bilateral cooperation and deepen their strategic partnership.

The two countries made the pledge in a joint declaration issued following talks between visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Uzbek counterpart, Islam Karimov.

During their discussion, Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed that China-Uzbekistan relations boast a unique advantage of high-level mutual trust.

For his part, Karimov said China has provided sincere help in Uzbekistan's development.

After their talks, the two presidents witnessed the signing of a series of cooperation documents in such fields as economy and trade, energy, investment and financing.

After Uzbekistan, the Chinese president is to pay a state visit to Kyrgyzstan, where he will also attend a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.

 

Obama welcomes proposal to put Syrian chemical weapons under int'l control

US President Barack Obama is now saying he could put plans for military action in Syria on hold if the country agrees to place its chemical weapons stockpile under international control. 

Earlier United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he would ask the Security Council to demand Syria give up its chemical arms stocks and have them destroyed.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, backed the plan, making the suggestion to his Syrian counterpart, to avoid US military strikes.

Meanwhile U.S congress is debating President Barack Obama's request for authorization of a military strike on Syria.

The Chinese government earlier issued a new statement, urging "extreme caution" when it comes to Syria.

 

Chief of UN nuclear watchdog says Fukushima leak "high priority"

The UN nuclear watchdog says it regards the leak of highly radioactive water from Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant as a matter of high priority.

Reported contaminated water tanks from Fukushima were found to have been leaking, with gallons of water flowing into the Pacific Ocean. 

The International Atomic Energy Agency also expresses concern over the lack of up-to-date information about Iran's nuclear activities.

The EU General Court earlier said it would throw out penalties imposed on eight Iranian banks and businesses for lack of sufficient evidence to justify such sanctions.

New talks on Iran's nuclear programme with the country's negotiators is scheduled on the 27th of this month.

 

Centre-right wins Norway election

In Norways elections early official projections say that the Conservatives and their allies have won the parliamentary election.

Leader of the Conservative Party Erna Solberg is widely expected to form a government with the Progress Party.

Solberg told supporters in Oslo that the outcome was "a historic election victory for the right-wing parties.

Norway's Labour Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg is on record saying he would step down after presenting the budget next month.

The final results of the parliamentary election is expected to be made available on Sept. 26

 

Uganda says DR Congo peace talks to resume

Representatives from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the country's M23 rebels are now convening in the Ugandan capital Kampala to resume peace talks.

The talks follow an emergency summit last week. 

Regional leaders ordered both sides to resume talks within three days after the summit.

The leaders have said restraint must be exercised on the ground to allow for the talks to conclude within 2 weeks. 

Fighting between Congolese troops and the M23 rebels has resumed in the eastern DRC in recent weeks, prompting worries it would further worsen the humanitarian crisis in the country.

 

New WTO head stresses importance of multilateral negotiations in inaugural speech

The new head of World Trade Organization is calling for the boosting of multilateral negotiations during his inaugural speech.

Roberto Azevedo says the landscape of the global economy is being shifted, with new trading relations being formed.

As such, he says the multilateral trading system "remains the best defence against protectionism and the strongest force for growth, recovery and development."

WTO earlier slashed its forecast of global imports and exports volume to 2.5 percent for this year from 3.3 percent.

Roberto Azevedo took office as the WTO's sixth director general this month.

 

CPI stays low at 2.6% as PPI falls by 1.6%

China's consumer price index has come in up 2.6 percent year on year in August.

This is down from 2.7 percent in July and well below the government's full year target of 3.5-perceent. 

At the same time, the producer price index, which measures inflation at the wholesale level, fell 1.6-percent in August from the same month last year.

This is the 18th consecutive month of declines in the PPI.

 

U.S., China launch 2nd joint training program for Afghan diplomats

The second Joint China-U.S Training Program for Afghan Diplomats has begun its U.S leg in Washington D.C. 

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi noted the program was a successful example of cooperation between China and the U.S regarding a third country. 

Wang says the program is also part of China's assistance to Afghanistan and an endeavor to promote Afghanistan's reconstruction process.

12 young Afghan diplomats will begin the two week training.

The Chinese part of the program will be held in Beijing later this year.