China to continue to relax price control: NDRC

China will continue to relax price controls, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's top economic planner, said on Tuesday.

Prices of most of medicines, railway transport, postal services and some other professional services will now be determined by the market, according to an online statement by the authority.

The central government started to relax its grip on low cost medicines, telecom services, tobacco leaf, ports and railways and air transport last year, along with natural gas and electricity.

The NDRC will improve supervision to accelerate price reform and stimulate the market.

Ex-Nazi asks for ‘forgiveness’

Former SS officer Oskar Groning, dubbed the "bookkeeper of Auschwitz," asked for "forgiveness" over his role in mass murder at the Nazi death camp, as his German trial began Tuesday.

"For me there's no question that I share moral guilt," the 93-year-old former Nazi told the judges.

He admitted that he knew about the gassing of Jews and other prisoners.

"I ask for forgiveness," he said at the trial, which was attended by almost 70 Holocaust survivors and victims' relatives.

"You have to decide on my legal culpability," Groning told the court in the northern city of Luneburg near Hamburg.

Given the advanced age of most German war crimes suspects, Groning is expected to be among the last to face justice, 70 years after the liberation of the concentration camps at the end of World War II.

He is being tried on 300,000 counts of "accessory to murder" in the cases of deported Hungarian Jews who were sent to the gas chambers, and faces up to 15 years in jail.

Prosecutors said Groning served as a bookkeeper, who sorted and counted the money taken from those killed, collecting cash in different currencies from across Europe.

He also performed "ramp duty," guarding the luggage stolen from deportees as they arrived by rail at the extermination and forced labor camp in Nazi-occupied Poland, they said.

Groning, who entered court using a walker, wearing a white dress shirt and beige sleeveless jumper, admitted to performing those tasks.

He spoke for over an hour, declining an offer to take a break.

Many of the more than 100 co-plaintiffs, witnesses, lawyers and reporters listened to him via simultaneous translations in English, Hebrew and Hungarian.

Romanian-born Auschwitz survivor and co-plaintiff Eva Kor, 81, said before the trial that "he is a murderer because he was part of the system of mass murder."

After Groning's testimony, she expressed appreciation for his attempt to shine a light on his dark past.

"He's very old, and meeting him face-to-face makes me realize that he did the best that he can do with his mind and his body, because he has a lot of difficulties physically and, I'm sure, emotionally," she told reporters outside the court.

"He has to remember a lot of things he did, so I think he is really doing his best."

Groning, unlike most former Nazis, has spoken at length in a string of media interviews about what he did and saw at Auschwitz, although he has insisted he was not personally guilty of harming any inmates.

Prosecutors say that by serving at the camp, he played a role in the mass murder that claimed over a million lives, building their case around 300,000 deaths from May to July 1944.

The trial is currently scheduled to run until July 29.

China seeks to renew spirit of Bandung

The Chinese government is expected to illustrate its vision of China's role as a leading developing country in support of peace and unity during the Asian-African Summit in Indonesia.

Chinese President Xi Jinping left for Indonesia late Tuesday to attend the summit aimed at commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Bandung Conference. He will talk about the future of Asia and Africa as some regions of the two continents still suffer from political turmoil, terrorism and poverty.

Delegates from 109 Asian and African nations, 16 observer states, and 25 international organizations are invited to attend the 60th anniversary of the Asian-African Conference, set to be held in Indonesia's capital Jakarta and Bandung, its third-largest city, from April 19 to April 24.

The Asian-African Summit will be held from Wednesday to Friday and is part of the overall commemoration under the theme of "Strengthening South-South Cooperation to Promote World Peace and Prosperity."

South-South Cooperation refers to collaboration between developing economies - mostly in the southern hemisphere - in areas such as technology, resources and finance.

The forum aims to bridge Asian and African nations to build stronger partnerships and to share experiences in economic development. 

It is also a good opportunity for China to cement its ties with other developing countries, analysts say.

"As the world's second-largest economy, other Western countries have stopped looking at China as a developing country and demanded it shoulder more responsibilities and provide more public services. The change will prompt concerns from other developing countries, questioning whether China has grown apart from them," Ji Qiufeng, a professor of international relations at Nanjing University, told the Global Times.

"The summit presents a good opportunity for China to reassure its stance, which is that China will continue to strive in the best interests of developing countries on the international stage," Ji said.

The Chinese president's attendance at the 60th anniversary of the Bandung Conference also has an important symbolic significance, as it was at the Bandung Conference that China's then-premier Zhou Enlai made a profound impression on Asian countries that were suspicious of the newly established Communist state and later helped break the diplomatic blockade against China.

Zhou also came up with the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence at the conference, which was later expanded into the Ten Principles of Bandung and the Bandung Spirit, a widely recognized set of norms for international relations.

"I think Xi's presence at the commemoration in Bandung sends a strong message to developing countries in Asia and Africa that 60 years on, China is still with them and China is not abandoning its friends," Ji said. 

Before arriving in Indonesia, Xi embarked on his first State visit to Pakistan on Monday, bringing with him a $46 billion investment plan that aims at transforming the country into a regional economic hub. Pakistan was the first Islamic nation that established diplomatic ties with China and relations between the two countries have been described as "iron-clad."

The Chinese president is also expected to promote his initiatives of forging "Silk Road" land and sea ties and the establishment of the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), analysts say.

"The very success of the AIIB at the current stage demonstrates the principles of equality and mutual assistance as mentioned in the Bandung Spirit," said Shen Dingli, a professor at the Institute of International Studies at Shanghai-based Fudan University. 

Yin Gang, a research fellow on West Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the "Belt and Road" initiative and the AIIB could serve as good models in Asian-African cooperation and touch off other projects.

"Most of the proposals of collaboration at the 1955 conference failed to translate into concrete frameworks during the Cold War … Now that drastic and profound changes have taken place, projects like the AIIB and the 'One Belt, One Road' initiative could help lead the way," Yin told the Global Times.

On Friday, leaders attending the summit will participate in the historical walk from the Savoy Homan Hotel to the Gedung Merdeka (Independence Building) in Bandung, the same route used by Asian and African leaders 60 years ago.

The meeting will reportedly show moral support for Palestine, which is the only country that attended the 1955 Bandung Summit but is still unable to achieve independence.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is also scheduled to attend the summit. It is still unknown whether he and Xi will meet on the sidelines of the summit.

Obama submits to Congress nuclear energy cooperation deal with China

US President Barack Obama on Tuesday submitted to Congress a proposed 30-year agreement on cooperating with China in peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

"In my judgement, it meets all applicable statutory requirements and will advance the nonproliferation and other foreign policy interests of the United States," Obama said in a message to Congress issued by the White House.

The agreement, which permits transfer of material, equipment ( including reactors), components, information and technology for nuclear research and nuclear power production, "provides a comprehensive framework for peaceful nuclear cooperation with China based on a mutual commitment to nuclear nonproliferation," Obama said.

The agreement "will promote, and will not constitute an unreasonable risk to, the common defense and security," he said, urging Congress to give it "favorable consideration."

Obama noted that China has since the 1980s become a party to several nonproliferation treaties and conventions and "worked to bring its domestic export control authorities in line with international standards."

China and the US have cooperated on peaceful uses of nuclear energy in the past decades, since the signing of an agreement for this cooperation in 1985, which is to expire at the end of 2015.

South Sudan army kills 28 rebels in Upper Nile clashes

South Sudan's army Tuesday said it killed 28 rebels in armed clashes in South Sudan's Upper Nile State.

"The rebels, loyal to Riek Machar, attacked Jilshal area Tuesday near Sobat River between Al-Nasir and Malakal towns in the Upper Nile State," Philip Aguer, South Sudan's army spokesman, told Xinhua over the phone from Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

"The forces of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) pushed back the rebels' attack. The confrontations resulted in the deaths of 28 rebels and the confiscation of weapons and ammunitions," he noted.

He added that the South Sudanese army was still pursuing rebels who fled to the jungle.

On March 5, the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development in Africa said peace talks between the country's warring parties, in order to end over a year of bloodshed in South Sudan, failed due to their remaining differences.

The rebels proposed that the two armed forces in South Sudan should merge after the general elections, scheduled 30 months after signing a peace deal, while Juba rejected the proposition.

The government also refused to accept the rebel movement's demands of 45 percent administrative level positions during a proposed transitional period.

South Sudan plunged into violence in December 2013, when fighting erupted between troops loyal to President Kiir and defectors led by his former deputy Machar.

The conflict soon turned into an all-out war, with the violence taking on an ethnic dimension that pitted the president's Dinka tribe against Machar's Nuer ethnic group.

The clashes left thousands of South Sudanese dead and forced around 1.9 million people to flee their homes.

Xi urges rich countries to abandon political strings on aid

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday urged developed countries to fulfill their aid commitments and increase assistance to developing nations with no political strings attached.

The South-North cooperation should be based on mutual respect and equality, Xi said at an Asian-African leaders' meeting held here, stressing that developed countries have a binding obligation to help the developing world and narrow down the South-North gap.

Xi said China will unswervingly promote Asia-Africa cooperation under the new circumstances.

He announced that China will grant the least developed countries with which it has diplomatic ties the privilege of free duty on 97 percent of imported products within the year, and will continue to offer assistance to developing countries with no political strings attached.

China is willing to join hands with all parties concerned to implement the "One Belt, One Road" initiatives and set up the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, he added.

The Asian-African leaders' meeting opened here Wednesday with the aim of carrying on the Bandung Spirit and promoting common development of the two vibrant continents.

Xi arrived in Indonesia late Tuesday for the summit and commemorative activities for the historic 1955 Bandung Conference.

Bonded zone in Xinjiang's Kashgar starts operation

A comprehensive bonded zone was opened in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region's border city of Kashgar on Monday.

The zone was approved by the State Council in September and passed joint assessment led by the General Administration of Customs in January.

Covering a plot of 3.56 square km, the bonded zone enjoys geographic advantages for trade thanks to its proximity to Kashgar International Airport and busy highways, as well as the China-Pakistan and China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railways currently being planned.

Several areas have been set up to provide bonded warehousing, logistics and manufacturing. In addition, support services such as custom clearance, airfreight and exhibition halls are also available.

The bonded area has finalized investment agreements with 26 logistics and manufacturing companies, which have a combined registered capital of 400 million yuan (64 million US dollars) and is expected to create 500 jobs.

Bordering on five Central Asian countries including Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and India, Kashgar boasts five national ports.

Xinjiang established its first bonded zone at the Alataw Pass, the country's largest land port, in the region's northwestern Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture of Bortala in 2011.