HONIARA -- Solomon Islands' Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has withdrawn from running for a new term and Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele has been nominated as his coalition's prime minister candidate, national broadcaster SIBC reported on Monday.

Manele has accepted his candidature for prime minister nominated by the newly founded Coalition for National Unity and Transformation (CNUT), which consists of the Ownership, Unity and Responsibility Party, the Peoples First Party and Kandere Party, SIBC reported.

Members of parliament will meet to elect the country's new prime minister on Thursday, Governor General of Solomon Islands David Vunagi said in a written notice. (Solomon Islands-Elections)

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TOKYO -- The Japanese yen briefly dropped to a new 34-year low in the 160 level against the U.S. dollar on foreign exchange markets on Monday morning.

It marked the first time since April 1990 that the U.S. dollar has topped the 160 yen line. Monday is a national holiday in Japan, but trading remained very volatile as the Japanese currency began reversing its trajectory in the afternoon, strengthening to the 155 level. (Japan-Yen-Depreciation)

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BANGKOK -- Thailand's exports dropped for the first time in eight months in March due to a shrink in industrial and agro-industrial product shipments and last year's high comparative base, official data showed on Monday.

Exports, a key driver of the Southeast Asian country's economic growth, declined 10.9 percent last month from a year earlier to 24.96 billion U.S. dollars, a sharp reverse from the 3.6 percent growth in February, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce. (Thailand-Export-March)

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VIENTIANE -- Laos recorded an inflation rate of 24.92 percent in April, a slight decrease from 24.98 percent in March, the Lao Statistics Bureau said on Monday.

According to the report released by the Lao Statistics Bureau on its website, the unstable price of fuel, gas and other imported goods, together with the depreciation of the Lao currency kip, are among the main drivers of the inflation.

The highest price rise in April was recorded in the clothing and footwear category, which stood at 37.62 percent year-on-year. (Laos-Inflation-April)

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YANGON -- Seven towns of Myanmar have experienced the hottest April day in decades on Sunday, the country's Department of Meteorology and Hydrology reported on Monday.

Chauk, a town in central Myanmar's Magway Region, registered the highest-ever April temperature at 48.2 degrees Celsius on Sunday, a record high in 56 years for the month of April, the weather bureau said. (Myanmar-Heat)

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NEW DELHI -- At least nine people were killed with 22 others injured, some of them critically, after a pickup van collided with a stationary goods truck in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, police said Monday.

The accident took place Sunday night near Kathia village of Bemetara district, about 53 km north of Raipur, the capital city of Chhattisgarh. (India-Accident-Chhattisgarh) Enditem

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