Off the wire
Yemen announces ceasefire in capital after 55 injured in clashes  • China to streamline rural medicare  • Most Alpine Skiing World Cup victories  • Hitachi to cooperate with power utility on power suppliers support  • Man dies in shootout with police at Taiwan airport  • Syria says all options available for retaliation against Israeli attacks  • Roundup: Indonesia goes ahead with death execution plans despite pressure  • Roundup: Seeds fall at first round of Australian Open  • Vonn breaks all-time record with 63rd World Cup win  • Pakistan, Afghan senior military commanders discuss border security  
You are here:   Home

Xinhua world news summary at 1530 GMT, Jan. 19

Xinhua, January 19, 2015 Adjust font size:

Syria's Minister of National Reconciliation Ali Haidar said Monday the truce with Israel has fallen and all options are opened to confront any Israeli aggression.

A day earlier, an Israeli helicopter on Sunday fired two rockets from the Israel-occupied Golan Heights toward a southern Syrian town, killing five Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, including senior commanders of the military group, according to local press.

"It's not the first attack, there have been several attacks, taking advantage of the current circumstances in Syria. but since the first attack we said that the truce with Israel has fallen and all the of the options have become opened," Haidar told reporters Monday. (Syria-IS-Attacks)

- - - -

ANKARA -- Turkish coast guards caught 333 migrants Sunday on a merchant ship off southern Turkey while they were trying to sail to Italy, state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Monday.

Four Turks and 11 Syrian refugees were arrested over an operation by coast guard's Mediterranean region command, said Turkey's mersin governor's office in a written statement. (Turkey-Illegal migrants)

- - - -

KIEV -- The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said Monday that Kiev has asked Moscow to sign a schedule for implementation of the Minsk ceasefire agreement designed to bring peace to eastern Ukraine.

According to the statement published on the ministry's website, the three-stage action plan on ceasefire implementation was developed on Nov.13, 2014 by a contact group on Ukraine's crisis. (Ukraine-Russia-Scheme)

- - - -

ROME -- Corruption has reached "intolerable proportions" in Italy, the country's Justice Minister Andrea Orlando said on Monday.

"The latest probes have shown corruption has reached intolerable proportions, due to the fact that it is often linked to mafia-type organizations," the minister told the Lower House in his annual hearing on the justice system. (Italy-Mafia-Corruption) Endi