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Xinhua world news summary at 0030 GMT, Feb. 12

Xinhua, February 12, 2015 Adjust font size:

Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Wednesday they did not make enough progress in talks with Greek finance minister on the Greek debt crisis during the eurogroup meeting and talks will be continued next Monday.

"We did not go into detailed proposals or on details of any program, no common ground achieved," Dijsselbloem told reporters in a press conference. (Greece-Eurozone-Talks)

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WASHINGTON -- Private U.S. firm SpaceX on Wednesday launched a satellite for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to monitor the solar wind and aid in space weather forecasts on Earth in what marked its first deep space mission.

The satellite, known as Deep Space Climate Observatory, blasted off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 6:03 p.m. EDT (2303 GMT) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. (U.S.-SpaceX-Launch mission)

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RAFAH, Egypt -- At least 17 militants were killed on Wednesday during security raids in Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid cities in Egypt's North Sinai province, a security source told Xinhua.

"Four were killed in land raids while the other 13 were killed in an airstrike," the source added, noting that the raids destroyed seven buildings and 20 huts that were used as hiding places for the militants to launch their attacks. (Egypt-Sinai-Raids)

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NICOSIA -- A former Cypriot interior minister and his son were sentenced by an Athens court to 15 years in jail on Wednesday for assisting a former Greek defense minister and former strongman of the PASOK party to take millions of euros in kickbacks for arms deals, Cyprus' state radio reported.

Dinos Michaelides and his son Michalis were found guilty on charges of money laundering. (Cyprus-Athens-Jail)

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BEIJING -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday held phone talks with his U.S. counterpart, Barack Obama, and accepted the latter's invitation to pay a state visit to the United States in September.

The world's two biggest economies have been building a new type of major-country relationship and have maintained good development momentum in bilateral ties despite occasional disputes and frictions. (China-U.S.-Visit) Endi