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Xinhua world news summary at 1530 GMT, Feb. 12

Xinhua, February 12, 2015 Adjust font size:

The leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France on Thursday announced a peace deal for an end to fighting in eastern Ukraine, following 14-hour marathon talks in the Belarusian capital of Minsk.

The agreement envisages a ceasefire between Ukrainian forces and independence-seeking insurgents starting on Sunday, followed by the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line and constitutional reform to give eastern Ukraine more autonomy. (Belarus-Ukraine-Peace)

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TIKRIT -- At least 16 soldiers and government-backed militiamen were killed in clashes with Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq's northern central province of Salahudin, a provincial security source said on Thursday.

The IS militants launched an attack late Wednesday on a military base outside the town of Dijla, also known as Mkeshifah, some 40 km south of the provincial capital of Tikrit, and seized it, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. (Iraq-IS-Clashes)

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TOKYO -- A helicopter of Japan Maritime Self- Defense Forces (SDF) with three people on board went missing on Thursday, local media reported.

According to Japan's Jiji News Agency, the helicopter took off from an air base in Kagoshima Prefecture in southwestern Japan at around 9:19 a.m. local time, while ground commanders lost contact with it after 11:05 a.m. (Japan-Chopper-Missing)

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ISLAMABAD -- At least 22 people including two women were injured when a bomb went off at a railway track in southern Pakistan's Jacobabad district on Thursday morning, local media reported.

Samaa TV said that some unknown militants blew up explosive materials fixed at the railway track with a remote controlled device when a passenger train was passing by in Noor Wah area of Jacobabad, a main district in the country's south Sindh Province. (Pakistan-Blast)

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BUCHAREST -- Moldova's new government on Thursday failed to win the confidence vote in parliament, according to news reaching here from Chisinau, Moldova's capital city.

Only 42 Members of Parliament (MPs) of the Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party voted for their new coalition government, while the vote of at least 51 MPs is needed to for a new government to be sworn in office. (Moldova-Parliament-Confidence Vote) Endi