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Xinhua world news summary at 1530 GMT, Feb. 17

Xinhua, February 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

Multiple blasts and gunshots rocked a military base in northeast Nigerian town of Biu on Tuesday, a security source and witnesses said. (Nigeria-Attack)

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KIEV -- The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said Tuesday that insurgents have seized part of the strategic town of Debaltseve in the restive east and street fighting was still going on. (Ukraine-Debaltseve-Ceasefire)

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RAMADI, Iraq -- The Islamic State (IS) militants Tuesday executed over 40 people, many were security members, in Iraq's western province of Anbar, a provincial security source said. (Iraq-IS-Execution)

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YANGON -- The Myanmar government on Tuesday declared a state of emergency in Kokang region of the northeastern Shan State and introduced martial law following week-long armed clashes between the government forces and the Kokang ethnic army. (Myanmar-Kokang-State of Emergency)

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JOHANNESBURG -- The South African government on Tuesday joined the international community in strongly condemning the terrorist attacks at two venues in Copenhagen, Denmark in which two people were killed and five police officers wounded. (S.Africa-Denmark)

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GENEVA -- The United Nations human rights chief on Tuesday condemned the killing of 21 people in Libya, deploring it as "a vile crime targeting people on the basis of their religion".

In a latest statement, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein denounced "the mass beheading of 20 Egyptian Coptic Christians and apparently another Christian man in Libya" and urged Libyans to unite against extremists launching attacks based on religious, ethnic, national, racial or political grounds. (UN-Human rights-Libya) Endi