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Xinhua world news summary at 1630 GMT, Feb. 18

Xinhua, February 19, 2015 Adjust font size:

At least two people were killed and 10 others injured on Wednesday evening when a suicide bomb blast hit a mosque of Shia Muslims in Pakistan's garrison city of Rawalpindi, local media and hospital officials said.

The incident took place at 6:30 p.m. when a blast hit a mosque belonged to Shia Muslims in the Shakrial area of Rawalpindi, a sister city of the country's federal capital of Islamabad. (Pakistan-Blast)

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JAKARTA -- The Indonesian government said on Wednesday it planned to evacuate its nationals from political conflict-ridden Yemen as the situation in that country has worsened with Al-Houthi militiamen having expanded their occupation to areas around the capital of Sana'a.

"Indonesia is very concerned over the developing political situation in Yemen that may lead to security crisis and take lives of civilians, particularly Indonesian nationals staying in that country," said a statement released by the Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry on Wednesday. (Indonesia-Yemen-Evacuation)

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TIKRIT, Iraq -- At least six security members were killed and 19 others wounded on Wednesday in a suicide car bomb attack in Iraq's northern central province of Salahudin, a provincial security source said.

A suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into a checkpoint manned by soldiers and Shiite militiamen at the entrance of a military base, just west of the city of Samarra, some 120 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. (Iraq-Suicide Bombing)

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PARIS -- French President Francois Hollande will have a four-way telephone call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko later this evening, French government spokesman Stephane Le Foll announced Wednesday.

"We will continue, we know we have problems, we know not everything is settled. But between what was before Minsk accord and what we know now, even though everything is not settled, there was still a progress," said Le Foll. (France-Telephone Talks)

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KIEV -- Kiev is pulling back its military troops from the contested town of Debaltseve in Donetsk region, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Wednesday. (Ukraine-Crisis)

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MOSCOW -- Russia on Wednesday urged all confronting parties in eastern Ukraine to stop hostilities everywhere in line with the Minsk agreements reached last week. (Russia-Ukraine) Endi