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Xinhua world news summary at 0030 GMT, March 2

Xinhua, March 2, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) fired two short-range missiles into its eastern waters Monday when South Korea and the United States kick off their joint annual war games, Yonhap News Agency reported.

A Defense Ministry official was quoted as saying that the DPRK fired two missiles, estimated to be Scud ballistic missiles, from 6:32 a.m. to 6:41 a.m. local time from Nampo areas, South Pyongan Province. (DPRK-Missile)

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WASHINGTON -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Saturday, according to a local U.S. media report.

A senior State Department official, who declined to be identified, said that their discussion focused on the current state of the Iran talks, Netanyahu's upcoming visit to Washington and Kerry's concern about the financial plight of the Palestinian Authority, Sunday's New York Times reported. (US-Israel-Phone Call)

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TIKRIT, Iraq -- Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced on Sunday evening the commencement of major offensive to free the towns seized earlier by the Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq's northern central province of Salahudin, a provincial official told Xinhua.

The order to launch the offensive came as Abadi, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi armed forces, paid a surprise visit to the provincial operations command in the city of Samarra, some 120 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, said Sheikh Jasim al-Jbarra, the head of the security committee in Salahudin provincial council. (Iraq-IS-1st LD)

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JERUSALEM -- The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) embarked on a surprise wide-scale drill in the West Bank on Sunday, ordering 3,000 reserve soldiers to report to their units.

Army chief Gadi Eisenkot ordered the drill, which involves overall 13,000 reserve soldiers. Out of those, 3,000 must report to their posts in the West Bank, while the remaining 10,000 were put on alert, the IDF said in a statement. (Israel-Drill-Palestine) Endi