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Xinhua world news summary at 1530 GMT, March 13

Xinhua, March 13, 2015 Adjust font size:

At least three people were killed and eight others critically injured when Al-Shabaab assailants attacked the convoy of Mandera County Governor Ali Roba on Friday.

Two police officers and a civilian died when assailants attacked the convoy on Arabia-Omar Jilo road, a few kilometers from where 28 people were killed in November 2014. (Kenya-Attack)

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BRUSSELS -- The European Union (EU) prolonged the application of restrictive measures targeting actions over Ukraine crisis, said the Council of the EU on Friday.

The asset freeze and travel bans against 150 people and 37 entities had been extended for a further six months to September 15, said the council. (EU-Ukraine)

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JERUSALEM -- Final polls released Friday show incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud trail four seats behind its main rival Isaac Herzog's center-left Zionist Union, only four days before the parliamentary elections.

A survey by the Hebrew daily Yedioth Aharonot said the Zionist Union would win 26 seats in the 120-seat parliament, with the Likud receiving 22 seats. (Israel-Poll)

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NEW DELHI -- India on Friday summoned Pakistani envoy Abdul Basit and lodged strong protest against the Islamabad High Court's release order of Mumbai terror attacks alleged mastermind Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi.

Highly placed sources said that the Indian External Affairs Ministry raised its strong objection to the release order of the Mumbai attacks mastermind with Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Basit, after the Islamabad High Court ruled this morning that Lakhvi's detention is illegal. (India-Terror attack)

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SYDNEY -- Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey said on Friday that Australia will consider joining the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a day after Britain applied to join the China-proposed bank as a founding member.

"This is something that will obviously be taken into account by the government over the next few weeks as we continue our dialogue with those people behind the bank." (Australia-AIIB)

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SEOUL -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) fired seven surface-to-air missiles into its eastern waters on Thursday, South Korea's Defense Ministry said Friday.

A Defense Ministry official said by phone that the DPRK conducted the missile-firing exercises Thursday evening observed by top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un. (DPRK-Missile) Endi