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Xinhua world news summary at 1530 GMT, April 20

Xinhua, April 20, 2015 Adjust font size:

China and Pakistan decided on Monday to lift bilateral ties to all-weather strategic partnership of cooperation hours after Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived here for his first state visit.

The upgrade of bilateral relations came as the two countries were gearing up for an expansion of cooperation in various fields, with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor high on the agenda. (Pakistan-China-Relations)

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KABUL -- In the conflict-plagued Afghanistan, 15 anti-government militants have been killed and 19-de-miners abducted over the past 24 hours, official sources said Monday.

Units of Afghan national police backed by the army have killed 15 Taliban militants during series of operations across the conflict-ridden country over the past 24 hours, Ministry of Interior said in a statement released here Monday. (Afghanistan-Taliban)

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BAGHDAD -- Kurdish security forces on Monday fought back the Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq's oil-rich province of Kirkuk, while the Iraqi forces continued their battles against the extremist militants in the country's central province of Salahudin, security source said.

In Iraq's northern province of Kirkuk, the Kurdish security forces, known as Peshmerga, repelled an attack by the IS militants on two villages near the town Daqouq, some 40 km south of the provincial capital city of Kirkuk, leaving at least five Peshmerga members killed and 16 others wounded, a Kurdish security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. (Iraq-IS-Attack)

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ATHENS -- A vessel carrying approximately 200 illegal migrants sank off the coasts of Rhodes island in southeastern Aegean Sea on Monday, local authorities said.

At least three people were killed, according to unconfirmed information by local media. (Greece-Vessel-Sink)

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SANAA -- At least 60 people were killed and 49 others wounded in Yemen's capital of Sanaa on Monday morning in one of the fiercest air raids by Saudi-led coalition forces that began more than three weeks ago.

At least 60 Houthi fighters and soldiers of the former republican guards loyal to former president Ali Abdullash Saleh were killed in a military base, on Attan mountain in southwestern Sanaa, during the airstrikes on Monday morning, a security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. (Yemen-Airstrikes)

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JAKARTA -- The Asian-African ministerial meeting opened here Monday and Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said the Bandung Message, better known as the Bandung Spirit, remains a commitment to political solidarity in the world.

Ministers of Asian and African countries held a meeting here in preparation for the Asian-African Summit 2015, which runs from April 22 to April 23 and the Commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Asian-African Conference scheduled for April 24. (Indonesia-Ministers-Bandung Spirit) Endi