Xinhua world news summary at 0030 GMT, May 16

Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday said that the city state will not be accepting refugees or people seeking political asylum, reported Channel News Asia.

"As a small country with limited land, Singapore is not in a position to accept any person seeking political asylum or refugee status, regardless of their ethnicity or place of origin," said an MHA spokesperson. (Singapore-Refugee)

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LUSAKA -- A recent move by soldiers to try to topple the government of Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza will top a meeting of regional leaders in the Angolan capital of Luanda on Sunday, the Zambia Daily Mail reported on Friday.

Leaders from countries that forms the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) are expected to meet for an extraordinary summit, with the Burundi crisis to take center stage. (Africa-Meeting-Burundi)

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VIENNA -- Some progress has been made while many issues still need to be resolved in the Iranian nuclear talks, China's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Cheng Jingye, on Friday told reporters here.

Based on the framework deal made in Switzerland in April, negotiators from Tehran and so called P5+1 group (permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) are making their effort to reach a final deal by the end-June deadline. (Iran-Nuclear-talks)

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VIENNA -- Austrian Minister of the Interior Johanna Mikl-Leitner stood by her ministry's decision to erect a number of so-called "tent cities" to cater for a large increase in the number of asylum applications.

During a crisis summit involving various ministers, local government authorities, aid organizations and church representatives on Friday, Mikl-Leitner spoke of an "explosion-like increase" in asylum seeker numbers, reaching about 300 each day since Monday. (Austria-Asylum)

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LONDON -- The British government announced Friday that it will fund the industrial research and feasibility work of a proposed coal-gasification power station, which will be equipped with carbon-capture-storage (CCS) technology and can capture and store 90 percent CO2 emissions.

According to a statement from the government, a total amount of 4.2 million pounds (6.62 million U.S. dollars) will be provided for the research of the project, which is planned to be built in Grangemouth, Scotland. (Britain-CO2 emission)

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WASHINGTON -- A U.S. federal jury in Boston on Friday sentenced 21-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death for his role in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing attacks and the following killing of a police officer when on the run.

After deliberating more than 14 hours over three days, the federal jury unanimously chose death by lethal injection for Tsarnaev, a Kyrgyzstan-born U.S. citizen, over the only other option: life in prison without the possibility of release. (US-Boston-Marathon Bomber)

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HAVANA -- Cuba and the United States are scheduled to hold the third round of talks on restoring diplomatic ties next week, the Foreign Affairs Ministry announced Friday.

The talks will take place in Washington, D.C. Thursday and participants will continue the bilateral dialogue on "the process of reestablishing diplomatic ties and the opening of embassies," the ministry said in a statement. (Cuba-U.S.-Negotiations) Endi