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Xinhua world news summary at 1530 GMT, July 1

Xinhua, July 1, 2015 Adjust font size:

Cuba and the United States will restore diplomatic relations and reopen their embassies in their respective capitals as of July 20, an official release said Wednesday.

According to a statement issued by the Cuban Foreign Ministry, acting Foreign Minister Marcelino Medina on Wednesday morning received the chief of the United States Interests Section in Havana, Jeffrey DeLaurentis.

(US-Cuba-Ties)

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KIEV -- Ukraine on Wednesday suspended natural gas imports from Russia as EU-brokered talks in Vienna failed to reach agreement on pricing, Ukraine's national energy firm Naftogaz said.

The suspension will not affect the flow of Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine, said the press service of Naftogaz in a statement.

Naftogaz expects that Kiev and Moscow will reach soon a new gas pricing arrangement, which would cover Russian gas supplies to Ukraine till April 2016, it said. (Ukraine-Russia-Gas)

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WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration on Tuesday appointed a new special envoy to lead U.S. President Barack Obama's long-standing promise to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday that the appointment of Lee Wolosky, a former National Security Council director under former President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush, as the U.S. State Department's Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure was aimed at phasing out the Guantanamo detention camp in a "timely manner". (U.S.-Guantanamo)

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BERLIN -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday that there would be no negotiation over a new bailout program to Greece before the country's referendum on Sunday, though the door for talks remained open.

"We are waiting for the referendum. Before the referendum, there will be no negotiation over a new aid program," she told the lower house of German parliament in a special session. (Germany-Greece-Debt Deal)

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JERUSALEM -- Israel on Wednesday shut down two border crossings into Egypt and the adjacent Gaza Strip, following deadly attacks by the Islamic State (IS) in Egypt's northern Sinai desert.

The Israeli Defense Ministry ordered the temporary closing of the Nitzana terminal, severing the main commercial goods transportation route between Israel and Egypt, along with Kerem Shalom, a terminal used for delivering goods into Gaza. (Israel-Crossing) Endi