Off the wire
• S. Sudan parliament extends president's term in office for 3 years  • Federer beats Simon to reach Wimbledon semifinals  • China seeks public views on new cyber security law  • Road accidents in Kenya claim over 1,500 lives in H1  • Maersk Line orders nine container ships worth 1.1 bln dollars  • Poland's interest rates unchanged  • Urgent: Chinese president meets Indian PM ahead of multilateral summits  • Xinhua Insight: China cuts government-trade association links  • 1st LD: Chinese president meets Indian PM ahead of multilateral summits  • Urgent: UN Security Council fails to adopt resolution on Srebrenica massacre  
You are here: 　 Home

Xinhua world news summary at 1530 GMT, July 8

Xinhua, July 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, met here Wednesday ahead of this year's BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summits.

It is their second meeting in the past two months alone. They held talks in Moscow on May 8 before they joined other leaders at the celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Great Patriotic War, Russia's term for WWII. (Xi-Putin-Meeting)

- - - -

TOKYO -- Former Toyota Motor Corp. executive Julie Hamp was released from custody by Japanese prosecutors without charge Wednesday, having been detained for three weeks after being arrested in Tokyo last month for allegedly importing restricted drugs into Japan.

Tokyo prosecutors determined that Hamp was using the painkiller for a legitimate knee complaint, as had been confirmed by medical tests after her initial arrest, and that her resignation from the world's largest automaker, detention and infamy in the global press had served as punishment enough. (Toyota-Drug-Scandal)

- - - -

ISLAMABAD -- At least 20 people were killed and 20 others injured when two passenger vans collided near Pakistan's capital Islamabad on Wednesday afternoon, local media reported.

Abb Takk TV reported that the two vans carrying 60 people had a head-on collision at Tarnol Road area located at the outskirts of Rawalpindi city, twin city of Islamabad. (Pakistan-Road-Accident)

- - - -

ATHENS -- Greece raised 1.625 billion euros in a treasury bills sale on Wednesday, the Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA) announced, as Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was reassuring members of the European Parliament during a speech that Greek people and his government want a fair debt deal and stay in the euro zone.

According to PDMA the interest rate at the auction of the 26-week treasury bills stood at 2.97 percent, unchanged from the previous similar sale of June 10. (Greece-Debt-Crisis)

- - - -

BAGHDAD -- An Iraqi court on Wednesday sentenced 24 defendants to death penalty over charges of killing about 1,700 soldiers when the Islamic State (IS) militants seized the city of Tikrit, the capital of Salahudin province, in June 2014, judicial spokesman said.

"The Central Criminal Court issued a verdict on Wednesday to execute 24 defendants by hanging after proved they were involved in Speicher massacre," said Abdul Sattar al-Biraqdar, spokesman for Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council. (Iraq-IS-Clashes) Endi