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Xinhua world news summary at 1530 GMT, Aug. 13

Xinhua, August 13, 2015 Adjust font size:

A Bedouin's tent in the West Bank was burned down on Thursday and a hate slogan spray-painted in another suspected ultra-nationalist attack by Jewish extremists, Israeli officials said.

Israel's Civil Administration in the West Bank said that a tent owned by a Bedouin family was set on fire in the Ein Samia area next to Ramallah. No injuries were reported. (Israel-Palestine-Conflicts)

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GENEVA -- The Swiss Federal Council (SFC) has announced that it would lift previously suspended sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran, with measures beginning on Thursday.

SEC spokesperson Isabel Herkommer told Xinhua on Thursday that the official lifting of the sanctions comes after the same measures had already been temporarily suspended since January 2014, adding that all other sanctions remain in place. (Switzerland-Iran-Sanctions)

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BISSAU -- Guinea Bissau President Jose Mario Vaz has dissolved the government led by Prime Minister Domingos Simoes Pereira, an official source said on Wednesday night.

The source said the president had taken the decision due to "a serious institutional crisis" that had affected normal functioning of public institutions. (Guinea Bissau-President-PM)

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TRIPOLI, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- The spokesman for Libya's internationally recognized government on Thursday said that Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni will stay on office, a day after he made the remark to quit.

"Prime minister and his government will remain in office. The cabinet will not resign," the spokesman, Hatem Oraibi, told Xinhua, adding that that the government is "willing to stand before the parliament to reaffirm its duty whenever asked to do so. (Libya-PM-Resignation)

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BAGHDAD -- Some 50 people were killed and more than 100 others wounded on Thursday at a crowded marketplace in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, a police source said.

"The latest reports said that 53 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded by the huge truck bomb explosion in eastern Baghdad," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. (Iraq-Truck-Bomb)

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SEOUL -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should apologize for wartime aggressions "from the heart," his predecessor Yukio Hatoyama said Wednesday in Seoul while visiting the site of a colony-era prison where he knelt before a memorial monument.

"Through its colonial rule and aggression, Japan caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to Asian nations," Hatoyama said. "The Abe statement must carry remorse and repentance" to South Korea and China. (Hatoyama-Kneeling-Korea) Endi