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Xinhua world news summary at 1530 GMT, Aug. 27

Xinhua, August 27, 2015 Adjust font size:

The President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos appointed on Thursday the country's Supreme Court President Vassiliki Thanou as caretaker Prime Minister to lead the country to early general elections, according to an official announcement issued by the president's office.

The 65-year old judge will be sworn in on Thursday evening and the ministers of the interim government on Friday, according to the statement. (Greece-Debt-Crisis)

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THE HAGUE -- The final report on the cause of the MH17 crash will be made public on Oct. 13, the Dutch Safety Board (DSB) announced on Thursday.

Prior to the official publication of the report, the relatives will be informed about the conclusions of the investigation during a closed information meeting. (MH17-Report-Netherlands)

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BAGHDAD -- The Islamic State (IS) militant group on Thursday claimed the responsibility for the massive suicide bomb attack that killed two senior army commanders in Iraq's western province of Anbar, the group said in an online statement.

The extremist group gave different account about the attack, saying that it was carried out by four of its suicide bombers driving explosive-laden vehicles and two supporting militants with heavy machine guns who targeted the main headquarters of the provincial operations command in north of Ramadi, the statement said. (IS-Suicide-Bomb)

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ISLAMABAD -- Troops in Pakistan's northwest tribal area of North Waziristan have killed 203 militants over the last few days, the military said Thursday.

Major General Asim Bajwa, the Director General (DG) of Inter- Services Public Relations, wrote on twitter that the troops at 1, 200 feet high mountain tops, overlooking Shawal Valley, have surrounded terrorists and cleared all the major heights from them. The statement came at the time when the country's army Chief General Raheel Sharif was visiting the Shawal area to review the operation there and meet the troops engaged in the offensive. (Pakistan-Militants-Conflicts)

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WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Commerce Department on Thursday revised up its estimate for the real gross domestic product (GDP) in the second quarter to a growth of 3.7 percent, much higher than a growth of 0.6 percent in the first quarter.

The growth was higher than market expectation. This is the agency's second estimate for the GDP growth in the second quarter, compared to a 2.3 percent advance estimate. (U.S.-Q2-GDP)

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VIENNA -- Dozens of refugees were found dead in a truck near the town Pandorf in eastern Austria, Austria police said on Thursday.

Burgenland Police told Xinhua that all the people were dead when being found in the vehicle parked at the parking strip of a highway near the small town Pandorf of Austrian eastern state Burgenland. (Austria-Refugees-Deaths) Endi