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Xinhua world news summary at 0030 GMT, Feb. 11

Xinhua, February 11, 2016 Adjust font size:

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday unanimously passed the legislation to widen harsher sanctions on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in response to its recent nuclear test and missile launch.

The Senate legislation expands and tightens enforcement of sanctions against DPRK's nuclear and ballistic missile development and other destructive activities, said Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, a co-sponsor of the bill. (U.S.-DPRK-Sanctions)

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BRUSSELS -- The European Union (EU) launched a public consultation concerning whether to grant China the market economy status (MES) on Wednesday, seeking inputs for its in-depth assessment of the status-changing on the bloc's economy.

Open for 10 weeks, the online consultation was about the methods used in the EU's "anti-dumping" procedures on imported Chinese product, as the current measures are set to expire in December, said the European Commission, the EU's executive body, in a statement. (EU-China-MES)

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WASHINGTON -- Thirty-one organizations announced Wednesday that they will share data and results relevant to the current Zika crisis and future public health emergencies as rapidly and openly as possible.

Representatives for leading academic journals including Nature, Science and the New England Journal of Medicine, signed a joint declaration, along with funders such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust, and research institutes such as the U.S. National Institute of Health and Chinese Academy of Sciences. (U.S.-Zika)

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MOSCOW -- The Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday expressed concerns over possible deployment of U.S. missile defense system in South Korea.

The Pentagon said Monday that the United States and South Korea have begun negotiations on the issue in response to the missile launch by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Feb. 7. (Russia-S.Korea-Missile) Endi