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Xinhua world news summary at 0030 GMT, April 15

Xinhua, April 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

Local police confirmed that nine people were killed after powerful quakes hit Kumamoto Prefecture in southwestern Japan at late Thursday and early Friday, while over 400 people were taken to hospitals.

Local media said that some 23,000 people were taking shelter at about 350 sites in the prefecture, according to reports. (Japan-Quake-Death Toll)

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DUBLIN -- The Dail Eireann, lower house of Irish parliament, on Thursday afternoon failed to elect a Taoiseach (prime minister) for the third time since the Feb. 26 general election.

In the Dail Eireann vote for Taoiseach, both Fine Gael (United Ireland Party) leader Enda Kenny and Fianna Fail (Republican Party) leader Micheal Martin were nominated by their respective parties for the position of Taoiseach. (Ireland-Politics)

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KIEV -- The Ukrainian parliament approved the formation of a new cabinet on Thursday following a replacement of the prime minister.

The 23-seat cabinet led by new Premier Volodymyr Groysman won the support of 239 lawmakers out of 367 present in the assembly, the parliament said in a statement posted on its website. (Ukraine-Parliament)

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BAKU -- One Azerbaijani soldier was killed in an attack by Armenian forces on Thursday near the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, Azerbaijan's Ministry of Defense said.

"Thwarting another provocation of the enemy, soldier of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, Rustam Ahmadov, was killed by the Armenian troops on the contact line," the ministry said in a statement. (Azerbaijan-Armenia-Clash)

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SAN FRANCISCO -- Microsoft filed a lawsuit Thursday against the U.S. government over indefinite gag orders that prevent it from speaking about law enforcement request for data.

In the case filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, Microsoft asked the judge to declare the Electronic Communications Privacy Act unconstitutional in allowing courts to require tech companies to keep secret when the government seeks their customers' email content or other private information. (US-Microsoft-Lawsuit) Endi