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Xinhua world news summary at 1530 GMT, May 3

Xinhua, May 3, 2016 Adjust font size:

The gross domestic product (GDP) growth of the 19-country Eurozone was forecast to be slower than previously expected at 1.6 percent for this year, the European Commission said Tuesday.

The reading was 0.1 percentage points less than the bloc's February forecast and slower than the 1.7 percent growth in 2015, said the EU's executive arm the European Commission in its Spring economic forecast. (EU-Economy-Forecast)

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WASHINGTON -- U.S. defense officials confirmed on Tuesday that an American serviceman was killed during an operation in Iraq.

The Pentagon said in a brief statement that a coalition service member was killed in northern Iraq as a result of enemy fire. (U.S.-Iraq-IS)

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MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a bill that will allow citizens to lease land for free for up to five years in the Far Eastern Federal District in a bid to attract more settlers to this vast region.

"Russian people will be able to lease one hectare of land in the Far Eastern Federal District for five years for free," said the bill published Tuesday on Russia's official legal information portal. (Russia-Land Lease)

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WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Barack Obama does not believe that his country owes Japan a formal apology for the 1945 nuclear bombing of the Japanese city of Hiroshima, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday.

"No, he does not," said Earnest at a press conference when asked whether Obama thinks Japan deserves an apology for the bombing in 1945. (U.S.-Japan-Hiroshima)

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DAMASCUS -- Syrian government forces are confronting a new wave of major attack by jihadi groups on government-controlled areas west of the northern city of Aleppo, the General Command of the Syrian military said Tuesday.

The al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, Ahrar al-Sham, and the Islam army are waging a wide-scale offensive from several directions on the government-controlled western part of Aleppo city, preceded by an intense shelling on the residential areas west of Aleppo, leaving over 20 people killed and more than 40 others wounded on Tuesday. (Syria-Aleppo-Attack) Endi