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Xinhua world news summary at 0100 GMT, May 17

Xinhua, May 17, 2016 Adjust font size:

Representatives of the Ukrainian government and independence-seeking militants said on Monday that violence has resumed in eastern Ukraine after a period of relative calm that started on May 1, when the country celebrated Orthodox Easter.

Pavlo Zhebrivsky, the Kiev-appointed head of Donetsk regional military-civilian administration, said that the heightened tensions have resulted in combat and civilians casualties over the past day. (Ukraine-Violence)

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TOKYO -- Environment ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) nations on Monday in Japan collectively said they were committed to ensuring global climate change would be tackled swiftly in line with a deal struck in Paris last year.

Following a two-day meeting which was concluded Monday in the city of Toyama on the Sea of Japan coast, the ministers adopted a joint statement which affirmed their intentions to actualize the Paris climate accord reached last year and advance the timetable for mid and long-term climate change solutions before the deadline, initially set for 2020. (G7-Climate)

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WASHINGTON -- China, the top buyer of U.S. Treasury securities, cut its holding in March, the latest data from the U.S. Treasury Department showed on Monday.

China reduced its holding of the treasuries by 7.7 billion U.S. dollars to 1.2446 trillion U.S. dollars in March, following an increase of 14.4 billion U.S. dollars in February. (U.S.-China-Treasury securities)

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HELSINKI - A large internationally organized drug smuggling operation has been busted in Finland, said Finnish Customs in a press release on Monday.

The preliminary investigation conducted by the Finnish police and customs showed that nearly 300 kg hashish, 28 kg cocaine and 2 kg ecstasy were allegedly smuggled to Finland from the Netherlands and Spain during the period 2007-2015. The street value of the drugs amounted to more than 5 million euros(5.66 million U.S. dollars). (Finland-Drug) Endite