Xinhua world news summary at 1530 GMT, July 7

A suspicious package has been delivered to Britain's Houses of Parliament and officers are at the scene examining the contents of the package, the Metropolitan Police said on Thursday.

Officers have shut down parts of the Houses of Parliament to discover the source and are investigating a "white powder," which is believed to have been found in an envelope addressed to a member of the House of Lords, according to local media reports. (Britain-Suspicious Package)

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LONDON -- Five men were confirmed dead after an industrial accident at a recycling site in Nechells district in Birmingham on Thursday morning, local police said.

Officers were called by West Midlands Ambulance Service at 8.45 a.m. local time to Hawkeswood Metal in Aston Church Road in the city to reports that a wall had collapsed, West Midlands Police said. (Britain-Accident)

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BERLIN -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday defended the planned NATO presence in eastern Europe in her government statement on the forthcoming NATO summit in Warsaw.

It is not enough to be able to relocate troops in crisis situations quickly, she said at Bundestag,the lower house of the German parliament, adding NATO should have rather stronger presence in the Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia as well as Poland. (Germany-NATO-East Europe)

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ACCRA -- Nine people died and several others injured in a stampede Thursday dawn at a social gathering at Asawase, a predominant Muslim community near Kumasi, some 270 km north of Ghana's capital.

It is not readily clear what caused the incident but one report said the victims had attended a party with between 200 to 300 revelers in attendance. (Ghana-Stampede) Endi