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Xinhua world news summary at 1530 GMT, Nov. 2

Xinhua, November 2, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday a fresh pause of air strikes against militants in the Syrian city of Aleppo for 10 hours scheduled for Friday.

The humanitarian pause, to be introduced from 09:00 a.m. to 07:00 p.m local time (0700 to 1700 GMT), is aimed at avoiding "unnecessary casualties," Gen. Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, said in a statement. He added that the decision has been agreed upon with the Syrian authorities. (Russia-Syria-Airstrike)

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OSLO -- Iceland's President Gudni Johannesson said Wednesday he has given the Independence Party's chairman the mandate to form the next government, Icelandic media reported.

The president said it is a "clear" choice to give the mandate to Bjarni Benediktsson, leader of the Independence Party, which took a strong lead in the recent election by securing 21 out of the 63 seats in the parliament, according to Iceland's public broadcaster RUV. (Iceland-New Government)

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TEHRAN -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday opposed the restoration of relations with the United States which were suspended in 1980, leader's official website reported.

There is a discourse which endorses the relations with the United States based on the logic that "if we compromise with America, all the problems of our country will be solved." (Iran-US-Ties)

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SEOUL -- An Jong-beom, former senior policy adviser to South Korean President Park Geun-hye, was placed under an emergency detention on Wednesday evening on alleged charges of being involved in the fund-raising of two nonprofit foundations presumably controlled by Choi Soon-sil, a longtime confidante of President Park.

An has been suspected of pressuring conglomerates into donating tens of millions of U.S. dollars into Mir and K-Sports foundations in support of Choi, considered as a behind-the-scenes heavyweight by using her friendship with President Park. (South Korea-Scandal) Endi