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Xinhua world news summary at 1530 GMT, Nov. 18

Xinhua, November 18, 2016 Adjust font size:

The European Union (EU) Friday announced 20 million euro in fund to support Rwanda's accountable economic governance.

The funding agreement was inked Friday in Kigali.

The grant will help improve governance of public funds and improve evidence-based policy-making and monitoring, among other things, according to Rwandan officials. (EU-Rwanda-Fund)

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GENEVA -- The World Health Organization (WHO) warned Friday that while the transmission of the H5N8 bird flu strain to humans was unlikely, it should not be completely ruled out amid an ongoing avian flu outbreak affecting Europe and parts of Asia.

"For WHO so far, human infection with this virus cannot be excluded although we have not seen human cases in the history of H5N8," WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said. (WHO-H5N8)

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TOKYO -- Two Japanese whaling ships set off Friday for an annual hunt in the Antarctic Ocean despite widespread international opposition, local media reported.

The ships, the 724-ton Yushin Maru and 747-ton Yushin Maru No. 2, set out from the port city of Shimonoseki in Yamaguchi prefecture, western Japan, and will join two other whaling vessels to form a fleet, with the plan to kill 333 minke whales by March, 2017. (Japan-Antarctic-Whaling)

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RAMALLAH -- A senior Palestinian official said Friday the Palestinians are looking forward to positively working with the U.S. administration of President-elect Donald Trump to realize the two-state solution.

Saeb Erekat, secretary general of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), made the announcement in a meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah with the U.S. Consul General Donald Bloom. (Pakistan-US-Trump)

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ANKARA -- The Turkish lira hit another record low against the U.S. dollar, having fallen more than 8 percent so far this week, Turkish Hurriyet Daily reported on Friday.

The greenback climbed up to 3.4078 against the lira, its historic high, before it eased to 3.3970 liras as of 12:00 midnight. The dollar stood at 3.3460 at the close on Nov. 17. (Turkey-Lira-Dollar) Endi