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Xinhua world news summary at 1530 GMT, Nov. 21

Xinhua, November 21, 2016 Adjust font size:

Anti-terrorism operations undertaken this weekend in Strasbourg and Marseille have allowed French authorities "to cause the failure of a long-planned terrorist action," declared French Minister of the Interior Bernard Cazeneuve on Monday.

Thanks to this weekend's arrest of seven men in Strasbourg in eastern France and Marseille in the south coast of the country, as part of an investigation into a terrorist network, "a large-scale terrorist attack has been foiled," indicated Minister Cazeneuve midday. (France-Terror)

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BERLIN -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel confirmed at a press conference here on Sunday that she is ready to run for the fourth term in office in 2017 election.

"I've been thinking a lot about it, and the decision on a fourth candidacy is not trivial after 11 years, neither for the country, nor for the party, nor for me," said Merkel. (Germany-Merkel)

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HO CHI MINH CITY -- A Vietnamese woman from Vietnam's Ba Ria Vung Tau tested positive for the Zika virus on Monday, becoming the second Zika patient in the southern province.

The latest case is a 22-year-old woman from Tan Thanh district, and the first case in Ba Ria Vung Tau is her younger brother, said the provincial Health Department. (Vietnam-Zika)

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KABUL -- At least 27 people were killed and 35 others wounded after a suicide bombing ripped through a Shiite mosque in the western part of Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, on Monday, police said.

The attack occurred at around 12:20 p.m. (local time) when the bomber detonated his explosive vest inside Baqir-ul-Ulum Mosque along Faiz Mohammad Kateb road when Shiite Muslim worshipers were holding a religious procession there, witness Mahmood Ullah told Xinhua. (Afghanistan-Suicide Attack)

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SEOUL -- South Korean prosecutors plan to push a face-to-face questioning of President Park Geun-hye though Park's attorney said the president would reject any interrogation request from the prosecutors.

An official of a special investigative unit in the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office was quoted by local media as saying on Monday that the prosecution office is scheduled to request the interrogation anytime soon as it plans to continue to push the face-to-face questioning.

(South Korea-President-Scandal) Enditem

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