Off the wire
• 2nd LD Writethru: Bill English confirmed as new New Zealand Prime Minister  • Dollar changes hands in mid-115 yen in early Tokyo trading  • Tokyo shares open higher on sharp gains in U.S. stocks  • "Insensitive" Australian gov't should support paid 'domestic violence leave': opposition  • Monchengladbach, Leverkusen grab wins in German Bundesliga  • Singapore strongly condemns bomb attack at church in Cairo: MFA  • New cars are dirtier and less fuel efficient than manufacturer claims: study  • French Ligue 1 results  • Leading goal scorers of French Ligue 1  • French Ligue 1 standings  
You are here: 　 Home

Xinhua World News Summary at 0130 GMT, Dec. 12

Xinhua, December 12, 2016 Adjust font size:

New Zealand's ruling center-right National Party on Monday confirmed that Bill English is replacing outgoing Prime Minister John Key, while the new Deputy Prime Minister will be Paula Bennett.

English, who was elected by his Parliamentary caucus exactly a week after Key announced his shock resignation, repeatedly stressed in a televised press conference that the government under his leadership would follow the same policy settings laid down under Key's eight years as the country's leader.(New Zealand-Elections)

- - - -

RAMADI, Iraq -- At least two people were killed and 12 wounded on Sunday in two coordinated suicide car bomb attacks in the city of Fallujah in Iraq's western province of Anbar, a provincial security source said.

The attacks occurred after the sunset when one suicide bomber drove his explosive-laden car into an army checkpoint and detonated it at the western entrance of Fallujah, some 50 km west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Minutes later, another suicide car bomber struck a local police checkpoint in central city, the source said.(Iraq-Fallujah)

- - - -

BUCHAREST -- Romania's opposition Social Democratic Party has won a landslide victory in the country's quadrennial parliamentary elections, after it took more than 45 percent of the votes on Sunday, exit polls show.

According to the results of the exit polls, which were announced upon the end of voting at 9:00 p.m. local time (1900 GMT), the Social Democrats took more than 45 percent of votes for the Chamber of Deputies and more than 45 percent of votes for the Senate, two exit polls have showed.(

Romania-Parliamentary Elections)

- - - -

WASHINGTON -- U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said he doesn't believe the allegations by the U.S. intelligence agencies that the Russian government helped him win the White House via election-related cyberattacks.

"I think it's just another excuse," Trump told Fox News in an interview broadcast Sunday. "I don't believe it ... Every week it's another excuse."

Democrats are using the so-called Russian involvement to explain their heavy election loss, Trump said in the interview. (US-Trump-Cyberattacks) Endi