Xinhua world news summary at 1530 GMT, Dec. 20
Xinhua, December 20, 2016 Adjust font size:
Iran said Tuesday that the resolution by the UN Security Council on Syria's Aleppo is an attempt to pave the ground for the deployment of foreign intelligence officers to the city under the cover of UN observers, Press TV reported.
Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said that the document also prioritized the evacuation of militants in Aleppo over the safe exit of civilians in militant-held areas and has ignored the role of the Syrian government.
Shamkhani made the remarks referring to the French-drafted resolution passed on Monday by the UN Security Council.(Iran-Aleppo)
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PARIS -- Five people were killed and six others injured after a pileup of 30 vehicles in Vendee, west France, a regional radio reported Tuesday.
The accident, which might have been caused by heavy fog, occurred earlier on Tuesday on the highway linking La Roche-sur-Yon to Sables d'Olonne in Vendee, Bleu radio reported.(France-Car Accident)
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JAKARTA -- Indonesia and Sweden inked an agreement Tuesday on defense cooperation, a move aimed at deepening bilateral ties, Indonesian Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said.
The memorandum of understanding included cooperation in manufacturing weaponry, exchanging intelligence information and join military exercise, he said.
"Cooperation on developing defense industry includes transfer of technology and join production," Minister Ryamizard said after signing the deal with his Swedish counterpart Carl Anders Peter Hultqvist.(Indonesia-Sweden-Defense Cooperation)
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KUNDUZ, Afghanistan -- Afghan national security forces launched anti-militants operations in the northern Kunduz province on Tuesday to ensure lasting peace there, an army spokesman in the province, Ghulam Hazrat Karimi said.
"Units of security forces backed by aircraft launched major operations in several villages outside provincial capital the Kunduz city today morning to wipe out militants and ensure lasting peace there," Karimi told Xinhua.(Afghanistan-Operations) Endi