Xinhua world news summary at 1500 GMT, Jan. 18

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach here on Wednesday, and pledged to make Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games a "remarkable, extraordinary and excellent event."

During the meeting with Bach at the International Olympic Museum in the Swiss city of Lausanne, Xi expressed his appreciation to the consistent and important contributions of the IOC, Bach and IOC Honorary President Jacques Rogge to the sound development of the international Olympic Movement, and their great help to China's sports cause. (IOC-China-Xi)

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ATHENS -- Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Wednesday rejected the prospect of introducing additional austerity measures in exchange for the conclusion of the pending second review of Greece's third bailout.

Speaking before parliament, the Greek leader of the Syriza party repeated that Greece had so far met the targets set under the program, and was making progress, close to exiting the eight-year debt crisis. (Greece-Bailout)

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MOSCOW -- Russia has extended its asylum for U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden for "a couple of years," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Wednesday.

The decision was made in defiance of a recent statement by former CIA deputy director Michael Morell saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin had a great opportunity to extradite Snowden as a "perfect inauguration gift" to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. (Russia-Snowden)

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ROME -- A series of strong earthquakes hit Italian central areas on Wednesday morning.

A first 5.3-magnitude temblor on the Richter scale struck at 10:25 a.m. local time (0925 GMT) in the province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region, according to Italy's National Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (INGV). (Italy-Quakes) Endite