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Xinhua world news summary at 1530 GMT, Feb. 23

Xinhua, February 23, 2017 Adjust font size:

Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed on Thursday appointed former humanitarian worker, Hassan Ali Khaire as the country's new prime minister.

President Mohamed named his prime minister a day after his inauguration witnessed by regional leaders and members of the international community.Khaire was cleared last year by the United Nations after he was mentioned in a UN monitoring report in 2015 to have had links with extremist groups in the Horn of Africa. (Somali-PM)

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WASHINGTON-- The Trump administration on Wednesday scrapped a rule that allowed transgender students to choose which restroom to go to, taking a position on a debate that embroiled the United States since the Obama administration.

The new policy is not expected to impact schools as the Obama guidelines never went into effect due to a block issued by courts. (US-Trump-Toilet)

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QUITO -- Ecuador's presidential election is heading to a runoff as the leading ruling party candidate Lenin Moreno failed to garner an absolute majority in the first-round race on Feb. 19.

To win in the first round and avoid a runoff, Ecuadorian law requires a candidate to win an outright majority of more than 50 percent, or get at least 40 percent of the votes with a 10-point advantage over the runner-up. (Ecuador-Election)

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PYONGYANG -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Thursday said the death of a DPRK citizen at Kuala Lumpur last week was an "anti-DPRK conspiratorial racket" launched by South Korea.

The DPRK also blamed the Malaysian side for showing an unfriendly attitude in handling the case. The man died on the way from a Malaysian airport to hospital. Malaysian police identified him as Kim Chol from the DPRK. (DPRK-Malaysia-Death)

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BAQUBA, Iraq -- Four people were killed and nine others wounded on Thursday in two suicide car bomb attacks targeting security checkpoints in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, a provincial security source said.

Many blame the current chronic instability, cycle of violence, and the emergence of extremist groups, such as the IS, on the U.S., which invaded and occupied Iraq in March 2003. (Iraq-Killing) Endi