Xinhua world news summary at 1530 GMT, March 2

At least 11 miners have been killed, with seven others injured and 16 trapped underground following an explosion on Thursday at a state-run coal mine in western Ukraine, authorities said.

According to the State Service for Emergencies, the blast occurred at the depth of 550 meters in the Stepova mine in Lviv region at around 12.46 p.m. local time (10:46 GMT). (Ukraine-Coal Mine-Explosion)

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KUALA LUMPUR -- A DPRK diplomat on Thursday brushed off Malaysia's investigation result that shows the DPRK man died here was killed by chemical weapon, saying he likely died of heart attack.

Ri Tong Il, spokesman of a DPRK delegation to Malaysia, said the DPRK man had a history of heart decease, had received treatment from time to time and normally could not travel without medicine. (Malaysia-DPRK-Investigation)

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TOKYO -- Where there is smoke, there is fire.

Revelations that the head of the operator of a controversial school in Osaka met with a lawmaker from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to secure state-owned land at a heavily reduced price have intensified beliefs in the shady links between the tendentious school and Abe's administration. (Japan-Abe-Scandal)

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BEIJING -- Despite a still anemic world economy charged with rising isolationist sentiment, China's cooperation with other countries keeps growing, with recently released data showing that it became Germany's largest trading partner in 2016.

The increase of China-Germany trade, observers say, serves as yet another signal indicative of Beijing's steadfast commitment to its decades-old opening-up policy, which has benefited both China and the world at large. (China-Opening-up-Trade) Endi