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Xinhua world news summary at 0030 GMT, May 15

Xinhua, May 15, 2017 Adjust font size:

South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa began a 24-hour pro-Palestinian hunger strike on Sunday evening as the plight of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails drew more international attention.

Ramaphosa was joined by Communications Minister Ayanda Dlodlo and Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi. The strike is solidarity with about 1,600 Palestinian prisoners who have been on hunger strike in 200 Israeli jails since April 17 to demand better prison living conditions.(S.Africa-Palestine-Hunger strike)

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BERLIN -- Exit polls showed on Sunday that German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Chrisitian Democratic Union(CDU) won North Rhine-Westphalia state election.

According to initial projections made by German local media, CDU secures 34.3 to 34.4 percent of the votes while the Social Democratic Party(SPD) lag behind, getting 30.6 percent of the votes. Sunday's vote was widely seen as a vital pre-duel between Merkel's CDU and ex-President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz's SPD.(Germany-Merkel-Election)

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BAGHDAD -- A total of 27 Islamic State (IS) militants were killed in airstrikes by international coalition against IS posts in IS-held areas in Iraq's western province of Anbar on Sunday, an Iraqi army source said.

The airstrikes in western Iraq and Baghdad car bombing came as the Iraqi security forces, backed by anti-IS international coalition, are carrying out a major offensive to drive out IS militants from their major stronghold in the western side of Mosul in northern Iraq.(Iraq-Killing)

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MOSCOW -- Russian servicemen delivered nearly 5 tons of humanitarian aid to more than 1400 Syrian civilians in the past 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry said Sunday.

Russia has been providing Syrian residents with medical help and regular humanitarian aid amid the continuous chaos in the war-torn country.Russia and Turkey, as guarantors of the nationwide Syrian ceasefire regime, respectively registered 4 and 2 cases of ceasefire violations in the past 24 hours. (Russia-Syria-Aid)

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JERUSALEM -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday urged the United States to move its embassy to Jerusalem, responding to an earlier statement by U.S. State Secretary Rex Tillerson.

Tillerson suggested on Sunday that moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem might not impact the Trump administration's efforts to reach a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. (Israel-US-Jerusalem) Endi