Xinhua world news summary at 0100 GMT, Dec. 21
Xinhua,December 21, 2017 Adjust font size:
MEXICO CITY -- After more than a decade of decline, poverty in Latin America is once again on the rise, driven in part by economic crises in Venezuela and Brazil, according to a report released here by a UN agency on Wednesday.
Following 12 years of falling numbers, the poverty rate has increased two years in a row, growing 29.8 percent in 2015 and 30.7 percent in 2016, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) warned. (Mexico-LatAm-Poverty-ECLAC)
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WASHINGTON -- The U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened to withdraw financial aid from countries which back a United Nations resolution rejecting the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
"They take hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions of dollars, and then they vote against us," Trump told reporters at a cabinet meeting in the White House. (U.S.-UN-Jerusalem)
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TEHRAN -- An earthquake measuring 5.2 magnitude on the Richter scale shook Malard town in Iran's Tehran Province on Wednesday at 23:27 local time (1957 GMT), the Iran Seismological Center (ISC) said.
The epicenter of the earthquake, about 50 km east of Iranian capital Tehran, was at the depth of 7 km, 35.69 degree north latitude and 50.96 degrees east longitude, according to the ISC. (Iran-Earthquake)
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WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Congress on Wednesday finally passed the Republican bill to overhaul the U.S. tax code over three decades, sending it to President Donald Trump's desk for signature, amid concerns that the change would widen income inequality and swell public debt.
The House on Wednesday voted 224-201 to approve the 1.5-trillion-U.S. dollar tax cuts package, which would impact nearly every part of the world's largest economy, affecting both large and small businesses, as well as families. (U.S.-Tax Bill)
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SULAIMANIYAH -- Two Kurdish parties withdrew Wednesday from the government of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan in northern Iraq amid widespread anger over unpaid salaries and corruption.
"The Kurdish Change Movement (Gorran) and the Islamic Group of Kurdistan (Komela) decided to withdraw from Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) headed by Nichervan Barzani," Abdul Razzaq Sharif, head of Gorran media office, told Xinhua. (Iraq-Kurdish Parties) Enditem