Xinhua world news summary at 1530 GMT, March 4
Xinhua,March 04, 2018 Adjust font size:
BERLIN -- Germany will finally have a new government after the Sept. 24 elections as the Social Democratic Party (SPD) on Sunday voted in favor of a government coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel's Conservative Union.
In the internal referendum of the 463,000 plus SPD members, over 66 percent of ballots voted for "yes", with a high participation rate of 78.39 percent, Dietmar Nietan, head of the SPD Mandate and Counting Commission, announced at a press conference at the SPD Headquarters. (Germany-SPD)
- - - -@ DAMASCUS -- Syria's national TV said Sunday that the rebels in the capital Damascus' Eastern Ghouta area are "collapsing" as a result of the Syrian military offensive.
The state TV announced the Syrian army's capture of the town of Nashabiyeh and other towns in Eastern Ghouta, which had been under the control of the al-Qaida-linked Levant Liberation Committee, or the Nusra Front.(Syria-Eastern Ghouta)
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TEHRAN -- Iranian Aviation Organization on Sunday confirmed the discovery of black boxes of crashed passenger plane which crashed last month with all 66 on board killed.
Reza Jafarzadeh, the manager of public relation of the organization, told reporters on Sunday that the black boxes were found on Saturday by Iran's rescue operators on the heights of Dena Mountain.(Iran-Crashed Plane-Black Box)
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LONDON -- Rescue teams from London emergency services raced to Harold Hill, in the borough of Havering in northeastern London Sunday afternoon after reports of an explosion.
As Metropolitan Police officers started to evacuate people from nearby houses, the early indication is that the incident is not terror related.(Britain-Explosion) Enditem