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Xinhua world news summary at 0030 GMT, March 22

Xinhua,March 22, 2018 Adjust font size:

SAN FRANCISCO -- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted on Wednesday that his company has made mistakes in a data leak that caused grave concern about user privacy possibly abused for political purposes.

"We also made mistakes, there's more to do, and we need to step up and do it," he said in a statement. (US-Facebook-Data Leak)

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WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised the benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points and signaled two more rate hikes in 2018, citing "strengthened" economic outlook in recent months.

"In view of realized and expected labor market conditions and inflation," the Fed decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate to 1.5 to 1.75 percent, the central bank said in a statement after concluding a two-day meeting. (US-Fed-Interest Rate)

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LIMA -- Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski announced to resign in a televised address to the nation on Wednesday, one day ahead of a scheduled impeachment vote against him in the congress.

In his speech, Kuczynski said there will be an orderly and constitutional transition of power. (Peru-President Resignation)

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PARIS -- French financial investigators ended on Wednesday questioning of former president Nicolas Sarkozy on suspected funds of Libyan origin, local news channel BFMTV reported.

Magistrates were considering whether to launch formal investigation into the allegations, it added. (France-Nicolas Sarkozy-Campaign Funds)

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DAMASCUS -- A total of 30 rebels surrendered to the Syrian army after evacuating the Harasta city in the capital Damascus' Eastern Ghouta area, said the War Media, the media wing of the Syrian army, on Wednesday.

The surrendering rebels reached the humanitarian corridor established recently by the Syrian army near the Water Resources facility in Harasta, said the report. (Syria-Eastern Ghouta) Enditem