Xinhua world news summary at 0030 GMT, April 19
Xinhua,April 20, 2018 Adjust font size:
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. space agency NASA's next planet-hunting spacecraft was lifted off on Wednesday at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
At 18:51 local time (2251 GMT), the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, started its journey into space aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. (NASA-Spacecraft)
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HAVANA -- Cuba's National Candidature Commission on Wednesday nominated First Vice President of the Council of State Miguel Diaz-Canel to succeed Raul Castro as president.
Diaz-Canel, 57, an electronics engineer, is member of the Politburo of the ruling Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) and held the chair of first secretary of the PCC in the provinces of Villa Clara and Holguin. (Cuba-Elections)
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UNITED NATIONS -- The United Nations said Wednesday that the main drivers of hunger and malnutrition were man-made conflict and climate change and the protracted crises that followed.
Global hunger had escalated by 5 percent in 2016, said Mario Arvelo, Chair of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS). (UN-Food)
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ANKARA -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Wednesday that the presidential and parliamentary elections will be brought forward to June 24, 2018 from November 2019, in order to make a swift shift to an executive presidency.
"After in-depth consultations, we have decided to hold elections on June 24," Erdogan said at his presidential complex after a meeting with his nationalist ally in parliament Devlet Bahceli, who floated the idea of early polls a day ago, dropping a bombshell in political circles. (Turkey-Early Elections-Executive Presidency) Enditem