Xinhua world news summary at 0030 GMT, June 23

Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-23 08:32:40|Editor: huaxia

UNITED NATIONS -- A Chinese envoy on Tuesday expressed grave concern over the situation in Afghanistan and asked the international community to help the country overcome the many difficulties.

The current situation in Afghanistan is at a critical crossroads and the country is entering a stage of a new round of uncertainties. It appears that since the U.S. announcement of troops withdrawal in mid-April, the intra-Afghan negotiations have seen setbacks rather than progress. The security situation is deteriorating, and the economic and humanitarian situation has become increasingly precarious, said Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations. (UN-Afghanistan-China)

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WASHINGTON -- U.S. Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked a sweeping legislation to overhaul federal elections, defeating Democrats' efforts to counter a wave of state-level voting restrictions.

Senators voted 50-50 in the evenly split Senate on advancing the For the People Act, failing to meet the threshold of 60 votes needed to overcome a GOP filibuster. (US-Politics)

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HELSINKI -- The energy company Helen, owned by the city of Helsinki, plans to close its coal-fired power plant in spring 2023, nearly two years earlier than originally planned, the company said in a press release issued on Tuesday.

Helen said that the decision will have a significant impact on the carbon footprint of the city and the country. (Finland-Helsinki-Carbon)

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SANTIAGO -- Chile on Tuesday began to vaccinate children aged 12 to 17 against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), President Sebastian Pinera said.

In a bid to achieve "herd immunity," this target group will receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which was authorized by Chile's Public Health Institute for use in this age range. (Chile-Vaccination-Children) Enditem

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