28 Apr 2019; DW: Xi Jinping raised a glass to his signature foreign policy project at a Belt and Road conference in Beijing. While some countries fear that China is using the initiative for strategic gain, others are flocking to join it.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Saturday that $64 billion (€57 billion) in infrastructure deals were signed at this week's Belt and Road Forum in Beijing.

TEHRAN, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Ministry on Saturday denied that it had requested the United States and Saudi Arabia to negotiate over disputed issues.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi dismissed in a statement the recent western media's reports that Iran has made request for talks with the United States.

FUZHOU, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Cold functional tests began Saturday on a reactor of China's first nuclear power project using Hualong One technology, a domestically developed third-generation reactor design.

The test was conducted on a circuit of the No. 5 nuclear power unit in the city of Fuqing, eastern China's Fujian Province, to evaluate the performance of the circuit system and its supporting facilities under high-pressure conditions, according to the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC).

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, April 28. /TASS/. Russia believes it is beneficial to create a single Greater Eurasia space, involving the European Union, the Eurasian Economic Union and various Chinese integration initiatives, Russian Presidential Aide for International Affairs Yuri Ushakov said on Sunday.

BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhua) -- An observatory for detecting cosmic rays in southwest China's Sichuan Province recently began scientific observation as it launched operation of its first set of detectors, scientists said Saturday.

The project, known as Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO), is located in the mountains of the eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau at an altitude of 4,410 meters.

28 Apr 2019; AFP: US sanctions came into effect Sunday to block Venezuela's economic lifeline of oil exports, in what Washington hopes will be a major blow in its fledgling campaign to topple leftist President Nicolas Maduro.

As of 12:01 am Washington time (0401 GMT), the United States will take action against anyone who deals with state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA, or any entity in which the company holds at least a 50 percent stake.

BEIJING, April 27 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese economy has shown more signs of firming up, with its major industrial firms posting a 13.9-percent growth in profit in March from a year earlier.

The figure marked a drastic rebound from the 14-percent decline in the January-February period, according to data released Saturday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Thanks to the improving performances in March, these firms posted a 3.3-percent decline in aggregate profit for the first quarter, 10.7 percentage points less than that in the January-February period.

JERUSALEM, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Israeli media named on Saturday the Syrian prisoners who would be released in return for an Israeli soldier's remains, identifying them as a Fatah activist and a drug dealer.

Hebrew-language Ynet news site identified the Syrian citizens as Ahmad Hamis, a 35-year-old Palestinian from the al-Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, and Zidan Tawil, a 57-year-old man from the village of Khader.

SEATTLE (AP) — A construction crane fell from a building on Google’s new Seattle campus during a storm that brought wind gusts, crashing down onto one of the city’s busiest streets and killing four people.

One female and three males had died by the time firefighters had arrived Saturday afternoon, Fire Chief Harold Scoggins said. Two of the dead were ironworkers who had been inside the crane while the other two were people who were inside cars, Fire Department spokesman Lance Garland said.

ADEN, Yemen, April 27 (Xinhua) -- At least six Yemenis, including three children, were killed on Saturday in a bombardment that targeted their vehicle in the southern province of al-Dhalea, a security official told Xinhua.

The security source, who asked to remain anonymous, said that a car belonging to a citizen named Ali Maarshi was bombarded while traveling on a sub-road in Qatabah district, west of al-Dhalea, 245 km south of the country's capital Sanaa.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former White House staffer who was at risk of being held in contempt of Congress has agreed to testify, potentially averting a showdown between Democrats and the White House.

The House Oversight Committee has scheduled an interview for Wednesday with Carl Kline, who worked as the White House’s personnel security director.

27 Apr 2019; DW: Jihadi militants killed 22 Syrian government soldiers and allied Iranian militiamen on Saturday in two synchronized attacks in northern Syria, a British-based war monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said al-Qaeda's former Syria branch, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), and its ally, Hurras al-Deen, also wounded 30 soldiers and militiamen in the assaults in the northern province of Aleppo.