BEIJING, March 22 (Xinhua) -- A spokesperson for the Chinese military said Friday it firmly opposes U.S. military officers' remarks hyping up the so-called "China threat" at the Senate armed services committee's 2020 fiscal year defense budget hearing.

Jerusalem, Mar 22 (PTI) Critics have questioned the timing of US President Donald Trump's tweet recognising Israel's sovereignty over the strategic Golan Heights, describing it as America's effort to intervene in Israeli elections to help a beleaguered friend at the cost of opening a "Pandora's box."

Trump took to Twitter on Thursday to state that it was time the US recognised Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, a territory the Jewish state occupied in the 1967 war.

Kabul, Mar 22 (AFP) Two US service members were killed in Afghanistan Friday, NATO said, in the latest casualties to hit the international coalition amid ongoing peace talks between Washington and the Taliban.

NATO's Resolute Support mission would not immediately release any details about the soldiers but said they had been killed during an unspecified "operation" in the country.

23 Mar 2019; AFP: Special counsel Robert Mueller on Friday submitted his long-awaited report into an explosive two-year investigation of Russian meddling in Donald Trump's 2016 election -- a probe the president denounces as a "witch hunt" and opponents say could fuel impeachment.

What the report says is confidential, but Attorney General Bill Barr wrote in a letter to Congress that he might be able to summarize its "principal conclusions" for Congress as early as this weekend.

23 Mar 2019; DW: Special Counsel Robert Mueller has submitted his long-awaited report on US President Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign, the US Justice Department said on Friday.

Former FBI chief Mueller has been investigating Trump and his aides' alleged Russian links and obstruction of justice for nearly two years. The report should provide deep insights into the actions of Trump's aides and possibly even the president himself.

What we know so far

WASHINGTON, March 22 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Department of the Treasury said on Friday that it had slapped sanctions on Iranian individuals and entities for their involvement in a defense research organization of Iran that assisted Tehran's past nuclear weapons program.

23 Mar 2019; AFP: France's foreign ministry said Friday that it had summoned the Israeli government's representative in Paris over what it called an "intrusion" by Israeli forces at its cultural centre in Jerusalem.

In a rare move, police entered the building Thursday to cancel an event with a women's group which Israel claims is sponsored or financed by the Palestinian Authority.

WASHINGTON, March 22 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday he has "no idea" about when Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who's leading the Russia probe, will turn in his report.

"I have no idea about the Mueller report," Trump responded on the White House lawn to the question from reporters if he expected the Mueller report to be submitted on Friday, before he left for meetings at his Florida estate. "We're going to see what happens."

23 Mar 2019; AFP: Kurdish-led forces pronounced the death of the Islamic State group's nearly five-year-old "caliphate" Saturday after flushing out diehard jihadists from their very last bastion in eastern Syria.

Fighters of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces raised their yellow flag in Baghouz, the remote riverside village where diehard jihadists of a variety of nationalities made a desperate, dramatic last stand.

SEOUL, March 22 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) withdrew from the joint liaison office with South Korea in the DPRK's border town of Kaesong, Seoul's unification ministry said Friday.

The ministry said in a statement that the DPRK side notified South Korea on Friday morning of its decision to pull out of the Kaesong liaison office according to instructions from the superior authorities.

All of the DPRK officials, who had stayed in Kaesong for the round-the-clock communications with the South Korean counterparts, withdrew from the office.

23 Mar 2019; DW: Speaking on commercial radio in London on Friday, Tom Watson said he would support Prime Minister Theresa May's deal, or a revised deal going through parliament, but only if the public was allowed to vote on it too.

He also said he would take part in Saturday's second People's Vote march. The last such march was the country's second-biggest protest since more than a million people turned out for the 2003 Stop the War demonstration against the invasion of Iraq.

RIO DE JANEIRO, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Former Brazilian President Michel Temer decided to remain silent when being questioned on Friday, local authorities reported.

Temer, who was arrested Thursday on corruption charges and spent the night in a room at the Rio Federal Police headquarters, has told authorities that he would exercize his right to silence.

The prosecution office accused Temer as being the leader of a group that committed crimes of corruption, embezzlement and money laundering.