MOSCOW, September 19. /TASS/. The drilled hole in its hull patched, Russia’s Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft, currently attached to the International Space Station, has been authorized for further flight and re-entry as a rescue capsule, which will take the space crew back to Earth if need be, the manufacturer, space rocket corporation Energia, said after a meeting of the council of chief designers.

"The manned spacecraft Soyuz MS-09 has been authorized for further flight as part of Russia’s segment of the ISS and for being used as a rescue capsule," the company said in a news release.

MOSCOW, September 19. /TASS/. Russia plans to export live frogs to China for eating purposes, the Russian agriculture safety watchdog (Rosselkhoznadzor) said on Wednesday.

In line with China’s demands, the Russian agency has drafted a veterinary certificate for edible live frogs exported from Russia.

"Live frogs are recognized as safe for human consumption," the document says.

Pune (Maharashtra), Sep 20 (PTI) Two minor girls were allegedly raped by a man and a 17-year-old boy here on Sunday and one of them died of injuries inflicted during the assault days later, a police official said Thursday.

The two girls, both around 12 years' old and residents of the same locality, went to a temple near their home in Hinjawadi area Sunday afternoon, he said.

New Delhi, Sep 19; GANASHAKTI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday opened the filing of claims and objections for inclusion and exclusion of names in the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) of Assam, in which around 40 lakh people have been left out.

A bench headed by CJI-designate Ranjan Gogoi made it clear that second opportunity was being given to those left out of the NRC, keeping in mind the "enormous magnitude" of the issue.

It said the claims and objections can be filed for 60 days starting September 25.

TOKYO, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of people across Japan rallied Wednesday to protest against the controversial security laws that were enacted by the parliament three year ago.

Over 5,000 protesters gathered in Hibiya Park, downtown Tokyo on Wednesday evening, calling for scrapping the controversial security laws.

By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan; 20 Sep 2018; AA: Pakistan on Thursday renewed its offer for dialogue with India to resolve all outstanding issues.

According to the Foreign Ministry, Prime Minister Imran Khan sent a letter to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi seeking a resumption of talks between the two nuclear powers.

Khan responded to a letter written by Modi in late August to congratulate Khan on his election as premier of Pakistan.

20 Sep 2018; DW: Germany has approved the delivery of weapons to Saudi Arabia despite a commitment not to export arms to countries fighting in the war in Yemen.

Economy Minister Peter Altmaier greenlighted the shipment of four artillery positioning systems for armored vehicles, according to a letter he provided to a parliamentary committee. The mounted radars can locate the origin of enemy fire and enable precise counterstrikes.

TOKYO, September 20. /TASS/. Japan’s government is working out the possibility of organizing a meeting between Foreign Affairs Minister Taro Kono and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov during the UN General Assembly in New York on September 24-27, Japan’s NHK TV reported with reference to diplomatic sources on Thursday.

URUMQI, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- A team of 100 Chinese engineering and medical troops left for a one-year peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday.

Their plane left the Diwopu airport in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, at 3 a.m.

They are the first group of the 22nd batch of peacekeepers that China has dispatched to the central African nation. The rest of the 218-member batch will leave on Sept. 28.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Neuroscientists find how the people's brain combined memories to arrive at novel insights, lending a clue to developing faster artificial intelligence.

The study published on Wednesday in the journal Neuron reported the novel brain mechanism that would allow retrieved memories to trigger the retrieval of further, related memories.

This mechanism allows the retrieval of multiple linked memories, which then enable the brain to create new kinds of insights, according to the study.

New Delhi, Sept 19; GANASHAKTI: The JNUSU is deeply dismayed by the statements made by Union Minister and former JNU alumnus, Nirmala Sitharaman.

As a former student of this university and as a senior minister, such statements calling JNUSU members anti-India and 'waging a war against India' is utterly baseless and condemnable.

We see this as a continuation of the systematic slander against the JNU students and faculty that has resulted in numerous attacks on students and teachers, such as the one on Sanjay Kumar in Motihari, Bihar or elsewhere.

MIDDLETON, Wis.; 20 Sep 2018; (AP) — Authorities said they still don’t know why an employee at a Wisconsin software company went to his office with a pistol and extra ammunition and began firing on his colleagues, seriously injuring several, before he was fatally shot by police.