TEHRAN, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday that they would strike Israeli cities with missiles if the Islamic country was threatened, according to local Mizan News Agency.

The Revolutionary Guards added that they will continue increasing Iran's defensive capabilities despite U.S. pressure to scrap its ballistic missile program.

On the same day, a senior Iranian cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami warned that if his country was attacked by the United States and Israel, Tehran will give a tit-for-tat fightback.

MOSCOW, August 23. /TASS/. Moscow will definitely respond to Washington’s latest sanctions and in particular, it will step up efforts to abandon the dollar in trade operations, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in an interview with International Affairs magazine. Extracts from the interview were available on the publication’s website on Thursday.

BOCHAROV RUCHEI, August 22./TASS/. All foreign forces staying in Syria without an invitation from Damascus must leave the country, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday in comments on a statement by US National Security Adviser John Bolton.

"All foreign forces staying there without an invitation from the Syrian government must be eventually withdrawn," Lavrov told reporters.

MOSCOW, August 22. /TASS/. The Western countries are known to have made at least a hundred chemical agents similar to the Novichok nerve gas since the mid-1990s, as follows from a report published on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website.

The Foreign Ministry recalled that on January 13, 1993 Moscow was one of the first to have put its signature to the Chemical Weapons Convention and promptly began its implementation.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- The 67th United Nations Department of Public Information/Non-Governmental Organization Conference kicked off Wednesday, bringing together some 2,000 representatives from over 300 non-governmental organizations to discuss issues of global concern.

Alison Smale, under secretary-general for global communications, UN Department of Public Information, said stronger links to civil society provide the greatest chance for dealing with global problems that no country can solve alone.

GENEVA, August 23. /TASS/. Moscow will give a tit-for-tat response to the expansion of US blacklists of Russian companies and individuals, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters on Thursday.

A former Shiv Sena corporator Shrikant Pangarkar provided provided “shelter” and “logistical support” to Hindutva terrorists in Mumbai.

The revelation came during Anti Terror Squad (ATS) questioning of three Hidutva terrorists Vaibhav Raut, Sharad Kalaskar and Sudhanva Gondhalekar, arrested on Friday for making bombs with the intention to use it on Iduzzuha (Bakra-eid) day, to fan communal riots and hatred.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s foreign minister called for Europe to strengthen its financial independence from the United States and set up independent payment channels as he laid out proposals for a future “balanced partnership” with the U.S.

Heiko Maas wrote in a piece for the daily Handelsblatt Wednesday that he envisions taking a “balanced share of responsibility” and being “a counterbalance when the U.S. crosses red lines.”

Muzaffarnagar (UP), August 21 PTI:  Two Muslim youths were beaten up and paraded by a cow vigilante group under Adarsh Mandi police station in Shamli here, police said today.

Police yesterday registered a case against twenty activists of the cow protection group and also arrested their chief, said circle officer Ashok Kumar. Police are trying to identify the remaining accused persons using a video which was shot when the two youths were being thrashed.

Later police rescued them and booked them under Prevention of Cow Slaughtering Act.

Singapore, Aug 21 (AFP) Aung San Suu Kyi today said it was up to Bangladesh to decide how quickly Rohingya refugees would return to Myanmar, appearing to blame Dhaka for the delay.

More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Buddhist-majority Myanmar to Bangladesh after a brutal military crackdown on the stateless minority almost a year ago.

There were 80 Government Accountant positions in Goa, for which 8,000 candidates applied. They needed to score 50% to pass the exam; but they all failed.

According to The Indian Express,” Goa’s director of accounts, in a notification issued yesterday, said none of the candidates, who appeared for the initial recruitment examination held on January 7 this year, secured the minimum qualifying marks required to get through.”

MECCA, Saudi Arabia, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- Around 2.5 million pilgrims from around the globe start travelling for Hajj destinations in Mecca, Saudi Arabia on Monday, taking light rails constructed and operated by China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC).

Many of the pilgrims, who travel by the light rail for the first time, gave the thumbs up to the fast and convenient services of the Chinese company, as the rail staff were busy helping passengers board the train.