MANILA, Sept 16 (Reuters) - The United Nations children's agency UNICEF has urged education authorities to reopen schools as soon as possible in countries where millions of students are still not allowed to return to classrooms 18 months into the COVID-19 pandemic.
Schools in around 17 countries remain fully closed, while those in 39 countries remain partially closed, according to a report released by UNICEF on Thursday.
TAIPEI, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Taiwan proposed on Thursday extra defence spending of T$240 billion ($8.69 billion) over the next five years, including on new missiles, as it warned of an urgent need to upgrade weapons in the face of a "severe threat" from giant neighbour China.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has made modernising the armed forces - well-armed but dwarfed by China's - and increasing defence spending a priority, especially as Beijing ramps up its military and diplomatic pressure against the island it claims as "sacred" Chinese territory.
BEIJING, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The spacecraft Shenzhou-12, which is carrying Chinese astronauts Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo, separated from the space station core module Tianhe at 8:56 a.m. Thursday (Beijing Time).
The three astronauts have lived and worked in Tianhe for 90 days, the longest stay in space by Chinese astronauts, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).
BEIJING, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- China's economy maintained the trend of recovery in August despite disruptions from the COVID-19 epidemic and natural disasters, showing the resilience of the world's second largest economy.
The country's industrial output showed stable growth in August this year, with the value-added industrial output, a key indicator reflecting industrial activities and economic prosperity, expanding 5.3 percent year on year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Thursday it successfully launched ballistic missiles from a train for the first time and was continuing to bolster its defenses, after the two Koreas test-fired missiles hours apart in dueling displays of military might.
Wednesday’s launches underscored a return of the tensions between the rivals amid a prolonged stalemate in U.S.-led talks aimed at stripping North Korea of its nuclear weapons program.
(AP) --- Japan’s exports rose 26% in August from a year earlier, preliminary data released Thursday showed, below analysts’ forecasts, as supply chain disruptions hit manufacturers.
The 6.6 trillion yen ($60 billion) in exports compared with 5.2 trillion yen a year earlier, when the economy was just beginning to recover from the initial impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Analysts had forecast an increase of more than 30%. Exports rose 37% year-on-year in July.
BEIJING (AP) — An earthquake collapsed homes, killed at least two people and injured dozens Thursday in southwest China’s Sichuan province, state media reported.
Rescue work was underway following the magnitude-6.0 earthquake.
It struck at 4:33 a.m. in Luxian county at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles), the official Xinhua News Agency said. State broadcaster CCTV said that 60 people were injured, three seriously, and 35 houses had collapsed.
The epicenter was about 200 kilometers (120 miles) southeast of Chengdu, the provincial capital.
SINGAPORE, September 15. /TASS/: Russia and the member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) intend to focus on trade and investment cooperation, digital transformation, and sustainable development, an official at the headquarters of the regional bloc of the organization told TASS on Wednesday.
This provides for a roadmap for trade and investment cooperation between Russia and ASEAN for the period 2021-2025. The changes to the roadmap were approved following the results of the 10th meeting of the ministers.
DUSHANBE, September 15. /TASS/: Moscow condemns the activity of Western nations in Libya and is not going to share with them the burden of responsibility for the migration crises triggered as a result, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told journalists on Wednesday following a joint meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers, the Council of Foreign Ministers and the Committee of Secretaries of the CSTO Security Councils.
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 15 (NNN-Bernama) — The General Presidency of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque has announced that daily practices and normal worship is gradually being allowed at the two holy mosques.
The presidency, through a video shared on Twitter, stated that the move was taken after the presidency’s head, Sheikh Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais, was satisfied with the level of vaccination of the people of Makkah and Madinah as well as the compliance of the pilgrims to the SOPs that have been set.
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