China, Belgium form all-round partnership of friendship, cooperation
The Chinese and Belgian governments have pledged to upgrade relations, fostering an all-round relationship of friendship and cooperation.
President Xi Jinping and Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo announced the deal following a meeting in Brussels.
The two countries have agreed to maintain a long-term friendship in the political sphere, and have agreed to deepen ties in such areas as the economy, science and technology, and people-to-people exchanges.
The Chinese president has also expressed a greater willingness to deepen ties with the European Union.
Xi Jinping is in Belgium on the final leg of his four-nation European tour, which included stops in the Netherlands, France, and Germany.
Missing Flight MH370
Malaysian authorities have released a new version of the last conversation between air traffic control and the cockpit of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
The Ministry of Transport says the final communication from the plane was "Good night Malaysian three seven zero."
It's unclear if the pilot or co-pilot uttered those words.
Previously, the ministry had said the last message was a more casual "All right, good night" from the co-pilot.
Meantime, despite a massive international search effort that has been ongoing for weeks, no trace of the missing flight has been identified among the numerous objects of interest that have been spotted floating in the southern Indian Ocean.
A total of 10 aircraft and 11 ships scoured the search area west of Australia on Monday looking for any trace of the flight.
Search teams are now towing a pinger-locator, listening for signals from the plane's black box data recorders.
The signals from the flight recorders last about 30 days.
Russia PM visits Crimea
Russia's prime minister and a delegation of cabinet ministers have made a surprise visit to Crimea.
Dmitry Medvedev has promised to quickly pour funds into the peninsula and to create a special economic zone in Crimea, with tax breaks to attract investors.
"After joining Russia, people in Crimea, people of Sevastopol, mustn't lose anything. They must only make gains. This is exactly what people expect from us - to create conditions for calm and respectable life, confidence in tomorrow, the feeling of being part of an honourable, strong country."
The prime minister also pledges that Russia will seek to develop Crimea as a top tourist destination.
In response, Ukraine condemned the visit, saying the trip to Crimea by officials from Moscow is a crude violation of international rules.
Kerry in Israel attempting to salvage peace talks
US Secretary of State John Kerry has made an unplanned trip to Jerusalem in an effort to save the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
Kerry arrived on Monday amid a crisis that could scuttle the latest attempt to reach a deal. The issue is over the release of a group of 26 Palestinian prisoners who were supposed to be let go on Saturday.
Right-wing Israeli ministers are refusing to include Israeli-Arab citizens in the deal.
According to news reports in Israel, Kerry has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. may release incarcerated American-Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, who has been imprisoned on espionage charges since 1987, in exchange for Israel agreeing to release 14 Israeli-Arab prisoners.
Israeli-Palestinian peace talks resumed in July following a three-year hiatus. Israel in turn agreed to release 104 Palestinian prisoners. 78 have been released so far.
At least six killed in twin blasts in Kenya
At least six people have been killed and two dozen others injured in twin explosions in Kenya's capital Nairobi.
The explosions came as attackers hurled explosives into a food kiosk and a bus stop, which are about 50 meters apart in the Eastleigh suburb of the city.
Local police says the explosives are believed to be grenades.
Benson Kibue is the Nairobi police chief.
"It is believed that some bad boys, either went there, inside with some grenades and of course we suspect because of the magnitude of that attack, could be an IED, we suspect. There inside, quite unfortunate, we can say that we lost six."
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
Eastleigh, which is called Kenya's "Little Mogadishu " has seen several grenade attacks over the last year.
Somalia's al Shabaab Islamist group has been blamed for these attacks.
Kenya has several thousand troops in Somalia, helping the UN-backed government tackle al-Shabab, who are linked to al-Qaeda.
UN chief welcomes latest IPCC report on climate change
The UN Secretary-General has welcomed the latest UN report on climate change, again urging the international community to "make every effort needed" to reach a global agreement on the issue by 2015.
The report was released on Monday in Yokohama, Japan. It states that the world is largely ill-prepared for climate-related risks.
A statement from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also warns that managing the risk of climate change will be increasingly difficult with higher levels of warming.
He says a substantial cut in the emission of greenhouse gases must be made, while strategies must also be developed to mitigate the damage cause by climate change.
World leaders will gather for a summit on climate change in September.
More than 300 authors from 70 countries worked on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fifth Assessment Report. The IPCC was established in 1988. |