WASHINGTON, Dec 15 (Reuters) - U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns said on Friday he had started talks with Beijing on renewing a landmark scientific cooperation agreement, and while the deal needed to be modernized, prospects for a new one were uncertain.

Controversy over the renewal of the U.S.-China Science and Technology Agreement (STA) - the first accord between the two countries signed in 1979 after the official establishment of diplomatic ties - has grown amid U.S. accusations of China's theft of U.S. scientific and commercial achievements.

BEIJING, Dec 16 (APP): Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee has put forward three suggestions for continuing to advance the process of improving relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — President Javier Milei on Friday raffled off the last salary he received as an Argentine lawmaker before being sworn in earlier this month as leader of the economically troubled nation.

During a live video broadcast on Instagram, Milei showed off his office and boasted his attributes as president. The broadcast also featured the last raffle of Milei’s monthly salary as a national deputy — 2.1 million Argentine pesos, or about $2,500.

MOSCOW, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- Russia plans to conduct seven launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in 2024, the commander of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces (SMF) Lieutenant General Sergei Karakayev said on Friday.

In an interview with Russian newspaper Red Star, Karakayev said that in the past five years, the SMF has conducted more than 20 ICBM launches as part of flight tests of new missile systems and training exercises for the Russian armed forces.

MOSCOW, December 16. /TASS/: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin discussed free Russian grain and fertilizer supplies to the world’s neediest countries with United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretary General Rebeca Grynspan and UN Under-Secretary-General Martin Griffiths, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported after the consultations involving Russia’s concerned agencies and companies.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union failed to agree on a 50 billion-euro ($54 billion) package in financial aid that Ukraine desperately needs to stay afloat, even as the bloc decided Thursday to open accession negotiations with the war-torn country.

The aid was vetoed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, delivering another tough blow to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after he failed this week to persuade U.S. lawmakers to approve an additional $61 billion for Ukraine, mainly to buy weapons from the U.S.

PUTRAJAYA (Malaysia), Dec 16 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida on Saturday reaffirmed the urgent need to reform the United Nations (UN) to strengthen its functions.

In a joint statement following their bilateral meeting in Tokyo, held on the sidelines of the ASEAN-Japan Commemorative Summit, both leaders said this reform should includes the Security Council, ensuring it reflects the geopolitical realities of the 21st century.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 16 (APP): Pakistan, on behalf of a group of 14 countries, on Friday again pushed for a ceasefire in Gaza, while underscoring the need for an international mechanism to protect Palestinian civilians from Israel’s bombing, and intensified efforts towards peacefully resolving the Middle East conflict.

“The Israeli killing machine must be stopped in Gaza and the West Bank,” Ambassador Munir Akram told the UN General Assembly which met to hear the remaining speakers of its Dec. 12 emergency session, when he made Pakistan’s national statement.

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A 27-year-old man who was living in a tent in the woods in New Hampshire was sentenced Friday to up to life in prison in the fatal shooting deaths of a retired couple who had gone out for a walk. He asserted his innocence in court.

HELSINKI, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Danish shipping company A.P. Moller-Maersk (MAERSKb.CO) will pause all container shipments through the Red Sea until further notice, a spokesperson for the company told Reuters on Friday.

"Following the near-miss incident involving Maersk Gibraltar yesterday and yet another attack on a container vessel today, we have instructed all Maersk vessels in the area bound to pass through the Bab al-Mandab Strait to pause their journey until further notice," the company said in a statement.

MOSCOW, December 16. /TASS/: Russia’s Aerospace Forces downed a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter over the town of Orekhov in the Zaporozhye Region, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

Also, Russian air defense forces thwarted an attempt by the Kiev regime to conduct a massive drone attack on facilities in Crimea, destroying all Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, the ministry added.

JERUSALEM, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- Rocket sirens sounded at sunset Friday in Jerusalem and several nearby cities, including Bet Shemesh.

Loud explosions echoed in the center of Jerusalem and Israel's Iron Dome air defense system intercepted the rocket, according to a Xinhua reporter stationed there.

Israeli media reported that the alarms sounded after a long-range rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip. There have been no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The rocket attack was later claimed by Hamas's armed wing al-Qassam Brigades.