UNITED NATIONS, Mar 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) – UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, is deeply concerned about Sunday’s missile attack in Erbil, Iraq, said Farhan Haq, his deputy spokesman, yesterday.

The attack came at a critical moment for Iraq’s path to peace and stability. The secretary-general renewed his call on all concerned sides, to exercise restraint and avoid escalation, said the spokesman.

16 March 2022; MEMO: EU Representative Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff warned on Tuesday that the expulsion of Palestinian families in the Hebron Hills would be a breach of Israel's obligations under international law.

BEIJING, Mar 16 (APP): The adoption of the resolution by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to proclaim March 15 as International Day to Combat Islamophobia was a major victory for Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts, Cheng Xizhong, Visiting Professor at Southwest University of Political Science and law said on Wednesday.

16 March 2022; MEMO: The Turkish German couple who developed the first coronavirus vaccine are the latest recipients of Germany's most prestigious medical prize, DPA reports.

According to the report, the two scientists, Özlem Türeci, and her husband, Ugur Sahin, were awarded the prize named Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter.

MOSCOW, March 16. /TASS/: Kiev is proposing that Ukraine become a Swedish or Austrian version of a demilitarized state that has its own armed forces, said Kremlin Aide Vladimir Medinsky, who leads Russia’s delegation at the talks.

"The preservation and development of Ukraine’s neutral status, a demilitarization of Ukraine, a whole range of issues related to the size of the Ukrainian armed forces are being discussed," he said. "Ukraine is proposing the Austrian, Swedish versions of a neutral demilitarized state, which is a state that has an army and a navy."

PUTRAJAYA (Malaysia), March 16 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysia will participate in the deliberations by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in accordance with the Chicago Convention following the legal proceedings initiated by Australia and the Netherlands in ICAO over the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.

Malaysia’s Transport Ministry (MOT) in a statement said the government of Malaysia reiterated its commitment to a judicial process that is conducted transparently under international laws against the parties responsible for the MH17 tragedy in 2014.

BEIJING (AP) — The U.S. customs agency says it is holding imported goods from Chinese sports brand Li Ning after an investigation indicated they were made by North Korean labor.

U.S. law prohibits imports of goods made in North Korea or by North Korean citizens without proof they weren’t made by forced labor, according to a notice from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Washington.

The goods will be forfeited if Li Ning Co. cannot provide “clear and convincing evidence” within 30 days that it wasn’t made by convict, forced or indentured labor, the agency said.

BEIJING, March 15 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Tuesday urged the United States to make tangible efforts to ease the situation in Ukraine.

Spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks at a daily press briefing in response to a question on recent allegations reportedly made by an unnamed U.S. official on relations between Russia and China with regard to the Ukraine crisis.

TOKYO (AP) — Hong Kong’s share benchmark, the Hang Seng index, soared 9% on Wednesday after a senior Chinese official said Beijing would provide more support for the slowing Chinese economy.

The surge was a reprieve from recent heavy selling of Chinese technology companies and other pressures that had taken the Hang Seng to six-year lows.

Officials at a Cabinet meeting in Beijing promised to “invigorate the economy” with “supporting measures” for the struggling real estate and other steps, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

16 March 2022; MEMO: After more than seven years of war, Yemen is becoming a "chronic emergency" and "there are grave risks in chronic emergencies, namely inertia and fatigue," a senior UN official said yesterday.

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam on Wednesday scrapped quarantine and other travel restrictions for foreign visitors in an effort to fully reopen its border after two years of pandemic-related closure, the government said.

Visitors entering the Southeast Asian country only need to show a negative COVID-19 test prior to arrival, according to the Health Ministry, which said the new measures were effective immediately.

MOSCOW, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Russia on Tuesday sent a notice of withdrawal from the Council of Europe to the organization's Secretary General Marija Pejcinovic Buric, Russian Foreign Ministry said.

"The states of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and the European Union, abusing their majority in the Council of Europe, are consistently turning this organization into an instrument of anti-Russian policy, refusing equal dialogue and all the principles on which this pan-European structure was created," the ministry said in a statement.