COPENHAGEN, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries were sternly reprimanded on Saturday for "supplying cluster munitions or failing to condemn their supply and use."

"Circumstances under which the use of cluster munitions is acceptable simply don't exist," said Charlotte Slente, secretary-general of the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), an NGO refugee relief organization clearing mines in eight countries.

YEREVAN, October 7. /TASS/: Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation after the forced withdrawal of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh over the phone, the press service of the Armenian government reported.

"The sides discussed the situation that developed after the forced resettlement of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh and a number of issues on the bilateral agenda," the statement said.

Pashinyan also congratulated the Russian President on his birthday, the statement said.

SYDNEY, Oct 7 (NNN-AAP) – Police in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), confirmed that four people, including children, are believed to have died, after a plane crashed near Canberra, yesterday noon.

According to the latest update by NSW Police, the Cirrus SR22 aircraft, took off from Canberra Airport at 2.30 p.m. local time, and was travelling to Armidale with four people, a man and three children on board. “They are yet to be identified. A report will be prepared for the information of the Coroner,” police noted.

06 October 2023; MEMO: Israel, late on Thursday, announced a complete closure of the Palestinian Territories during the two-day Jewish Simchat Torah (Joy of the Torah) holiday, Anadolu Agency reports.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Iowa Democratic Party on Friday announced it plans to hold a caucus on Jan. 15 but won’t release the results until early March, retaining its state’s leadoff spot on the presidential nominating calendar without violating a new national party lineup that has South Carolina going first for 2024.

DUBAI, Oct 7 (Reuters) - An adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Saturday congratulated Palestinian fighters for launching the biggest attack on Israel in years, the semi-official ISNA news site reported.

"We congratulate the Palestinian fighters," it quoted Yahya Rahim Safavi as saying. "We will stand by the Palestinian fighters until the liberation of Palestine and Jerusalem."

In a surprise assault, Palestinian group Hamas crossed into several Israeli towns on Saturday with a heavy barrage of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip.

ROBBINSVILLE, N.J. (AP) — If stones could talk, sing and tell stories, Yogi Trivedi believes the marble and limestone that adorn the spires, pillars and archways of the stunning Hindu temple in central New Jersey would compose a paean to the divine.

The tales these stones tell are those of seva (selfless service) and bhakti (devotion), which form the core of the Swaminarayan sect, a branch of Hinduism, said Trivedi, a scholar of Hinduism at Columbia University.

MOSCOW, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russia expresses its most serious concern at the sharp aggravation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Saturday.

"We call on the Palestinian and Israeli sides to implement an immediate ceasefire, renounce violence, exercise the necessary restraint and establish, with the assistance of the international community, a negotiation process aimed at establishing a comprehensive, lasting and long-awaited peace in the Middle East," she said in a statement.

MOSCOW, October 7. /TASS/: Russia is in contact with Israel, Palestine, and Arab countries and calls on all parties involved in the conflict to cease fire, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told TASS.

"This is a relapse of a 75-year-old conflict. Moscow is in contact with all parties, including the Arab states. We call for an immediate ceasefire and peace," he said.

06 October 2023; MEMO: An international human rights organisation warned, on Thursday, of a “sharp increase” in violence by Israeli settlers in the Occupied Palestinian Territories “under the political cover of the government Israel”, Anadolu Agency reports.

RAMALLAH, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday that the Palestinian people have the right to defend themselves against the "Israeli violations."

During an emergency leadership meeting held in Ramallah, Abbas instructed the concerned Palestinian authorities to provide everything necessary "to strengthen the steadfastness of the Palestinians in the face of crimes committed by the Israeli occupation and settler gangs," Palestinian official news agency WAFA reported.

MEXICO CITY, Oct 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — An earthquake alarm system in the Mexican capital Mexico City was activated Friday night after an earthquake caused slight tremors in many areas of this city.

In a preliminary report, the Mexican Seismology Agency estimated the earthquake had a magnitude of 6.3 with the epicenter near the town of Matisad Romero in the southern state of Oaxaca.

Meanwhile, the US Geological Survey (USGS) estimated the 11pm earthquake had a magnitude of 5.9 in the same location above. According to USGS, the focal depth is 108 km.