TAIPEI, Sept 11 (Reuters) - A Chinese naval formation led by the aircraft carrier Shandong passed 60 nautical miles (111km) to Taiwan's southeast on Monday and entered the western Pacific for training, the island's defence ministry said.

The ministry said that beginning at 5:40 a.m., it also spotted 11 Chinese military aircraft, including J-16 fighters, in Taiwan's air defence identification zone and that its forces had made an "appropriate response".

SANTIAGO, Sept 10 (Reuters) - The presidents of Chile and Mexico called for the strengthening of democracy in Latin America during a joint address on Sunday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of a 1973 coup in Chile, hours after a peaceful march culminated in violent clashes with police.

Monday will mark half a century since the overthrow of President Salvador Allende by the regime of General Augusto Pinochet, which ushered in 17 years of brutal military rule that saw some 40,000 people imprisoned, disappeared, tortured or killed.

TEHRAN, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said on Monday that Azerbaijan's officials have sent a message to Tehran stressing that they do not seek to take any military action against Armenia.

Kanaani made the remarks at a weekly press conference in Iran's capital Tehran, responding to a question about the recent rise in tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Iran is in constant contact with both sides and is concerned about the possibility of a conflict, Kanaani said.

VLADIVOSTOK, September 11. /TASS/: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron cannot act as mediators in settling the conflict in Ukraine, since they have lost their autonomy, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

Sept 10 (Reuters) - Hurricane Lee has restrengthened as it churns west-northwest in the tropical Atlantic Ocean and is expected to bring dangerous surf and rip currents to the U.S. East Coast from Sunday night for at least a few days, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

The storm, about 285 miles (455 km) northeast of the northern Leeward Islands, should pass north of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and other Caribbean islands.

BRUSSELS, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission cut the European Union's (EU) and the eurozone's 2023 economic growth forecast on Monday.

"While (the EU) avoided a recession last winter, the multiple headwinds facing the EU economy this year have led to somewhat weaker growth momentum than we projected in the spring," Paolo Gentiloni, European commissioner for economy, said as he presented the EU's "Summer 2023 Economic Forecast."

MWANZA (Tanzania), Sept 11 (NNN-DAILYNEWS) — BILATERAL trade between China and Tanzania has more than tripled in the last 10 years, with statistics indicating that the volume increased from 2.47 billion US dollars in 2012 to 8.31 billion US dollars in 2022.

The revelation was made by Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania, Chen Mingjian, during her tour to inspect two infrastructures namely Magufuli Bridge and the lot five of the Central Line Standard-Gauge Railway (SGR), which have been implemented by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC).

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 10 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — The world is way off course to decrease global warming, the United Nations warned, urging for more action to phase out fossil fuels and achieve the 2015 Paris climate agreement goals.

“The Paris Agreement has driven near-universal climate action by setting goals and sending signals to the world regarding the urgency of responding to the climate crisis,” the UN said in its first Global Stocktake Report. “While action is proceeding, much more is needed now on all fronts.”

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Public health officials issued an urgent appeal Monday to residents in flood-stricken central Greece to avoid using floodwater for domestic chores due to mounting fears of contamination.

KYIV, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Ukraine said on Monday its troops had regained more territory on the eastern and southern fronts in the past week of its counteroffensive against Russian forces.

Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said in televised comments that Ukraine had retaken nearly 2 square km (0.77 square mile) of land around the eastern city of Bakhmut, captured by Russia in May after months of fighting.

She later added on the Telegram messaging app that the Ukrainian army had in the past week also recaptured 4.8 square km in the southern Tavria sector.

MOSCOW, September 11. /TASS/: Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev has called for suspending diplomatic relations with the EU in response to the EU decision to bar Russian citizens from entering the EU with everyday personal items, calling it a spit in the face of every Russian.

Sept 10 (Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that Ukrainian troops pressing a counter offensive against Russian occupying forces had advanced on the southern front in the past week while there had also been movement near Bakhmut in the east.

Zelenskiy's latest comments on the state of the three-month-old counter offensive appeared to confirm assessments by other officials of gains, however modest, in the east and south.