JAKARTA, Aug 5 (NNN-ANTARA) – A 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck off North Sulawesi province in central Indonesia, last night, but did not trigger a tsunami, the country’s meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency said.

The quake happened at 18:48 p.m. Jakarta time (1148 GMT), with its epicentre being 117 km south-east of Bolaang Mongondow Timur (East Bolaang Mongondow) district, and a depth of 10 km under the seabed, the agency reported.

The earthquake did not have the potential to trigger giant waves, it said.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 05 (APP): The United Nations has unveiled a policy brief on transforming education, which lays out a set of proposals to create inclusive and truly learning societies, and to understand education as a global public good.

The brief recognizes that education faces both a crisis of access as well as a crisis of quality and relevance, Leonardo Garnier, Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on the Transforming Education Summit, said at a press briefing in New York.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian drones hit a Russian tanker in the Black Sea near Crimea, according to Russian officials and video circulating on social media.

The late Friday night strike was the second sea attack involving drones in one day, after Ukraine struck a major Russian port earlier Friday.

As Kyiv’s naval capabilities grow, the Black Sea is becoming an increasingly important battleground in the war.

TEHRAN, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Saturday that Iran and Sri Lanka have agreed on the need to promote cooperation in trade and tourism, the official news agency IRNA reported.

He made the remarks at a joint press conference with his visiting Sri Lankan counterpart Ali Sabry following their meeting in the capital Tehran earlier in the day.

The two countries will also expand cooperation in the scientific and cultural areas, as well as in using their knowledge-based firms' capacities, Amir-Abdollahian added.

MOSCOW, August 5. /TASS/: Russia strongly condemns the terrorist attack committed by the Kiev regime against a Russian civilian ship in the Kerch Strait, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement published on the ministry’s website.

"We strongly condemn the terrorist attack on a civilian ship which not only put the lives of its crew in danger, but also posed the threat of a massive environmental disaster," she said.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s immigration agency said late Friday it found 491 migrants being held at a compound by the side of a highway east of Mexico City.

All but six of the migrants were from Guatemala; the others are Hondurans.

There were 277 children and adolescents among the migrants, most of whom were traveling with relatives. But there were also 52 unaccompanied minors.

DUBAI, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Senior officials from some 40 countries including the United States, China and India began talks in Saudi Arabia on Saturday that Kyiv and its allies hope will lead to agreement on key principles for a peaceful end to Russia's war in Ukraine.

The two-day meeting is part of a diplomatic push by Ukraine to build support beyond its core Western backers by reaching out to Global South countries that have been reluctant to take sides in a conflict that has hit the global economy.

FATIMA, Portugal, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Pope Francis visited the revered Catholic Shrine of Fatima in Portugal on Saturday, praying the rosary for world peace with about 200,000 people at the site where the Church says the Virgin Mary appeared to three shepherd children in 1917.

The 86-year-old pope skipped reading a speech that was on the programme of his two-hour visit to the world-famous shrine north of Lisbon, and which was expected to have been the centrepiece of the day.

BEIJING, Aug 5 (APP): China’s special envoy Li Hui will make a visit to Jeddah to attend an international conference on Ukraine at the invitation of Saudi Arabia, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Saturday.

The meeting is reported to take place on August 5 and 6, with representatives of some 30 countries in attendance.
China is willing to work with the international community to continue to play a constructive role in promoting a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis, Wang said in a statement.

WASHINGTON, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Two U.S. Navy sailors have been arrested on charges of handing over sensitive national security material to China, U.S. officials said Thursday.

Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, 26, was charged with conspiracy and bribetaking in connection with taking nearly $15,000 in exchange for photographs and videos of sensitive U.S. military information, the officials said. U.S. Navy sailor, Jinchao Wei, whose age was not disclosed, was charged with conspiring to send national defense information to China in exchange for thousands of dollars.

03 August 2023; MEMO: The United States would continue to do "whatever is necessary" to ensure Russia can freely export food if there was a revival of a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of Ukrainian grain, US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said on Thursday, Reuters reports.

04 August 2023; MEMO: Saudi Arabia will extend a voluntary oil output cut of one million barrels per day for another month to include September, it said yesterday, adding it could be extended beyond that or deepened, Reuters reported.

The kingdom's production for September will be around nine million barrels per day (bpd), the state news agency SPA cited an official source at the energy ministry as saying.