BEIJING, May 16. /TASS/: China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will thwart any attempts by Taiwanese separatists to isolate themselves from China by means of buying weapons from Washington, Chinese Defense Ministry Spokesperson Senior Colonel Tan Kefei said on Tuesday.

The PLA will ramp up its preparations for war, he added.

TUNIS, May 16 (NNN-TAP) – Tunisian President, Kais Saied, yesterday, discussed with visiting Italian Interior Minister, Matteo Piantedosi, bilateral ties and the illegal immigration problem, according to a statement issued by the Tunisian Presidency.

The Tunisian president pointed out that, the number of victims of illegal immigration attempts is multiplying on a daily basis, noting that, “There are criminal networks that take advantage of the inhumane conditions of those stranded, as a result of poverty and despair.”

HIROSHIMA, Japan, May 16 (Reuters) - Standing at the front of a dimly lit room in the basement of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, Teruko Yahata's voice broke as she recalled the morning her world changed, on August 6, 1945.

"All of a sudden, the entire sky flashed and was illuminated in bluish-white, as if the heavens had become one huge, fluorescent light," the 85-year-old, speaking in English, told an audience of British tourists on a recent Tuesday.

"I immediately fell to the ground and lost consciousness."

MOSCOW, May 16. /TASS/: After denouncing the no longer relevant treaty on conventional armed forces in Europe (CFE Treaty), Russia is free to deploy weapons wherever necessary to protect its national interests, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, said on his Telegram account on Tuesday.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian air defenses thwarted an intense Russian air attack on Kyiv early Tuesday, shooting down all 18 missiles aimed at the capital, officials said.

Loud explosions boomed over Kyiv as the nighttime attack combined Russian missiles launched from the air, sea and land in an apparent attempt to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defenses. No casualties were reported as Western-supplied weapons helped fend off the assault.

UNITED NATIONS, May 15 (Xinhua) -- UN Undersecretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo on Monday regretted the stalemate between Israelis and Palestinians.

Efforts to find a peaceful and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have been central to the work of the United Nations since its earliest days, DiCarlo told a high-level special meeting on the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, also known as the Palestinian Catastrophe.

GENEVA, May 16 (NNN-XINHUA) – The World Health Organisation (WHO), yesterday issued a recommendation, against the use of non-sugar sweeteners (NSS) for weight control or for reducing the risk of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).

BEIJING, May 16 (Reuters) - Two Chinese warships have ventured into the Western Pacific for live-fire exercises, the military said on Tuesday, shortly after one of China's two aircraft carriers returned from a patrol, in its latest projection of force into more distant waters.

The destroyer Dalian and guided-missile frigate Huangshan sailed to an unidentified area of the West Pacific "not long ago" and conducted attack and defence drills, the Southern Theatre Command of the People's Liberation Army said in a statement.

MOSCOW, May 16. /TASS/: Western countries have reacted to Russia’s withdrawal from the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) with some measure of alarm, but there is nothing to discuss here, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Tuesday.

BUENOS AIRES, May 15 (Xinhua) -- The Argentine central bank on Monday again raised the benchmark interest rate, this time by 600 basis points, pushing the rate from 91 percent to 97 percent annually.

The decision aims to promote "positive real returns on investments in local currency" and "prevent financial volatility from acting as a driver of inflation expectations," the bank said in a press release.

In April, monthly inflation rose 8.4 percent compared to March, according to the bank.

SANAA, May 16 (NNN-YPA) – A total of 392 Yemeni citizens were evacuated from Sudan and safely returned home in the past 24 hours, Yemen’s state TV station reported, yesterday.

The country’s national carrier, Yemenia, operated two flights to facilitate their repatriation. The first flight, carrying 197 citizens, arrived in the southern port city of Aden on Sunday. The second flight, with 195 passengers on board, landed in the Houthi-held capital of Sanaa, later on Sunday night.

BANGKOK (AP) — Pacific Island leaders are criticizing rich countries for not doing enough to control climate change despite being responsible for much of the problem, and for profiting from loans provided to vulnerable nations to mitigate the effects.

Leaders and representatives from Pacific Island nations demanded at a U.N. climate change conference Monday in Bangkok that the world make more effort to put aside differences in combating the environmental impact, especially as their countries emerge from the economic devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic.