BEIJING, July 25 (Xinhua) -- China expressed strong dissatisfaction and opposition on Wednesday to a U.S. defense spending bill which includes propositions aimed at China, and urged the U.S. not to disrupt the stable development of bilateral ties.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang made the remarks at a routine news briefing when asked for comments about a draft bill of the U.S. National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019.

KHARTOUM, July 25 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan's conflicting parties on Wednesday signed an agreement on power-sharing and governance in Sudan's capital Khartoum.

The agreement, read out by Sudanese Foreign Minister Al-Dirdiri Mohamed Ahmed, said Salva Kiir will continue to serve as President of Sudan during the transitional period, while the opposition leader Riek Machar will assume the position of First Vice President.

There will be four vice presidents from different political parties as stated in the agreement.

Ballia, Jul 25 (PTI); The Basic Education Department has started removing the word 'Islamia' prefixed to the names of some government primary schools in the Ballia district here, the officials said today.

The exercise has been launched here days after a similar step was initiated in another eastern UP district of Deoria.

Washington, Jul 25 (PTI); President Donald Trump has said the US is ready to make a "real deal" with Iran over its nuclear programme, days after he warned Tehran of historic consequences for threatening America.

Trump in May pulled the US out of the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement struck by the Obama administration by calling it the "the worst" deal ever negotiated.

Addressing the national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Trump said his administration stands ready for Iran to come back to the negotiating table.

26 July 2018; AFP; A massive underground lake has been detected for the first time on Mars, raising hopes that more water -- and maybe even life -- exists there, international astronomers said Wednesday.

Located under a layer of Martian ice, the lake is about 12 miles (20 kilometers) wide, said the report in the US journal Science.

It is the largest body of liquid water ever found on the Red Planet.

"Water is there. We have no more doubt," co-author Enrico Flamini, the Italian space agency's Mars Express mission manager, told a press conference.

Thiruvananthapuram, Jul 25 (PTI); In a landmark ruling, a Special CBI court today sentenced to death two serving police officers in connection with the custodial death of a 26-year-old man in 2005.

K Jithakumar and S V Sreekumar, presently serving as assistant sub-inspector and civil police officer respectively, were awarded the death penalty, along with a fine of Rs 2 lakh by the court here.

Pronouncing the verdict, Judge J Nazer said "this is a brutal and dastardly murder by accused one and two."

MONTEVIDEO, July 26 (NNN-XINHUA) -- Uruguay's state-owned power company said on Tuesday that the recent record demand for electricity was completely covered by renewable energies.

The National Administration of Power Plants and Electrical Transmission (UTE) said the South American country's power demand reached a record 2,063 megawatts on Monday night when temperatures dropped to around 7 degrees Celsius in the capital Montevideo. The country, in the southern hemisphere, is currently in winter.

MEXICO CITY, July 26 (NNN-XINHUA) -- Latin American trade bloc the Pacific Alliance, in conjunction with its older counterpart the Southern Common Market (Mercosur), is poised to spur regional trade ties with China, according to Mexican experts.

Panaji, Jul 24 (PTI); A woman today accused a priest of the Mangueshi Temple in Goa of molesting her, the second such complaint against him in a week, police said.

The woman, in her 20s, filed a complaint against the priest with the Ponda police, accusing him of molesting her, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Ponda) Mahesh Gaonkar said.

The priest has been booked under IPC section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), he said.

DAMASCUS, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Israel targeted a Syrian warplane on Tuesday, leaving a pilot killed and another missing, a monitor group reported.

The Israeli air defenses fired two missiles toward the warplane, which was striking rebel positions in southern Syria, and destroyed it, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The search for the second pilot is underway, the London-based watchdog added.

Earlier in the day, the Israeli army said its air defenses intercepted a Syrian Sukhoi plane penetrating into the Golan Heights.

By Lalit K Jha

Washington, Jul 24 (PTI); The US will never trust Russia or its President Vladimir Putin, America's envoy to the UN Nikki Haley has said amidst an uproar over President Donald Trump's alleged bonhomie with his Russian counterpart.

Trump, who met with Putin in Helsinki last week, has been slammed by the US media and political opponents for failing to defend the American intelligence community during a much-talked about Press conference with Putin in Helsinki after their first summit.