World News in Brief: August 24

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) twice fired unidentified projectiles into the eastern waters on Saturday (August 24), according to Republic of Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

* The 85th Mekong River joint patrol led by China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand concluded Friday (August 23), as two Chinese law enforcement boats anchored at Guanlei Port, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in southwest China's Yunnan Province.

* China will impose additional tariffs on US imports worth about US$75 billion in response to the newly announced US tariff hikes on Chinese goods, the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council announced Friday.

* US President Donald Trump on Friday lashed back at a new round of Chinese tariffs by heaping an additional 5% duty on some US$550 billion in targeted Chinese goods in the latest tit-for-tat trade war escalation by the world's two largest economies.

* Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke over the phone on Friday about coordination between the two nations' armies in the region, said the Israeli prime minister's office.

* British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday talked with US President Donald Trump on foreign policy and global trade issues in a phone call before the coming G7 meeting. A statement from the prime minister's office said they "looked forward to speaking further" at the G7 summit in France.

* Stephen Barclay, the British secretary of state for Brexit, said on Friday he still believes a Brexit agreement will be reached, if leaving the Northern Ireland issue for a later date, Finnish national broadcaster Yle reported.

* Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Friday that his talks with the French President Emmanuel Macron to salvage the international nuclear deal were "constructive," Press TV reported.

* South Africa will utilize the upcoming G7 summit to promote the interests of the African Union (AU), the Presidency said on Friday.

* The air forces of China and Pakistan began joint training in a location in northwest China Friday, according to Chinese air force sources. The joint training, code-named "Shaheen (eagle) VIII," is the eighth of its kind between the two countries since it was first launched in March 2011.

* Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan received a phone call from French President Emmanuel Macron over regional issues on Thursday, the official WAM news agency reported.

* Britain wants to agree a post-Brexit trade deal with the United States quickly, but the terms have to work for both sides, a British spokeswoman said on Friday ahead of a meeting between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Donald Trump.

* Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Friday the South American common market Mercosur has concluded a trade deal with EFTA, the European free trade group formed by Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

* Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has lifted a four-month state of emergency which was declared following the multiple terrorist attacks in the island country on April 21, Secretary of Defense General Shantha Kottegoda, quoted in local media reports said Friday.

* In a phone conversation initiated by Ankara, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed on Friday to intensify joint efforts to eliminate terrorist threats in Idlib, the last major rebel enclave of Syria.

* The Spanish government on Friday offered Morocco EUR32.2 million (US$35.89 million) in aid to support the North African country's efforts to curb irregular migration, official Moroccan news agency MAP reported.

* Yemen's southern separatists declared a ceasefire in their clashes with government forces in the oil-producing province of Shabwa after two days of fighting.

* Britain's population has reached 66.4 million, with the growth rate at its slowest since 2004, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a new report Friday.

* At least 122 Palestinians, including three paramedics, were injured on Friday during clashes with Israeli soldiers in the eastern Gaza Strip.

* Four people were killed and 30 others injured on Friday in a motorcycle bombing in a town in Babil Province south of Iraq's capital Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

* Heavy rains and flash floods hitting Sudan have led to the deaths of some 54 people and nearly 194,000 people have been affected across the country, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Friday.

Xinhua,Reuters