Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo to release detained Maria Butina who has been arrested on “fabricated charges”.

Butina was accused for trying to infiltrate the National Rifle Association and influence US policy toward Russia, and was arrested by American authorities.

Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong, declared by Forbes magazine in 2014 as “The richest doctor in the history of the world,” has bought the LA Times.

A surgeon Soon-Shiong, born in South Africa to Chinese parents and California’s most successful but enigmatic billionaires, made a fortune in trying to cure cancer said not only fake news is the “cancer of our time” – but also short-attention spans and hyper-partisan discourse.

21 July 2018, AFP; US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Saturday urged China and the EU to respect "free, fair and reciprocal trade" as his French counterpart fired back that the US needs to "see sense" amid fears of a global commerce conflict.

Mnuchin arrived in Buenos Aires for the Group of 20 summit of finance ministers and central bankers at the end of a week in which US President Donald Trump ramped up his inflammatory remarks and threats regarding global trade.

TEHRAN, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday said that any negotiation with the United States to solve the existing mutual problems is an "obvious mistake," official IRNA news agency reported.

Khamenei also said that negotiations with the Europeans should continue to secure Iran's interests from the 2015 international nuclear deal.

July 19, 2018; Middle East Monitor; Six Palestinian officials who were scheduled to give a presentation at the UN office in New York have been denied visas by the US without any explanation. The officials were due to attend a high-level meeting on development yesterday to present a report on Palestinian implementation of UN goals for 2030.

In their absence, Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour had to step in and make the presentation on behalf of Palestine, which has non-member observer status at the United Nations.

COLOMBO, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena attended a groundbreaking ceremony on Saturday to launch the construction of a China-Sri Lanka friendship hospital in Polonnaruwa in north central Sri Lanka.

The National Nephrology Specialist Hospital is being constructed following a request by President Sirisena to the Chinese government.

The 25,517-square-meter hospital, which will be the largest kidney hospital in South Asia, will include 200 inpatient beds and 100 hemodialysis beds.

WAKISO, Uganda, July 21 (Xinhua) -- China and the Ugandan government have launched a satellite television (TV) project in the central Ugandan district of Wakiso that will benefit over 500 villages.

Speaking at the launch on Friday, Janet Museveni, minister of education and sports said the initiative would be critical in digital learning.

BEIJING, July 20 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday called on the United States to be responsible in its words and policy-making, to show good global governance instead of creating disorder.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying made the remarks at a press briefing, responding to comments by Peter Navarro, director of the White House National Trade Council, that China was involved in a zero-sum game with the rest of the world on trade issues.

UNITED NATIONS, July 20 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations on Friday expressed concern over the newly passed "nation-state" law by the Israeli Knesset, which critics say institutionalizes discrimination against the country's Arab minority.

ABU DHABI, July 20 (Xinhua) -- China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Friday decided to upgrade their bilateral relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership

The decision was made as visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks here with UAE Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

SHANGHAI, July 20 (Xinhua) -- China's research icebreaker Xuelong set sail from Shanghai Friday, marking the country's 9th Arctic expedition.

A team of 131 researchers, along with foreign scientists, will make the two-month trip of 12,300 nautical miles.

During the expedition, Xuelong will conduct research in Chukchi Rise and the Canada Basin in the Arctic Ocean and is expected to return to Shanghai before the end of September.

Virginia Beach, Jul 20 (AP); Google says it will string a trans-Atlantic cable from France to Virginia.

The web giant said in a statement this week that the undersea cable will land stateside in Virginia Beach. It's expected to become operational in 2020.

Google said the project will better serve customers with an expanded network. Internet traffic across the Atlantic is among the busiest.

The cable will also support growth of Google Cloud. And it will land in relative proximity to Google's planned data center in northern Virginia.