Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun held talks with visiting Lao Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense Khamlieng Outhakaysone in Beijing on Monday. Dong said the Chinese military is ready to work with the Lao military to further strengthen high-level exchanges, enhance the quality and

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Monday she hoped Denmark and the United States could find a way forward through peaceful cooperation on issues concerning the Arctic and Greenland.

A research collaboration between scientists from Israel, Palestine and the United States has identified a gene essential for normal hearing, offering new clues about how inherited hearing loss develops, Israel's Tel Aviv University (TAU) said in a statement on Monday.

Pakistan's central bank on Monday kept its benchmark policy rate unchanged at 11.5 percent, citing a broadly unchanged inflation outlook and rising risks from geopolitical tensions and weather-related disruptions.

Thailand's Election Commission announced on Monday a crackdown on Senate election fraud, voting to launch criminal proceedings and file disqualification petitions with the Supreme Court against 77 individuals, including 26 sitting senators.

European leaders on Monday called for stronger, coordinated European Union (EU) action in the Arctic, highlighting the region's growing importance for European security and economic development.

A member of the British Armed Forces has died in a road traffic incident in Ukraine, Britain's Ministry of Defence said on Monday.

Police presence, controlled entrances and added security personnel marked the start of Türkiye's new academic year on Monday, as the country sought to reassure families after deadly school attacks earlier this year.

TEHRAN, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday that a meeting between the foreign ministers of Iran and Gulf states scheduled to be held on the same day in Oman was postponed at Saudi Arabia's request.He made the remarks at the weekly press conference in the Iranian capital Tehran after Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi announced the meeting's deferral the previous day in a post on social media platform X.Baghaei rejected incorrect reports that the meeting was postponed due to the ongoing developments between Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Houthis, describing such speculation as giving a wrong address.

TEHRAN, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei on Monday condemned Austria's unjustified move to deny the Iranian nuclear chief a visa and prevent him from attending an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conference in Vienna.Baghaei stressed that the Austrian government, as the event's host, should have issued visas to members of the Iranian delegation in accordance with its obligations, while making the remarks at a weekly press conference in the Iranian capital.He stressed that Iran has summoned Austria's charge d'affaires in Tehran and explicitly conveyed its protest to the Austrian government.Baghaei said they level accusations, issue resolutions and release incorrect reports against Iran, and then prevent Iranian representatives from going and defending their country, describing such actions as contradictory and a war in the diplomatic and legal areas to prevent Iran's voice from being heard by other countries.He emphasized that Iran will use all its tools to prevent the achievement of that objective, adding that the Austrian government's pretext that it took the action under U.S. pressure in no way absolves it of its responsibility as the host government.Iran's state-run IRIB news agency reported Monday that Austria has denied a visa to the president of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Mohammad Eslami, who was scheduled to deliver a speech at the 70th Regular Session of the IAEA General Conference in Vienna later in the day, citing obstructionism by the United States and certain other countries as the reason.On Wednesday, the IAEA Board of Governors passed a resolution submitted by Britain, France, Germany, and the United States by 23 votes in favor, three against, and eight abstentions, requesting the (IAEA) director general to report Iran to the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly over the country's alleged nuclear non-compliance.

JERUSALEM, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- A research collaboration between scientists from Israel, Palestine and the United States has identified a gene essential for normal hearing, offering new clues about how inherited hearing loss develops, Israel's Tel Aviv University (TAU) said in a statement on Monday.The findings were published in the U.S. journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by researchers from TAU, Bethlehem University in the West Bank and the University of Washington.The researchers found that mutations in a gene called FMN1 cause hearing loss and can also affect hair and skin pigmentation.The investigation began with an extended Palestinian family in which several children were born with bilateral hearing loss and unusually light-colored hair. Genomic analysis revealed that the affected children carried two altered copies of the FMN1 gene.In animal studies, the researchers observed hearing impairments among mice lacking functional FMN1. Microscopic analysis showed that the gene is crucial for maintaining the structural organization of supporting cells within the cochlea, a fluid-filled, spiral-shaped cavity in the inner ear that transforms sound waves into electrical signals for the brain.The researchers explained that without a functional gene, these inner-ear supporting cells become disorganized, compromising the ear's mechanical integrity and hindering sound transmission from the cochlea to the brain.The team also discovered that FMN1 plays a role in transporting pigment inside cells, explaining the light hair color observed in affected individuals.The researchers said their discovery adds FMN1 to the list of genes essential for hearing, providing critical insight for the development of future genetic therapies for inherited deafness.