US Defense Secretary Mark Esper has indicated that the purpose of the recent US cruise missile test was to counter China's growing stockpile of intermediate-range missiles.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres plans to call on world leaders to accelerate efforts to tackle global warming in international conferences due to be held later this month.
The death toll has risen to nine after heavy downpours and mudslides battered Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Sichuan Province, local authorities said Thursday.