China

The Pentagon said on Aug. 14 it was setting up a new task force under the U.S. Navy to investigate UFO sightings.

With the creation of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF), the Defense Department hopes "to improve its understanding of, and gain insight into, the nature and origins of UAPs," spokeswoman Susan Gough said in a statement.

Turkey has completed discussions with 92 countries for resumption of flights, the country's transportation and infrastructure minister said on Aug. 14.  

Turkey continues to operate scheduled and non-scheduled flights with 48 countries as of Aug. 13, Adil Karaismailoğlu said in a press release.

"I have a vague idea who will occupy ministerial seats, but I am not certain yet. I will discuss things with some people who entered the National Assembly. Next week I expect a session of the SNS presidency, and we'll go slowly from there.

"Our daily lives are getting tougher as China continues to put pressure on Taiwan to accept its political conditions, conditions that would make Taiwan a future Hong Kong," Wu told US Secretary of Health Alex Azar.
Azar's visit to Taiwan was condemned by Beijing, which assessed that it endangers peace.

The European Union unveiled plans Wednesday to fight unfair competition from foreign companies backed by powerful non-EU trade rivals amid China's growing influence in the bloc's single market.

Twenty Indian soldiers were killed during "hand-to-hand' fighting with Chinese troops in a disputed Himalayan region, India's military said, the first deadly clash between the nuclear powers in decades.

Both sides blamed the other for June 15's violence, which followed weeks of rising tensions over their competing territorial claims, with thousands of extra troops deployed.

Global cases of the novel coronavirus reached over 8 million on Monday, as infections surge in Latin America and the United States and China grapple with fresh outbreaks.

A natural rock formation in the Central Anatolian province of Sivas, which has been said to resemble the Great Wall of China, has become a new hope for local tourism.

It is a kilometers-long natural formation located in Boğazören village of the İmranlı district.

The number of air passengers "at least halved" in March, when the novel coronavirus peaked, the 27-member-bloc's statistical office said on June 16.

Restrictive measures, to stem the spread of the COVID-19, affected the aviation sector deeply, Eurostat said.

In March, versus the same month 2019, the largest decline was seen in Italy by 85%, or 11.9 million.

The coronavirus situation in China's capital is "extremely severe", a city official warned on June 16, as 27 new infections were reported from Beijing where a new cluster has sparked a huge trace-and-test programme.