United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday (September 16) called for more efforts to address the global fragilities that the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed. Talking about recovery, the UN chief said that it must be aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. 

Latin America has started to resume normal social and public life at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic still requires major control interventions, World Health Organization regional director Carissa Etienne said on Wednesday (September 16). 

Global coronavirus cases are expected to pass 30 million on Thursday (September 17), according to a Reuters tally, with the pandemic showing no signs of slowing. 

NDO/VNA - Military officers from ASEAN member states exchanged views on issues regarding regional security and measures to enhance results-oriented cooperation between the operations departments of armies in the region, during the 10th ASEAN Military Operations Meeting (AMOM-10) held online on September 16. 

NDO/VNA – The ASEAN high-level conference on Human Resource Development for the Changing World of Work was held virtually on September 16 by Vietnam as the ASEAN Chair 2020, with the participation of 150 delegates. 

NDO – As one of the industries most heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, global tourism growth is forecast to fall by 57% this year. In order to revive the “smokeless industry”, many countries have come up with their own direction and the concept of the “travel bubble”has been initiated to establish travel spaces between two or more countries that are recording low local COVID-19 infections. 

Japan's Suga Yoshihide was voted prime minister by parliament on Wednesday (September 16) to become the country's first new leader in nearly eight years, appointing a new cabinet that kept about half of the familiar faces from predecessor Abe Shinzo's lineup. Suga, 71, Abe's longtime right-hand man, has pledged to pursue many of Abe's programmes, including his "Abenomics" economic strategy, and to forge ahead with structural reforms. 

India's coronavirus cases surged past 5 million on Wednesday (September 16) with a single-day jump of 90,123 infections in the last 24 hours, data from the federal health ministry showed. 

Japan said on Tuesday (September 15) it has committed JPY17.2 billion (US$165 million) in funds for its participation in the World Health Organization's COVID-19 vaccine programme. 

NDO/VNA – Representatives of ASEAN member countries and UN officials reviewed the implementation of projects and cooperation activities within the ASEAN-UN Plan of Action for 2016-2020, during their annual meeting on September 15. 

NDO/VNA – Vietnam urged related parties in Yemen to end hostilities and resume peace talks during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on September 15. 

NDO – Hope for a trade deal between the UK and the European Union (EU) seems to have faded as the latest round of trade negotiations between the two sides ended with disappointing results in many ways. The EU then announced that even the smallest UK breach of the Brexit withdrawal treaty would undermine what little trust is left between the two sides. 

More than 29.27 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 926,716 have died, according to a Reuters tally. Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.