WASHINGTON -- U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross was hospitalized Saturday for non-coronavirus related illness, U.S. media reported.

"Secretary Ross has been admitted into the hospital for minor, non-coronavirus related issues. He is doing well and we anticipate his release soon," Fox News cited a department spokesperson as saying. (US-Commerce Secretary-Hospitalization)

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PARIS -- Urging all Libyan parties to cease fire and all foreign actors to end interference, France, Germany and Italy on Saturday voiced readiness to consider sanctions if violations of a United Nations arms embargo on Libya continue.

In an joint statement published on the website of the French presidency, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte called on all Libyan parties and their foreign supporters to immediately cease the fighting and end the ongoing military escalation across the country. (France-Germany-Italy-Arms Embargo)

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NEW YORK -- Global COVID-19 deaths have surpassed the 600,000 mark to reach 600,435 as of 7:34 p.m. local time on Saturday (2334 GMT), according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

Meanwhile, the total COVID-19 cases around the world rose to 14,210,040, according to the CSSE. (Global-COVID-19)

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PYONGYANG -- Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), presided over an enlarged military meeting on Saturday to discuss the strategic mission of the major units for coping with the military situation in the vicinity of the Korean Peninsula, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Sunday.

The KCNA reported that the fifth enlarged meeting of the Seventh Central Military Commission (CMC) of the Workers' Party of Korea discussed the issues of intensifying the party's education and guidance of commanders and political officials of the army. (DPRK-Military)