* Togo's President Faure Gnassingbe has retained Victoire Sidemeho Tomegah-Dogbe as prime minister and a government will be formed in the coming days in line with a new constitution, the presidency said on Thursday.
* The ruling conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) has endorsed the candidacy of Dragan Primorac, former minister of science, education and sports, for president in the upcoming presidential elections in December, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic announced on Wednesday.
* Chinese authorities have allocated 378 million yuan (about 53 million USD) to flood relief efforts in the country's southern and northern regions, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said on Thursday.
* Indonesia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) initiated negotiations for the Indonesia-GCC Free Trade Agreement (I-GCC FTA) at the Trade Ministry in Jakarta on Wednesday.
* The Russian Navy has completed extensive military exercises involving the Baltic, Northern, and Pacific Fleets, as well as the Caspian Flotilla, the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement on Thursday.
* Ukraine on early Wednesday experienced one of the largest drone attacks since its conflict with Russia started, the country's Air Force said in a statement. Russia launched 89 Shahed-type drones at Ukraine from different directions and the air defense intercepted all of them.
* Russia's foreign ministry denounced on Thursday Moldova's decision to expel a Russian diplomat as an "unfriendly step" and vowed to retaliate.
* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday held a phone call with Iran's acting foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
* Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko has arrived in Turkey, aiming to strengthen economic cooperation with Ankara and discuss the ratification of a free trade agreement, Svyrydenko said on Thursday.
* The Israeli army announced Thursday that Mohammed Deif, the commander of Hamas' military wing, was killed by Israeli airstrike in Khan Yunis area in the Gaza Strip on July 13.
* Iran's Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani has called for an emergency ministerial meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in condemnation of the assassination of Hamas Politburo Chief Ismail Haniyeh.
* Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Israel will respond with overwhelming force to any counter-attacks, following the killing of Hamas Politburo Chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and a senior Hezbollah leader in Beirut.
* Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Joe Biden will hold a phone call on Thursday and discuss escalating tensions in the Middle East, Axios reported on Thursday, citing an official in Netanyahu's office.
* Egypt and Jordan on Wednesday urged the UN Security Council to adopt a binding resolution compelling Israel to cease its attacks in the Gaza Strip and halt its "continued violations" of international law.
* Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Thursday strongly condemned the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh that had happened in Tehran, Iran.
* The leader of powerful Lebanese group Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, vowed on Thursday to respond to Israel's killing of the group's most senior military commander in a strike on the Lebanese capital's southern suburbs this week.
* U.S. carriers United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, along with British Airways, have temporarily suspended their flights to Israel amid growing tensions in the region, Israel's state-owned Kan TV news reported on Thursday.
* UN humanitarians on Wednesday observed thousands of Gazans returning to parts of the Khan Younis area from which they fled Israeli military operations earlier in the week.
* Israeli forces hit a school in Shejaia in Gaza City on Thursday, killing at least 10 people, Palestinian civil emergency services said.
* Iraq signed a memorandum of understanding with British oil giant BP Thursday to develop four oil and gas fields in Iraq's northern province of Kirkuk.
* The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday left interest rates unchanged at a 22-year high of 5.25 percent to 5.5 percent, as inflation continues to be cooling, hinting that a rate cut might come as soon as September.
* South Korea's export grew for the 10th successive month due to solid demand for locally-made tech products, government data showed Thursday.
* The number of unemployed people in Germany increased significantly in July, rising by 82,000 to over 2.8 million, as the economy contracts, the Federal Employment Agency (BA) reported on Wednesday.
* The Myanmar Rice Producers and Planters Association (MRPPA) recently announced that it will provide agricultural inputs to help monsoon paddy farms impacted by heavy rain, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported on Thursday.
* A steady flow of investments into renewable energy sources (RES) has put Malta, also an energy-island, on track to achieve its goal of covering 25 percent of the country's energy needs from clean sources by 2030, Environment and Energy Minister Miriam Dalli said Wednesday.
* Yearly inflation in the eurozone is expected to reach 2.6 percent in July, up from 2.5 percent in June, according to preliminary data published on Wednesday by Eurostat.
* The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Thursday said the underwater siphoning of the 1.4 million liters of industrial fuel oil (IFO) from an oil tanker that sank off Bataan province, west of Manila, will be delayed for another two weeks.
* The death toll of Tuesday's massive landslides in India's southern state of Kerala rose to 256, confirmed the state's Health Minister Veena George on Thursday while speaking to local media.
* Bolivia is grappling with a record number of fires in the first seven months of the year, satellite data showed on Thursday, as the flames send villagers fleeing, kill wildlife and char the landscape.
