* New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon survived a caucus confidence vote on Wednesday and will remain leader of the governing National Party, after an hours-long caucus meeting in the capital Wellington.
* China will strengthen financial support for key areas, including expanding domestic demand, promoting technological innovation and supporting small and micro enterprises, according to a report released by the People's Bank of China (PBOC) Wednesday.
* Laos' Ministry of Industry and Commerce, in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and other development partners, has officially launched a project to promote sustainable agri-food systems, expand access to finance, and strengthen agricultural enterprises.
* Indonesia has prepared measures to accelerate the development of unmanned aerial vehicle technology to strengthen the country's defense capabilities, local media reported Wednesday.
* Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said Tuesday that the undocumented migrants who entered Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta in late July will all return to Morocco.
* Pakistan is making all-out efforts to help bring the United States and Iran to the negotiating table and advance the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) as part of broader efforts to promote regional peace and stability, a Foreign Office spokesperson said here on Wednesday.
* Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Wednesday confirmed that three Pakistani nationals were killed and another injured in a Houthi attack on a commercial vessel in the Red Sea on Tuesday.
* Yemen's Houthi group launched a fresh ballistic missile attack on the Red Sea port city of Mocha on Wednesday, stepping up its attacks on areas controlled by the internationally recognized government, pro-government media reported.
* Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday voiced his country's readiness to deepen and expand bilateral cooperation with Pakistan in various areas.
* Most of the population across the occupied Palestinian territory lacks sufficient access to water, sanitation and hygiene, UN humanitarians said Tuesday.
* Israel and Venezuela have agreed to renew consular ties for the first time in 17 years despite the absence of diplomatic relations, Israel's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.
* Lebanon's parliament on Wednesday approved a general amnesty law expected to grant relief to thousands of prisoners and wanted persons, according to local news outlet Akhbar al-Yawm.
* Violence continues to take a heavy toll on civilians and displace people across Sudan, UN humanitarians warned on Wednesday.
* The Hungarian government has ordered the immediate construction of a submerged weir on the Danube to prevent extremely low water levels from disrupting operations at the Paks nuclear power plant, Prime Minister Peter Magyar said on Wednesday.
* Global oil demand is forecast to grow by 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2026 year-on-year, down from last month's assessment, said the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Wednesday.
* Australia's largest bank on Wednesday reported an annual cash net profit after tax of 10.98 billion Australian dollars (7.76 billion USD) for the 2025-26 financial year, but issued a warning over slowing economic growth.
* Uzbekistan received over 7.7 million foreign tourists in the first seven months of 2026, according to the country's National Statistics Committee. A total of 7,749,308 foreign tourists visited the country during the January-July period, up by 1.4 million or 22.6 percent compared with the same period last year, the committee said Tuesday.
* Kyrgyzstan exported 746.7 tonnes of fish products in the first seven months of 2026, accounting for 87 percent of the country's total fish exports in 2025, the Kyrgyz government said Tuesday.
* Germany's inflation rate accelerated from the previous two months to reach 2.8 percent in July, official data showed Wednesday, while economists warned that record-low water levels on the Rhine could add further price pressures in the coming months.
* The International Energy Agency (IEA) on Wednesday cut its forecast for global oil demand in 2026, citing the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz and elevated fuel prices that are weighing on consumption.
* Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Wednesday expressed his condolences following the deaths of 44 people in a boat accident on Lake Kariba.
* The death toll from Monday's 7.4-magnitude earthquake in western Colombia has risen to 188, with 1,677 others injured, the Colombian Association of Capital Cities, or Asocapitales, said Tuesday.
* The world saw its joint second-warmest July on record, as extreme heat, persistent drought and wildfires affected large parts of the Northern Hemisphere while heavy rainfall and flooding hit other regions, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said Tuesday.
* Split, Croatia's second-largest city, recorded its highest-ever air temperature on Wednesday, with temperatures reaching 39.7 degrees Celsius at 2 p.m. local time (1200 GMT), according to the Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service. The reading surpassed the previous record of 39.5 degrees Celsius, set on June 30 this year.
* Central China's Henan Province has relocated over 65,000 residents and ramped up emergency response efforts, as downpours brought by Typhoon Dolphin continue to batter large swathes of the province, authorities said Wednesday.
* Typhoon Chan-hom moved westward and was downgraded to a tropical depression Wednesday after making landfall in the eastern Japanese prefecture of Ibaraki the night before, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said.
* The Philippine National Police (PNP) has intensified post-disaster recovery efforts in the wake of tropical cyclones Luis and Maymay and the enhanced southwest monsoon, official media reported on Wednesday.
