* Following his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that it is up to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to strike a ceasefire deal.
* U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday wrapped up a high-stakes meeting in Anchorage, the U.S. state of Alaska, with progress made but no deal reached.
* U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday he had a "very productive meeting" with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, but the summit ended without a deal on the Ukraine crisis.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that he will meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday “to discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war".
* During a tea gathering hosted by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn and Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa on Thursday in Anning, southwest China's Yunnan Province, the three parties reached the consensus that Cambodia and Thailand will accelerate the resumption of normal exchanges, according to the Chinese foreign ministry on Friday.
* The UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) allocated 214 million USD to help people in two dozen countries in the first half of this year, including efforts to combat a drought in Afghanistan and to back climate resilience elsewhere, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, on Friday.
* China on Friday filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against Canada's import restrictions on steel and related products, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce has said.
* Thailand's House of Representatives approved a 3.78 trillion baht (about 116.45 billion USD) budget for the 2026 fiscal year in its third and final reading on late Friday after a three-day debate.
* The Malaysian economy expanded 4.4 percent in the second quarter of 2025, driven by robust domestic demand, the central bank said Friday.
* Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has set a 2026 economic growth target of 5.4 percent, pledging to accelerate downstream industrialization, expand stimulus programs, and achieve a full shift to renewable energy within a decade.
* Foreign direct investment (FDI) into Malaysia dropped to 1.6 billion ringgit (380 million USD) in the second quarter, official data showed Friday.
* Kyrgyzstan's gross domestic product (GDP) rose 11.5 percent to reach 9.9 billion USD in the first seven months of 2025, the National Statistical Committee reported Friday.
* Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto on Friday reaffirmed his strong commitment to combat corruption and safeguard forests across the country.
* The Afghan interim government marked the fourth anniversary of Kabul takeover with a grand ceremony on Friday, where officials highlighted achievements.
* China's air passenger trips totaled 440 million in the first seven months of 2025, increasing 5.6 percent year on year, data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) showed on Friday.
* Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto said Friday that the country's free nutritious meal program now benefits 20 million people.
* Malaysia's population was estimated at 34.2 million in the second quarter of 2025 as compared to 34.1 million for the same period in 2024, according to official data.
* The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that seven countries carried out an airdrop of 127 aid packages across the Gaza Strip on Friday. According to the statement, Singapore joined the air operation for the first time, alongside the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Germany, Belgium, France, and Italy.
* Syrian authorities have foiled an attempt to smuggle a large quantity of Captagon pills in the southern Daraa province and dismantled a drug trafficking network in the northern Aleppo province, Syria's SANA news agency reported on Friday.
* Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty held phone calls on Friday with Dubravka Suica, EU commissioner for the Mediterranean, and French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot on the Palestinian issue, according a statement by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.
* Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem announced Friday that Hezbollah will not relinquish its weapons and is prepared to engage in war if necessary, in response to what it describes as ongoing Israeli aggression and occupation.
* Jordan on Friday dispatched its 190th relief convoy to the Gaza Strip and carried out a multinational airdrop operation, delivering 43 truckloads and 82 tonnes of food and humanitarian supplies, the state-run Petra news agency reported.
* Since the beginning of this year, 1.7 million Afghan citizens have returned to the country from Iran and Pakistan, a UN spokesman said Friday.
* Up to 23 people were killed and 21 others injured in the torrential rains across Niger this year, the commander of the national fire brigade group said at a press briefing on Thursday.
* A total of 225 people were killed in separate rain-related accidents in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province during the past 48 hours, raising the death toll to 541 since the onset of the monsoon season on June 26, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said Saturday.
* An aftershock measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale struck Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on Friday, the Kamchatka branch of the Geophysical Survey of the Russian Academy of Sciences announced on its Telegram channel.
