* Thailand's economic growth weakened in the second quarter of 2026, as a slowdown in private consumption and government spending offset surging private investment and sustained export gains, official data showed on Monday.
* Singapore has launched several initiatives to strengthen maritime safety, improve operational capabilities and support the safe adoption of new technologies, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said on Monday.
* The 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) officially kicked off in Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia, on Monday. COP17 aims at accelerating action to combat desertification, land degradation, and drought.
* Mongolia will raise the monthly minimum wage by 26.3 percent to 1,000,000 Mongolian tugriks (about 277 USD) starting next year, the country's Ministry of Family, Labor, and Social Protection announced on Monday.
* The Republic of Korean presidential office Blue House said Monday that it hopes the relationship between U.S. President Donald Trump and DPRK leader Kim Jong Un will lead to meaningful dialogue and discussions on advancing peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.
* U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he had instructed the Pentagon to substantially reduce joint military exercises with the Republic of Korea.
* The Republic of Korean military fired warning shots after several soldiers of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) crossed the military demarcation line (MDL) earlier this week, Yonhap News Agency reported Sunday, citing a RoK government source.
* Maintaining peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula and promoting the political solution of the peninsula issue serves the interests of all parties concerned, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said Monday.
* A petition calling for the expulsion of U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra has drawn more than 200,000 verified signatures as of Sunday, according to data from the official petition website of the Canadian Parliament.
* Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani on Sunday reaffirmed Qatar's support for diplomatic efforts to defuse regional tensions and ensure freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
* Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday Iran and Oman have agreed on the map of the new route for maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.
* The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on Sunday called on mediators and guarantors to press Israel to approve the roadmap for the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement.
* The foreign ministers of eight countries on Sunday condemned Israel's declared rejection of a roadmap for completing the Gaza peace plan. "Such rejection confirms that Israel now bears responsibility for obstructing the efforts to bring peace in Gaza," the foreign ministers of Egypt, Qatar, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Türkiye and Saudi Arabia said in a joint statement.
* The 46th Ordinary Summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Heads of State and Government opened Monday in South Africa's coastal city of Durban, with calls for deeper regional integration and stronger cooperation to advance industrialization and economic development.
* Yemen's Houthi group said Monday it launched a ballistic missile attack on "a Saudi military landing ship" and four escort military boats off Mocha, a Red Sea port city in southwestern Yemen.
* Oman is preparing to transfer oil from the grounded vessel Caroline Bezengi off its southern coast to another vessel as part of efforts to contain the spill, the Oman News Agency reported Monday.
* China's value-added industrial output increased by 5.3 percent year on year in the first seven months of 2026, official data showed on Monday.
* Türkiye's central government budget deficit surged 1,484.6 percent year on year to 378.1 billion Turkish liras (about 7.9 billion USD) in July from 23.9 billion liras a year earlier, according to data released Monday by the Turkish ministry of treasury and finance.
* A wildfire in Belgium's High Fens area had burned about 3,000 hectares by Sunday morning, making it the largest on record in the country, with several hotspots still active, local media reported.
* The death toll from a 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) province has risen to 54, the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) said Monday.
* Poland will send an emergency aircraft to Budapest after a coach carrying Polish nationals crashed, killing 12 people and leaving at least 10 others seriously injured, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Sunday.
