* Brazil intends to restore trade and political ties with Cuba, a top foreign policy aide to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Friday after meeting with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel in Havana.
* President Vladimir Putin visited the commander of Russia's operation in Ukraine and other top military brass, the Kremlin said on Saturday, a meeting that came after Ukraine claimed counteroffensive gains on the southeastern front.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrived in Sweden on Saturday to meet with Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, the royal family and other officials as a Kyiv counteroffensive against Russian forces grinds into its third month.
* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday that the West is not interested in negotiating with Moscow on the issue of Ukraine.
* A total of 2,598 Ukrainians taken captive in the Russia-Ukraine conflict have been released as a result of prisoner exchanges, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported Friday.
* Russia has imposed personal sanctions against 54 British citizens, including officials, journalists and law enforcement representatives, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
* Russia has denied entry to several officials from Moldova in response to the latter's recent decision to reduce the number of Russian diplomats working in the country.
* Saudi Arabia and India signed on Friday an agreement on cooperation in developing digital economy and electronic manufacturing, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
* Special forces from Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan have started joint military exercises, according to an official statement from the Defense Ministry of Kyrgyzstan.
* Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Friday highlighted the importance of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) for regional stability and rooting out terrorism in Europe, the Iranian president's office said in an online statement.
* Palestinian authorities on Friday rejected the Israeli government's plan to allocate 190 million USD fund to deepen settlement construction in the West Bank by financing random outposts.
* Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei on Friday evening said he would work to ensure an orderly transition of power to whomever voters elect on Sunday in the final round of a tense presidential election.
* West African regional bloc ECOWAS is ready for a military intervention in Niger if the order is given, ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security Abdel-Fatau Musah said on Friday after a two-day meeting of West African army chiefs in Ghana's capital Accra.
* Election observers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) were on Friday deployed across Zimbabwe's 10 provinces ahead of elections scheduled to be held next Wednesday.
* Myanmar's export of manufactured products earned over 3.5 billion USD as of Aug. 11 in the current 2023-2024 fiscal year which started in April, the Commerce Ministry said on Saturday.
* The Philippines' overall balance of payments (BOP) posted 53 million in July 2023, lower than the 1.8 billion USD BOP deficit recorded in July 2022, according to the Philippine central bank data released Friday night.
* The General Authority for the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) announced on Friday the success of fueling an international vessel with green energy methanol.
* The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said on Friday the first case of COVID-19 variant BA.2.86 had been detected in the country in an individual with no recent travel history.
* More than 350 people have been killed in lynchings by local vigilante and "self-defense" groups in Haiti since April, a United Nations spokesperson said on Friday, as civilian defense movements attempt to battle escalating gang warfare.
* China is currently developing a large-scale space-survey telescope that is expected to bring pioneering scientific results after it is placed in orbit alongside the country's space station, a spokesperson of the China Manned Space Agency said Friday.
* Australia's Victoria state will pay A$380 million ($243 million) to Commonwealth Games organisers, Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said on Saturday, after it withdrew as 2026 event host citing a projected cost blowout.
* Intensive heatwaves and extreme weather that gripped Italy for most of this year will cost Italian farmers at least 6 billion euros (6.5 billion USD), according to estimates from the country's main agricultural union.
* More people were evacuated from their homes on the Spanish island of Tenerife on Saturday morning as a wildfire raging in the north of the island remained out of control, but the flames have so far avoided major tourist areas.
