* China will allocate 432 million yuan ($60 million) in flood relief funds for eight provinces including Hebei to support agriculture output hit by the recent heavy rainfall, the agriculture ministry said on Wednesday.
* The Kremlin on Wednesday restated its position on the Black Sea grain deal, saying it was ready to return to it "immediately" once the part that concerns Russia was implemented.
* There are signs that Russia might be interested in returning to talks on the Black Sea grain deal, a U.S. envoy said on Tuesday.
* The United States and Mongolia will announce plans to sign an "Open Skies" civil aviation agreement, a U.S. official said, as Vice President Kamala Harris and Mongolian Prime Minister L. Oyun-Erdene gather for discussions focused on Russia, China and economic development.
* The security situation in wider West Africa could worsen if the crisis in Niger is not resolved, the top UN envoy for the region said on Tuesday.
* Any Western military intervention in Niger must be avoided, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told RAI public television on Wednesday.
* German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Wednesday that there were no concerns about German troops in Niger, adding that supply was also secure.
* Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Tuesday that the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry made a "mistake" by summoning Polish ambassador.
* Iran and Turkey on Tuesday called for strengthening legal and judicial cooperation, official news agency IRNA reported.
* Clashes erupted again on Tuesday in southern Lebanon's Ain Al-Helweh refugee camp, hosting largely Palestinians, despite a cease-fire reached between rival factions late Monday.
* Palestinian factions on Tuesday said the shooting attack that wounded six Israelis near Jerusalem is a "natural response" to the continued Israeli violations against the Palestinians.
* Saudi Arabia's foreign minister has reiterated the kingdom's total rejection of all attempts to desecrate the Islamic holy book of the Quran, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday.
* Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has proposed that Muslim states should downgrade or cut relations with Sweden and Denmark if sacrilegious acts against the Quran are repeated in the two Nordic countries.
* The heads of UN food and agriculture agencies wrapped up a three-day visit to South Sudan Tuesday, calling for increased investments in the country to avoid a catastrophic food crisis.
* Delegates attending the Cybertech Africa conference in the Rwandan capital of Kigali on Tuesday called on African countries to build robust, secure digital infrastructure to tackle cybersecurity attacks and related crimes.
* The Israeli Navy and defense company Elbit Systems have successfully completed sea trials for a new electronic warfare system, the Elbit said on Tuesday.
* Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has called for calm and unity in response to the implementation of recent tough policies aimed at stabilizing the country's economy.
* Iran's Revolutionary Guards' navy has unveiled new vessels equipped with 600-km range missiles at a time of rising tensions with the U.S. in the Gulf, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Wednesday.
* Credit ratings agency Fitch on Tuesday downgraded the U.S. government's credit rating, from AAA to AA+, over concerns about "growing debt burden" and "an erosion of governance."
* India's edible oil imports in July rose to a record 1.76 million metric tonnes as refiners built up stocks for upcoming festivals given uncertainty over supplies from the Black Sea, five dealers told Reuters.
* European Union plans to start taxing polluting aviation fuels have hit an impasse as the bloc's 27 member states struggle to agree to make green fuels cheaper and fossil fuels more expensive, diplomats said.
* New Zealand's unemployment rate rose slightly to 3.6 percent in the June 2023 quarter, compared with 3.4 percent last quarter, due to a rise in the working age population and people made themselves available to work, according to the statistics department Stats NZ on Wednesday.
* Uzbekistan plans to raise the limit for consolidated state budget deficit from current 3 percent to 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023, a draft presidential decree announced on Tuesday said.
* Sri Lanka received over 750,000 tourists and earned foreign exchange revenue amounting to 800 million USD during the first seven months of this year, according to a statement from the President's Media Division (PMD) on Tuesday.
* Kenya's interior ministry said on Wednesday that it had suspended the activities of cryptocurrency project Worldcoin in the country until relevant agencies certify the absence of risks to people.
* Mozambique's fisheries production reached 218,000 tons in the first half of 2023, an official announced on Monday.
* Sri Lanka's Export Development Board (EDB) on Wednesday said it is developing a five-year strategic plan to increase the country's annual exports to 31.3 billion USD by 2027.
* High winds hit power lines in Japan's popular tourist destination Okinawa, knocking out electricity to more than 200,000 households on Wednesday morning, as powerful and slow-moving Typhoon Khanun neared the country's southwestern islands.
* The death toll from this summer's heat wave in South Korea rose to at least 23, Yonhap news agency said on Wednesday citing the fire authorities.
* The Iranian government announced on Tuesday that public and private institutions across the country will be closed for two days to mitigate the impact of an unprecedented heatwave on public health.
