* Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday submitted an appeal to the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice to audit and certify the results of Sunday's presidential elections amid calls for greater transparency.
* Speaker of the Russian State Duma, or lower house of parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin said on Friday that Nicolas Maduro's victory in the Venezuelan presidential elections was legitimate.
* The Harris campaign announced on Friday that it raised $310 million in July, fueled by small-dollar donations that flowed into the war chest after President Joe Biden bowed out of the race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.
* The Philippines and Japan held their first joint military exercises in the East Sea/South China Sea on Friday, the Philippine armed forces said.
* Eight Russians detained and held in custody in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries have been returned to Russia, the country's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Thursday.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin personally welcomed the return of several Russian citizens who had been released as part of a prisoner exchange with Western countries, Russia's TASS News Agency reported on Friday.
* Turkey's intelligence agency on Thursday coordinated a prisoner exchange operation in the capital Ankara, which involved the exchange of 26 individuals from the prisons of seven different countries, the semi-official Anadolu Agency reported.
* Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said that Norway played a role in the recent prisoner swap involving the United States, Russia, Germany, and other countries.
* Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian has reaffirmed his country's commitment to continue its support for the resistance front, especially the Palestinian people, the official news agency IRNA reported on Thursday.
* Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh will be buried in Qatar on Friday following his assassination in the Iranian capital Tehran, one in a series of killings of senior figures in the Palestinian militant group as the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza rages.
* U.S. President Joe Biden said on Thursday the killing of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas' leader Ismail Haniyeh was not helpful for reaching a ceasefire in Israel's war in Gaza.
* U.S. President Joe Biden, in a phone call on Thursday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, discussed new U.S. defensive military deployments to support Israel against threats such as missiles and drones, the White House said.
* U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed with the United Arab Emirates Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, release hostages and increase humanitarian assistance, the U.S. mission to the Gulf Arab state said on Friday.
* Senior officials of Jordan and Luxembourg on Thursday jointly urged an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and a de-escalation of regional tensions at an early date.
* Airlines are avoiding Iranian and Lebanese airspace and cancelling flights to Israel and Lebanon, as concerns grow over a possible conflict in the region after the killing of senior members of militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah this week.
* The departing chief of the UN humanitarian office for the Occupied Palestinian Territory said on Thursday he witnessed the complete exhaustion of civilians in the last 10 months.
* Nigerian authorities on Thursday alleged massive looting and vandalism of public and private buildings, and the blockade of highways, as protesters turned out in their thousands across the country to express their grievances over the current economic hardships.
* Sri Lanka will start issuing passports with updated colors and designs for diplomatic, official and regular passports from October, a minister said on Thursday.
* China will strive to ensure its network of free trade areas (FTAs) can contribute about 40 percent of the total foreign trade by 2030, an official said Friday.
* The Czech National Bank (CNB) cut all three interest rates again on Thursday, by the same quarter percentage point. The base rate, on which interest on bank deposits and loans is based, has thus fallen to 4.5 percent, the lowest level since the beginning of February 2022.
* There are at least 100 additional sites in Indonesia with the potential to contain nickel reserves that remain unexplored, according to recent findings by the Geological Agency of the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry.
* The United Nations world food price index eased slightly in July according to data released on Friday, with a decline in the index for cereals offset in part by increases for meat, vegetable oils and sugar.
* India's palm and soybean oil imports surged to their highest levels in about a year in July, as refiners increased purchases following a price correction and in anticipation of a potential import duty hike, six dealers said on Friday.
* The New Zealand government has launched a new set of tools to support manufacturers to grow their business and reduce emissions.
* The Philippines' Board of Investments (BOI) on Friday said it approved 1.15 trillion pesos (about 19.7 billion USD) worth of investments from January to July this year, 65 percent higher than the pledges recorded in the same period in 2023.
* Private financial analysts downgraded Mexico's 2024 economic growth forecast to 1.8 percent from the projection of 2.0 percent a month earlier, according to a survey released Thursday by the Central Bank of Mexico (Banxico).
* Thailand's business sentiment worsened in July, dragged down by a decline in confidence among the manufacturing sector, while that of the non-manufacturing sector remained stable, the central bank said on Thursday.
* The number of foreign tourists in Spain jumped 13% in the first-half of 2024, putting the country on track for another record year for visitor numbers despite growing discontent over the impact of the holiday industry in some tourist hotspots.
* Afghanistan's Ministry of Economy has implemented 2,194 development projects across the country in the past one year, ministry spokesperson Abdul Rahman Habib has said.
* Sri Lankan workers' remittances saw an increase of 11.3 percent during the first half of 2024 compared to the corresponding period of 2023, a state minister said on Thursday.
* Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) is planning to increase its investments in Egypt and convert its deposits in Egypt into investments, said Saudi Minister of Investment Khalid Al-Faleh here on Thursday.
* Ethiopia will save $4.9 billion from its debt restructuring exercise, State Finance Minister Eyob Tekalign said on Friday.
* Floods brought by torrential rains in Pakistan caused damage that killed at least 30 people this week, authorities said on Friday, as the second-largest city of Lahore was drenched in the most rainfall it has received in more than four decades.
* Over 1,700 schools in nine regions and states across Myanmar have temporarily closed due to severe flooding, the Information Team of Myanmar's State Administration Council said on Thursday.
* Devastating wildfires continued to wreak havoc across the western United States, with California battling one of its largest fires in history and Colorado fighting rapidly growing fires that have claimed a life.
* Severe storms struck Belgium on Thursday, causing significant flooding across several regions. Picardy Wallonia was particularly hard hit, with flooded homes and mudslides disrupting the daily lives of residents.
* Japan's weather agency said Thursday that the past month was the hottest July since records began in 1898. The national average temperature for July was 2.16 degrees Celsius above the baseline average calculated from 1991 to 2020, marking the highest recorded in over 120 years, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).
