* UN humanitarians on Monday welcomed Israel's decision to lift the shelter ban in Gaza but warned that plans to intensify military operations will have a horrific impact on people already deprived of basics needed for survival.
* Law enforcement authorities from China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand initiated the 156th joint patrol mission along the Mekong River on Tuesday to combat cross-border crimes.
* Cambodia said on Tuesday that Thai domestic legal action against its leaders seriously undermined all efforts exerted so far to achieve a lasting ceasefire.
* Russia and Ukraine on Tuesday exchanged more bodies of fallen soldiers under the Istanbul deal, Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky said.
* Russian forces conducted a group strike on a Ukrainian oil refinery supplying fuel to the Ukrainian troops in the Donbass region, the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday. The raid involved long-range precision weapons, as well as combat drones, the ministry said in a statement.
* Russia does not reject any formats, either bilateral or trilateral, on resolving the conflict in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday.
* U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States will help defend Ukraine after its war with Russia, but that there will not be U.S. troops on the ground.
* U.S. President Donald Trump has directed his team to come up with a framework for security guarantees that will help ensure lasting peace in Ukraine, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.
* China stands ready to work with the international community to continue playing a constructive role in the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Tuesday.
* French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky could happen in the next two weeks.
* A senior official of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) sharply criticized the "appeasement offensive" by the the Republic of Korean government, ruling out again any possibilities of diplomatic engagement between the two Koreas, state media said on Wednesday.
* The U.S. Commerce Department said Tuesday that 50 percent tariffs have taken effect on 407 additional product categories containing aluminum or steel.
* Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday denied that her government has agreed with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to launch a joint operation against drug cartels.
* Slovenia has sent its first shipment of humanitarian aid for Gaza to Jordan, the Ministry of Defence said Tuesday. The aid, consisting of food and blankets from the Defence Ministry's reserves, was transported by a Spartan military cargo aircraft.
* UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday that relief workers, themselves increasingly suffering attacks, are the last lifeline for more than 300 million people caught in conflict or disaster worldwide.
* The White House launched an official TikTok account on Tuesday, less than a month before U.S. President Donald Trump's deadline for the social media app to either find a new owner or face a ban in the United States.
* Egypt on Tuesday sent its 18th humanitarian convoy into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing, part of its effort to deliver aid to Palestinians facing a worsening humanitarian crisis.
* Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty on Tuesday urged the international community to pressure Israel into accepting the latest Gaza ceasefire proposal, affirming that it would help alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
* Syria's foreign affairs chief, Assad Hassan al-Shibani, met with an Israeli delegation in Paris on Tuesday to discuss efforts to reduce tensions and bolster stability in southern Syria, according to Syria's state news agency SANA.
* The authorities in the Central African Republic (CAR) have confirmed that the country's local, legislative, and presidential elections will be held on Dec. 28.
* Indonesia expects to achieve rice self-sufficiency this year, earlier than the initial target of 2026, the country's Minister of Agriculture Andi Amran Sulaiman said Tuesday.
* Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Tuesday announced that his government will declare a civil protection emergency in response to widespread wildfires ravaging the country.
* Japan's exports to the United States fell 10.1 percent in July from a year earlier, marking the fourth consecutive monthly decline, the country's finance ministry said Wednesday. The steep drop was led by a sharp fall in auto shipments, reflecting the impact of U.S. tariff measures.
* Thailand's industrial confidence fell for a fifth consecutive month in July, driven by concerns over border conflict with Cambodia and U.S. trade measures, data showed on Tuesday.
* The number of foreign citizens employed in Slovenia reached a record high in June, standing at around 148,900, or 16.1 percent of the country's total workforce, the Slovenian Statistical Office said Tuesday.
* The Death toll of the deadly road accident, which occurred in Afghanistan's western Herat province on Tuesday night, has reached 79, including women and children, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior Affairs Abdul Mateen Qani said Wednesday.
* Wildfires have scorched nearly 895,000 hectares across the European Union (EU) so far this year, more than four times the area recorded in the same period of 2024, the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) said Tuesday.
* Mongolia's National Agency for Meteorology and Environmental Monitoring on Wednesday continued to warn of heavy rainfall and potential flooding across the country.
