* A Chinese envoy said Friday that the resolution of the Korean Peninsula issue relies on strong relations among major nations and a stable regional environment.
* Bank Indonesia (BI), Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), and the Bank of Thailand (BOT) have signed three bilateral memorandums of understanding (MoUs) on a framework for cooperation to promote bilateral transactions in local currencies between the countries.
* Japan's fisheries agency said on Saturday fish tested in waters around the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant did not contain detectable levels of the radioactive isotope tritium, Kyodo news service reported.
* Canada's Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault on Saturday leaves for Beijing to join talks on fighting climate change and preserving biodiversity, the first Canadian minister to go to China in four years.
* Russia's Gazprom GAZP.MM said it will send 41.5 million cubic metres of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Saturday, compared to 42.4 million cubic metres a day earlier.
* The Turkish and Ukrainian foreign ministers said on Friday that other solutions to the export of Ukrainian grain than the Black Sea grain deal, which ended after Russia quit last month, were less optimal.
* Iranian lawmakers said the country's accession to BRICS will help improve its economy and is an important step to offset the negative impact of U.S.-led economic sanctions.
* Niger's junta, which seized power in a coup on July 26, said on Friday it had ordered French ambassador Sylvain Itte to leave the country within 48 hours, as relations between the West African country and its former colonial ruler deteriorated further.
* Niger's Foreign Ministry has told the U.S. government that images of letters circulating online calling for the departure of certain American diplomatic personnel were not issued by the ministry, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said.
* Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan has called for concrete action to address the widening global North-South divide in a bid to create a just international economic order.
* The Houthi group in Yemen has warned of an escalation of the civil war if the government does not pay the salaries of civil servants in Houthi-controlled areas.
* Iran has reached an agreement with South Africa to "develop and equip" five refineries in the African state, said Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi on Friday. The agreement was reached on the sidelines of the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, the president said in a statement.
* The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Friday said it is working toward an amicable solution to restore constitutional order in the Republic of Niger.
* Uganda's military has killed one of the commanders of an Islamic State (IS)-allied rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo where Kampala has been pursuing the militants alongside the Congolese military for nearly two years.
* The fighting in Sudan should put the suffering Sudanese people above the pursuit of power or resources and the conflict should end, the UN relief chief said on Friday.
* The central bank's first vice governor, Wassim Mansouri, on Friday warned that a lack of reforms would expose Lebanon to the risk of isolation from the international financial system.
* The Pakistani rupee's fall continues to set a new record low against the USD as the greenback was traded at 301 rupees in the interbank market on Friday, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
* At least 3.4 million foreign tourists have visited the Philippines this year, equivalent to 71.4 percent of the tourism sector's target, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said on Friday.
* Kenya's transport minister apologised on Saturday after a widespread electricity blackout the previous night left passengers at the main airport in Nairobi grappling in darkness.
* Wildfires have so far burned more than 600 square kilometers (60,000 hectares) of land in Italy, more than in all of 2022, Coldiretti, the country's main agricultural association said on Friday.
* Uruguay remains under an agricultural emergency despite the end of the water emergency after rains strengthened freshwater reserves, a Uruguayan official confirmed on Friday.
