* UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday that UN peace operations must adapt to new realities amid profound changes in the global security landscape.
* U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Ratcliffe's Moscow visit this week was intended to warn Russia against attacking NATO member states, The Wall Street Journal and CBS News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the trip.
* The Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday declared a staff member of the Romanian Embassy in Moscow persona non grata and notified Romanian Charge d'Affaires Liliana Burda of the decision.
* Norway's King Harald V is in a "very serious" condition after his health deteriorated, the Norwegian Royal House said Thursday, prompting Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store to cancel a planned trip to Germany.
* Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Affairs Krzysztof Gawkowski said Thursday that he had formally asked the European Commission to fine U.S. tech giant Meta 250 million euros (about 291.3 million USD).
* Hungary's Paks nuclear power plant has returned to full capacity after weeks of reduced output caused by record-low water levels on the Danube River, Prime Minister Peter Magyar said on Wednesday.
* Estonian company Wolfram Europa on Wednesday presented a 200-million-euro (about 234 million USD) investment program aimed at developing an ammunition production plant in the eastern Latvian municipality of Jekabpils, the company said.
* German forces concluded their military advisory mission in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region on Wednesday, marking the end of years of operation within the U.S.-led international coalition against the Islamic State (IS) group.
* Dozens of Palestinians demonstrated across several West Bank cities on Wednesday, demanding the return of bodies held by Israel. The demonstrations were organized by the national campaign to retrieve bodies, ahead of the national day for the return of Palestinian and Arab bodies and disclosure of the fate of the missing on Aug. 27.
* Jordan's Ministry of Agriculture and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on Wednesday signed a cooperation agreement to strengthen farmers' capacity to adapt to climate change through training programs and water-efficient agricultural technologies.
* The Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Wednesday that the Strait of Hormuz will not be opened if the United States does not accept Iran's conditions, according to the IRGC's official news outlet Sepah News.
* Türkiye on Wednesday welcomed the dissolution of Syria's Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), saying the move would help strengthen state authority and advance efforts to build a unified and stable Syria.
* Yemen's Houthi group fired four ballistic missiles at government-held areas along the country's western coast on Wednesday evening, amid an escalation in fighting between the two sides, government forces have said.
* Nearly 50,000 people in Colombia have received assistance across 25 municipalities in the most affected areas since the 7.4-magnitude earthquake hit the country more than two weeks ago, UN humanitarians said Wednesday.
* Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to his Nepali counterpart Balen Shah on Wednesday to convey condolences over the loss of human lives due to sudden floods in parts of the Himalayan kingdom earlier in the day. Meanwhile, the Indian embassy in Kathmandu set up emergency helpline numbers for information on Indian nationals impacted by the flash floods.
* The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday declared an end to Uganda's latest Ebola outbreak after the country went 42 consecutive days without reporting a new confirmed case.
* Russia posted year-on-year growth in both liquefied natural gas (LNG) and total gas production in January-July 2026, according to national statistics agency Rosstat on Wednesday. The country's LNG output rose 12 percent to 20.6 million tonnes in the first seven months of the year.
* Qantas said on Thursday that its profit fell by almost 20 percent in the 2025-26 financial year amid a spike in fuel prices driven by the conflict in the Middle East.
* Tunisia's National Institute of Meteorology (INM) on Wednesday placed all regions except the western province of Kasserine on high alert for Wednesday and Thursday due to a heatwave accompanied by sirocco winds.
* Colombia's National Unit for Disaster Risk Management said Wednesday that 18 wildfires remain active across four departments as El Nino conditions continue to fuel dry weather.
* Japan's weather agency issued its highest-level emergency warning for heavy rain on Thursday for some areas in the central prefectures of Toyama and Ishikawa.
* A pilot and a co-pilot died when the private trainee aircraft they were flying crashed in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, confirmed the local police.
* Two people were injured in a small plane crash near Sladkovicovo in the Trnava region, southwestern Slovakia on Wednesday evening, Trnava regional police reported. According to the News Agency of the Slovak Republic (TASR), the pilot was carrying out a landing manoeuvre after the engine reportedly failed.
