* China and the United States should become a source of stability for world peace and a propeller for common development, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a meeting with U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan, state media said on Thursday.
* Top Chinese and U.S. officials discussed holding fresh talks between Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping in the near future, the two countries said on Wednesday during high-level meetings in Beijing.
* Russia has banned entry to its territory for 92 Americans, including journalists and security officials, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
* Russian National Guard (Rosgvardiya) troops have defused an unexploded HIMARS cluster munition near the Kursk nuclear power plant.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that the Ukrainian troops have taken further areas in Russia's Kursk region.
* The dam of the Kiev Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP), which came under Russian attack on Monday, is facing no risks of collapse, Ukraine's state-run hydropower generating company Ukrhydroenergo said on Wednesday.
* Slovakia is set to purchase six mobile air-defense systems from Israel, at an estimated price of over 554 million euros, local media reported on Wednesday.
* The Polish government has approved its 2025 budget, allocating nearly PLN 190 billion (49.3 billion USD) for defense, a historic high.
* Honduras said on Wednesday that the country will end its extradition treaty with the United States, accusing Washington of interfering in its internal affairs.
* Indonesia and Australia have signed their "treaty-level" defence cooperation agreement, both countries' defence ministers said after meeting in the Indonesian city of Magelang on Thursday.
* South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday pledged urgent reform of the national pension fund, one of the world's largest with $830 billion of assets, to make it more equitable and to ensure income security for an ageing population.
* Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi and his Dutch counterpart Caspar Veldkamp on Wednesday called for de-escalating tension in West Asia.
* China's average life expectancy has reached a record high of 78.6 years, according to a report released Thursday by the National Health Commission.
* The United Nations World Food Programme temporarily suspended movement of its employees across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, saying at least 10 bullets struck one of its clearly marked vehicles as it approached an Israeli military checkpoint.
* The U.S. imposed sanctions on an Israeli nonprofit and a Jewish West Bank settlement security official on Wednesday in Washington's latest effort to punish Jewish settlers it accuses of extremist violence against Palestinians.
* Israeli forces sent tanks deeper into Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip and launched strikes across the enclave as they battled Hamas-led militants, killing at least 34 Palestinians on Wednesday, according to medics.
* At least 40,602 Palestinians have been killed and 93,855 wounded in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, the enclave's health authorities said on Thursday.
* Yemen's Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam said late Wednesday that the group has agreed to permit the rescue operation and towing of a burning oil tanker in the Red Sea.
* The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday unanimously voted to extend a long-running peacekeeping mission in Lebanon for another year, but Israel's ally the United States said changes should be made to the operation's mandate in the future.
* Tunisian President Kais Saied on Wednesday met with visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani to discuss bilateral ties and the situation in Gaza, according to a statement released by the presidency.
* The European Union's mission in the Red Sea said on Wednesday there was no oil spill in the waters near the Greek-flagged tanker hit by a fiery Houthi militant attack off Yemen's coast.
* Russian gas producer Gazprom GAZP.MM said it would send 42.4 million cubic metres (mcm) of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Thursday, unchanged from Wednesday.
* China will not impose provisional anti-dumping measures on brandy imported form the EU following a preliminary investigation that has run since January, the commerce ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
* Inflation rate in Laos dropped to 24.3 percent in August, down from 26.1 percent in July, according to the Lao Statistics Bureau.
* Moody's Ratings has upgraded Pakistan's economic outlook from stable to positive, the rating agency said in a statement on Wednesday. Pakistan's local and foreign currency issuer and senior unsecured debt ratings have been improved to Caa2 from Caa3.
* The Bank of Mexico cut its forecast for economic growth this year and next, according to the central bank's quarterly report on Wednesday, citing weaker foreign manufacturing demand while inflation remains stubborn.
* The Ecuadorean government on Wednesday began the process of shuttering oil wells in the 43-ITT block, located on a vast nature reserve, after voters last year backed a referendum to end drilling in the area on environmental concerns.
* Industrial production in Italy declined more than 3 percent in the first six months of this year (H1) compared to the same period in 2023, though the key indicator was marginally improved compared to month prior.
* Libyan Prime Minister Abdul-Hamed Dbeibah on Wednesday referred to the recent closure of the country's oil fields and ports by the eastern-based authorities as a "crime punishable by law."
* Heavy rains battered India and Pakistan's coastal areas along the Arabian Sea, flooding cities in western India's Gujarat state and forcing thousands of people from their homes, with authorities predicting a cyclonic storm to develop by Friday.
* Southwestern Japan was hit on Thursday by heavy rain and very strong winds as Typhoon Shanshan made landfall in Kagoshima prefecture, knocking out power supply for over a quarter million households and injuring dozens of people.
* Brasilia's environment institute, which monitors air quality in the Brazilian capital, issued an alert on Monday, warning of a "delicate situation."
* Extreme fires in Canada in 2023 emitted more carbon than many industrialized nations, and the emissions were bigger than anything in the record for Canada, according to new NASA study published on Wednesday.
* Malaysia has rolled out measures aimed at combating the spread of monkeypox including thermal scanners at international entry points such as airports, Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said on Wednesday.
* Africa has secured less than 10% of the estimated $245 million it needs to fight a surging mpox outbreak on the continent, a senior official from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said on Wednesday.
* A volcano spewed lava and smoke over southwestern Iceland for a second day on Friday raising fears of spreading pollution hours after its eruption forced the evacuation of a spa resort.
* A total of 31 people were killed in unprecedented floods caused by seasonal rains in parts of Bangladesh, a government report said on Wednesday.
