* Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio said on Thursday the government will aim to raise the average minimum wage to 1,500 yen ($10.29) per hour by the mid-2030s.
* Indonesian President Joko Widodo has threatened to impose sanctions on factories that refuse to install pollution control systems, in response to the capital's poor air quality.
* South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol will visit Indonesia and India to attend the ASEAN and G20 summits between Sept. 5 and 10, news agency Yonhap reported on Thursday citing an official.
* Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will advocate measures to reduce world hunger at the upcoming gathering of the Group of 20 (G20) leaders in New Delhi, India, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.
* China and Nicaragua on Thursday signed a free trade agreement (FTA) after year-long negotiations in the latest effort to enhance bilateral economic and trade cooperation.
* Fiji will sign a defence agreement with France, after the cabinet of the Pacific Islands nation approved the deal, Fiji's government said in a statement on Thursday.
* Australia and the European Union will resume free trade talks on Thursday with a teleconference between Australia's Trade Minister Don Farrell and EU Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis, a month after the two sides failed to reach a deal.
* European Union foreign ministers meet in Spain on Thursday to discuss their response to last month's coup in Niger - including possible sanctions - as they also consider news of military officers declaring they have seized power in Gabon.
* Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad and his Iranian counterpart Hussein Amir-Abdollahian jointly warned on Wednesday the United States against its reported military buildup along the Syrian-Iraqi border.
* China logged more than 82.41 million entry-exit trips between July 1 and August 29, said immigration authorities.
* Russia's Gazprom said it would send 42.3 million cubic metres (mcm) of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Thursday.
* Japan aims to restore its annual fish catch to 4.4 million metric tons by 2030 from record lows last year, a Fisheries Agency official said, adding that no impact was expected from the release of water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant.
* Turkey's economy grew by a more-than-expected 3.8% in the second quarter due to strong household spending, data showed on Thursday, but activity should slow through year-end as election-related stimulus fades and big rate hikes weigh.
* More than 20,000 Ukrainian military personnel have already received training in the United Kingdom, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in a statement on Wednesday.
* German unemployment rose more than expected in August, showing the first cracks in what had been until now a very resilient labour market.
* Inflation in the Netherlands dropped to 3% in August, its lowest level in two years, a first estimate published by national statistics agency CBS on Thursday showed.
* Business and consumer sentiment fell in the latest survey of companies and families amid mixed data of the Italian economy, the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) said on Wednesday.
* Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan highlighted on Wednesday the importance of increasing military deterrence for Turkey to build itself into a powerful country.
* The United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced Wednesday a 14.4 percent year-on-year (YoY) increase in the country's non-oil foreign trade in the first half (H1) of 2023.
* China issued the highest typhoon warning on Thursday as Typhoon Saola, packing winds of more than 200 kph (125 mph),headed towards the southeastern coastline, threatening Hong Kong and other major manufacturing hubs in nearby Guangdong province.
* U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday said no one could deny that the world is facing a climate crisis, after Hurricane Idalia plowed through the Big Bend region of Florida and forced millions of residents to evacuate.
* Hurricane Idalia, which made landfall as a Category 3 storm in the U.S. state of Florida early Wednesday, inflicted a heavy impact on the western part of Cuba, local media reported Wednesday.
