* The death toll of a school shooting in Thailand's Nonthaburi Province on Friday has risen to nine, authorities said on Saturday.
* Japan's Defense Ministry plans to request a record-high budget of about 8.9 trillion yen (around 56 billion USD) for fiscal 2027, local media reported on Friday.
* Türkiye on Friday rejected claims circulated on social media that its newly signed trilateral defense agreement with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan conflicts with NATO's Article 5.
* Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Friday that progress had been made on border issues and the return of prisoners during the latest negotiations between Lebanon and Israel in Rome.
* New Zealand on Saturday announced a new round of sanctions against those supporting Russia's conflict with Ukraine. Thirty-three individuals and entities were targeted in the sanctions package unveiled by Foreign Minister Winston Peters.
* The Russian Armed Forces launched an overnight strike on military and fuel facilities in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, the Russian Ministry of Defense said Saturday.
* Spain announced on Friday that it would temporarily restore internal border checks for travelers arriving from Italy in response to Rome's refusal to lift border controls on travelers arriving from Spain amid the recent migration crisis in the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta.
* The governments of Peru and Mexico have decided to resume diplomatic relations, which had remained severed since November 2025, Peru's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Friday.
* Russia launched one of its largest attacks in recent months on production facilities of Ukrnafta, a member of the Naftogaz Group, the Ukrainian state-owned energy company Naftogaz said on Friday.
* Italy will not reverse its decision to temporarily suspend the application of the Schengen Agreement for third-country nationals arriving from Spain until at least Aug. 15 amid national security and border control concerns, the Italian government said on Friday.
* Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said Saturday that Iran and Oman are "very close" to an agreement on the designation of a temporary route for maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, according to the official news agency IRNA.
* Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan discussed progress in normalizing bilateral relations during a phone conversation on Saturday, according to the Azerbaijani presidential press service.
* Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has reaffirmed the country's commitment to pursuing dialogue for safeguarding its rights while highlighting that Tehran will not be forced to surrender.
* Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency on Saturday released a video of Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei on social media platform Telegram. In the video, Mojtaba Khamenei, surrounded by several people, appeared to be speaking to those around him. The Mehr report did not specify when or where the video was recorded, nor did it identify the people surrounding him.
* One of the vessels belonging to Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was targeted by a missile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz early Saturday, according to a statement by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
* UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg on Friday warned of a growing risk of renewed large-scale conflict in Yemen amid escalating attacks by the Houthi group against Saudi tankers and Yemeni government forces.
* Uzbekistan aims to join the top 50 countries in the global artificial intelligence (AI) Readiness Index by 2030 and expand the value of its AI-based software products and services to 1.5 billion USD, the presidential press service said Friday.
* Brunei recorded a significant increase in applications to establish companies, with 354 companies registered in 2025 compared to 157 in 2024, representing a 125 percent increase, a government minister has said.
* The U.S. economy unexpectedly shed jobs in July, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nonfarm payrolls dropped month-on-month by a seasonally adjusted 23,000, compared with a downwardly revised 20,000 in the prior month. The figure was well below economists' expectations for an increase of 83,000.
* Canada's unemployment rate fell to a two-year low of 6.4 percent in July, Statistics Canada said Friday. According to the national statistical agency, the country added 75,000 jobs in July, representing a 0.4-percent increase, while the employment rate edged up by 0.1 percentage points to 60.9 percent.
* The amount of critical supplies allowed into the Gaza Strip was up by 33 percent in July over June, UN humanitarians said Friday. In July, 55,000 pallets of aid entered the strip, approximately 35,000 metric tonnes.
* Hungary is lifting emergency energy-saving measures introduced during an extreme heatwave and severe drought, after slightly cooler weather eased pressure on the country's power system, Prime Minister Peter Magyar said Friday.
* Coastal areas of eastern China were bracing for strong winds and torrential rain as Typhoon Dolphin approached, prompting authorities to recall fishing boats, suspend ferry services and prepare for evacuations.
* More than 40,000 people have been affected by flooding from July 30 to Aug. 7 following the breach of the Ngawun River embankment in Myanmar's Ayeyarwady region, a spokesperson for the president's office said, citing the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement.
* A wildfire in the caldera area of Indonesia's Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park (TNBTS) has expanded to around 120 hectares as of Friday after burning for days.
* A passenger train and a freight train collided on Saturday morning near Skrinjari, about 60 kilometers east of the Croatian capital Zagreb, leaving six passengers severely injured and 14 others with minor injuries.
* The number of H5N1 bird flu cases in Australia on Saturday surpassed 200 as the southeastern state of Victoria introduced new measures to stop the deadly strain from spreading to poultry.
