* Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus took oath as the head of the country's interim government in Dhaka on Thursday. President Mohammed Shahabuddin administered the oath to Yunus and other members of the new interim government at the presidential palace in the capital Dhaka.
* Former U.S. President Donald Trump and incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris have agreed to a Sept. 10 debate on ABC, the network said on Thursday.
* Russia's emergency ministry declared a federal state of emergency in the Kursk region on Friday after a major Ukrainian incursion this week.
* Indonesia and Japan signed the Protocol of Amendments to the Indonesia-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (IJEPA) via a video conference led by Indonesia's Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan and Japan's Foreign Minister Kamikawa Yoko on Thursday.
* Japan's Prime Minister Kishida Fumio cancelled plans to visit central Asia on Friday, and spearhead precautionary measures instead, following an unprecedented warning that the risk of a major Pacific coast earthquake was higher than usual.
* Brazil and Nicaragua expelled each other's ambassadors on Thursday in a tit-for-tat retaliation as relations deteriorated between two formerly allied leftist governments.
* Bolivian President Luis Arce on Wednesday said the armed forces need to undergo a "profound transformation," including updating military doctrine, to avert further attempted coups.
* The South African government has been making preparations for its Group of Twenty (G20) Presidency and the hosting of the G20 Summit in 2025, a senior government official said Thursday.
* Israel replied to Qatari, Egyptian and U.S. mediators early Friday, saying that it will send a delegation to resume talks on a Gaza ceasefire deal on Aug. 15.
* The leaders of Egypt, Qatar, and the United States on Thursday urged Israel and Hamas not to waste more time to finalize a ceasefire agreement and resume talks on Aug. 15.
* A commerce ministry official said Friday that China will promote alignment with high-standard international economic and trade rules and expand opening up to boost the consumption of services.
* The Lao central bank will establish a centralized foreign exchange market to stabilize currency, improve transaction monitoring and provide convenient currency exchange options.
* Singapore's Prime Minister Lawrence Wong vowed to create new opportunities, keep living costs affordable, and strengthen the social support system in the country to keep the society cohesive and resilient in his first National Day message delivered Thursday.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on Thursday, officially legalizing cryptocurrency mining in the country from November 2024, according to a document published on the government portal of legal information.
* India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday decided to keep the repo rate unchanged at 6.5 percent. Repo rate is the RBI's interest rate for short-term loans extended to the commercial banks in the South Asian country.
* Ukraine has received over 93 billion USD in budget support from international partners since the beginning of its conflict with Russia in February 2022, Ukraine's Finance Ministry said on Thursday.
* Mexico's inflation accelerated in July to 5.57 percent, hitting a 14-month high, driven by the price of several agricultural products, according to figures released Thursday by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI).
* Following a new evacuation order issued by the Israeli authorities, UN humanitarians said on Thursday its partners reported thousands of Gazans again fleeing parts of the Khan Younis area, west, toward Al Mawasi.
* The U.S.-British coalition launched three air strikes late Thursday on the Ras Issa area in Yemen's Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported early Friday.
* The Sudanese government said on Friday it will send a delegation to Jeddah to consult with the United States regarding an invitation to ceasefire talks in Geneva to be held on August 14. The talks aim to end a 15-month-old war between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary.
* The African Union (AU) said on Thursday that it is expanding the continent's early warning system in order to improve stability in the region.
* The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is collaborating closely with all relevant stakeholders to ensure a "good and robust" global anti-doping system, according to IOC spokesman Mark Adams.
* The World Health Organization (WHO) is convening an emergency committee in response to the spread of mpox outside the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the potential for further international transmission, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday.
* The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) on Thursday called for urgent action to avert the "concerning spread" of mpox across the continent.
* Ethiopia has vaccinated over 10 million people as part of a national campaign to contain the spread of an ongoing cholera outbreak, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.
* Regional and municipal governments across Italy have been declaring states of emergency as the country's extremely hot and dry summer continues.
* Japan's weather bureau said on Friday there was a 60% chance that La Nina would form towards the northern hemisphere winter. The bureau also said the climate returned to normal with neither El Nino or La Nina phenomena occurring.
* Kuwaiti AlNajat Charity Society Foundation announced on Thursday that it will send urgent aid to people affected by the torrential rains and severe floods in northern Yemen, according to the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).
