* UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday that Gaza is and must remain an integral part of a Palestinian State. "The Secretary-General is gravely alarmed by the decision of the Israeli government to 'take control of Gaza City,'" said a statement issued by Stephanie Tremblay, associate spokesperson for the UN chief.
* U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday on social media that his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin will take place on Aug. 15 in the U.S. state of Alaska. Trump said on Truth Social that further details will follow.
* Following the upcoming Alaska summit, Russia expects the next meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump to be held in Russia, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said Saturday.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that Ukraine will not surrender its territories to Russia as part of a possible peace agreement.
* Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Friday that China will remain consistent in its position on the Ukraine crisis and continue to promote peace talks no matter how the situation evolves.
* Amid the ongoing U.S. pressure on India-Russia oil trade, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Modi posted a statement on social media, saying that he was looking forward to hosting the Russian president later this year.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin shared the key outcomes of his meeting with U.S. president's special envoy Steve Witkoff during a telephone conversation with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Kremlin said Friday. Modi confirmed India's consistent position in favor of settling the situation surrounding Ukraine via political and diplomatic means, it added.
* The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a peace agreement here at the White House on Friday, ending a decades-long border conflict. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev witnessed the initialing of the agreement by their foreign ministers. The two countries will take further steps to eventually sign and ratify the agreement, the declaration said.
* The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that it will revoke its consent for the operation of Poland's Consulate General in Kaliningrad starting Aug. 29, a senior Russian diplomat said Saturday.
* Indonesia and New Zealand have agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation across various sectors during the visit of New Zealand's Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay, Indonesia's Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs said in a statement on Thursday evening.
* New Zealand and Australian leaders announced Saturday a partnership between their national standards agencies, designed to further ease trade and strengthen economic ties.
* European Council President Antonio Costa on Friday called on Israel to reverse its decision to take over Gaza City. Israel's Security Cabinet has approved a plan to take over Gaza City, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement earlier on Friday.
* Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi has called for convening an extraordinary meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on the ongoing humanitarian "catastrophe" in Gaza, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
* German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced on Friday that Germany will suspend all exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip. The decision came after the Israeli cabinet approved military operations aimed at occupying the Gaza Strip. Merz urged the Israeli government to "refrain from taking further steps to annex the West Bank."
* Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday evening spoke with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, expressing his disappointment with Germany's decision to suspend all exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip.
* British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday urged Israel to reconsider its wrong escalation of the offensive in Gaza, warning of more bloodshed and dimmer prospects for peace.
* The Portuguese government on Friday voiced deep concern over Israel's decision to "take over Gaza", urging the suspension of the plan and the immediate implementation of a ceasefire.
* The Netherlands has begun airdropping humanitarian aid packages over the Gaza Strip due to what Dutch officials described as a "catastrophic" humanitarian situation in the besieged enclave, Dutch public broadcaster NOS reported on Friday.
* Iraq on Friday condemned Israel's plan to seize full control of Gaza City, calling it a blatant violation of international law and humanitarian principles.
* More than 1,000 aid packages have been airdropped over the Gaza Strip since the resumption of the international airdrop operation in late July, with the participation of nine countries, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Friday.
* Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday strongly condemned the Israeli security cabinet's approval of a plan to take over Gaza City, warning it would worsen the humanitarian crisis and derail prospects for peace in the region.
* The U.S. government has demanded the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) pay a 1-billion-U.S.-dollar settlement to resolve accusations of antisemitism, offering to restore frozen federal grant funding in return, officials have said.
* Portugal's President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa vetoed the amended Foreigners Law on Friday, returning it to parliament shortly after the Constitutional Court struck down several of its provisions as unconstitutional, the presidential website announced.
* Construction of Kazakhstan's first nuclear power plant has officially begun near the village of Ulken in the Almaty Region, the country's Kazinform News Agency reported Friday.
* Pakistani security forces have killed 33 terrorists attempting to infiltrate from Afghanistan into Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province, the military said on Friday.
* The World Trade Organization (WTO) on Friday lowered its forecast for global merchandise trade growth in 2026 to 1.8 percent from the previous estimate of 2.5 percent due to higher tariffs.
* The Finnish Ministry of Finance on Friday unveiled its draft budget for 2026, proposing sweeping spending cuts aimed at curbing rising debt, even as the government faces a projected deficit of 9.9 billion euros (11.55 billion USD).
* NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 astronauts began their journey home on Friday after completing a five-month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
* Sri Lanka has earned more than 2 billion USD from tourism in the first seven months of 2025, the latest data from the central bank showed. Sri Lanka earned 2.03 billion dollars from tourism in the cited period, up 7.8 percent from the same period last year.
* South Africa's Trusted Tour Operator Scheme (TTOS) has attracted a total of 25,024 tourists in the last six months, the Department of Home Affairs said on Friday.
* The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has warned that extreme heat is impacting millions of people around the world, with wildfires and poor air quality compounding the problem, highlighting the importance of early warning and heat-health action plans.
* The mountain torrents in Yuzhong County, northwest China's Gansu Province, left 13 dead and 30 missing as of noon Saturday, the provincial emergency authorities said.
* Over 100 people were still missing four days after a cloudburst hit a village in India's northern hilly state of Uttarakhand, local sources said on Friday. Efforts were being made to airlift advanced equipment to expedite the search for those trapped under the rubble, though chances of their survival diminished with each passing day.
