* Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni on Friday lifted the five-year overseas travel ban on former opposition leader Kem Sokha through a new royal decree. The monarch removed the travel restriction originally imposed by the Phnom Penh Appeal Court on April 30, 2026.
* The Bangladesh National Parliament Secretariat confirmed to the media on Friday that Parliament Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad has begun discharging the functions of the president in accordance with the Constitution following the resignation of Mohammed Shahabuddin Chuppu. Under the Bangladeshi Constitution, the speaker shall discharge the functions of the president until a new head of state is elected.
* Foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) issued a joint statement on Friday, reaffirming their commitment to multilateral cooperation, regional security and a more representative and inclusive multipolar world.
* Venezuela announced Friday that it will withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), saying that the tribunal based in The Hague has shown "geographical bias" against Latin American and African countries.
* Thailand is willing to work with China to deepen strategic coordination and mutual trust, and strengthen exchanges and cooperation between the two militaries across various fields, Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said when meeting with visiting Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun in Bangkok on Friday. Thailand firmly adheres to the one-China policy and will not change its stance due to external pressure and interference, Anutin said.
* The United States and Britain are planning to hold a high-level meeting in London next week to discuss forming a potential international coalition to protect commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. online news outlet Axios reported on Friday.
* U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that Washington and Tehran are in talks and that he believes Iran is getting "more serious."
* Russia carried out a new round of overnight strikes on military-related targets in Ukraine's Black Sea ports, using air-launched precision-guided weapons and attack drones, the Russian defense ministry said Friday.
* A booby-trapped drone was shot down on Saturday over Erbil, the capital of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, a Kurdish security source said. The drone was intercepted in the afternoon by the air defense system at the U.S. Consulate in Erbil, with no casualties reported, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
* Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani met with visiting Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty on Saturday to discuss bilateral cooperation and regional developments.
* A total of 14,539 Afghan refugee families, totaling 97,277 individuals, returned to their homeland, Afghanistan, from the neighboring countries of Iran and Pakistan over the past month, the deputy spokesman for the Afghan government announced on Saturday.
* Cambodia raided 737 online scam centers nationwide between June 2025 and June 2026, according to a government press release issued Friday. It revealed that authorities inspected 28,512 locations, uncovering illegal online scam operations at 665 sites, the statement said.
* More than 2.5 million foreign tourists visited Laos in the first half of 2026, an increase of 9.87 percent compared to the figures for the same period in 2025.
* China's summer grain output reached a record 150.75 million tonnes this year, surpassing the 150‑million‑tonne mark for the first time, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said on Friday.
* About one-third of Singapore's domestic exports to the United States will be subject to the new 12.5 percent tariff imposed by Washington, Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said in a statement on Friday.
* Thailand's exports grew for a 24-month streak in June, driven by industrial product shipments, official data showed on Friday. Exports, a key driver of the Southeast Asian country's economic growth, expanded 20.8 percent year-on-year in June to 34.66 billion USD, compared to a 10.6-percent increase in May, according to the Ministry of Commerce.
* Kazakhstan has temporarily reduced oil production following the suspension of oil loading operations at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium's marine terminal, the country's Energy Ministry said on Thursday.
* Norway on Friday strongly opposed a new 12.5 percent U.S. tariff on its imports, calling Washington's unilateral measure unjustified.
* The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) on Friday highlighted the strategic importance of the newly constructed Gordie Howe International Bridge port of entry, as Canada held a solo ceremony to mark the milestone crossing amid escalating trade tensions with the United States.
* Romanian President Nicusor Dan said Saturday that Romania had shot down another drone after it violated the country's airspace, marking the second such incident in two days. The drone was downed about 10 km west of Sfantu Gheorghe in central Romania, Dan said.
* An Omani diplomatic delegation arrived in the Iranian capital Tehran on Friday for talks on the administration of the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's official news agency IRNA reported.
* Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani on Friday met with visiting British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband to discuss regional de-escalation efforts, according to a statement by Qatar's Foreign Ministry.
* Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday, according to a statement issued by the prime minister's office on Friday.
* The Slovenian government on Friday approved a temporary suspension of certain gasoline duties for two months in a bid to cushion fuel price increases driven by rising global oil prices amid the Middle East conflict.
* Airstrikes struck Houthi military sites in northern Yemen on Saturday, the state-run Yemen TV reported, as tensions further escalated following the group's attacks on Saudi-linked vessels in the Red Sea.
* UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited Syria on Saturday, pledging continued UN support for the country's recovery and reconstruction in the first visit by a UN chief to Damascus since 2009.
* The Israeli army launched a large-scale arrest campaign in the West Bank from Friday evening to Saturday morning, detaining at least 80 Palestinians, less than a day after four Palestinians and an Israeli were killed in clashes in the town of Tell, south of Nablus.
* The death toll from a collision involving two passenger buses on the Damascus-Deir al-Zour highway in central Syria on Saturday has risen to 35, Syrian state news agency SANA reported, citing a health official.
* Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) announced Saturday that its subsidiary Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has signed a 16 billion-U.S.-dollar agreement with a consortium of global investors to develop the country's crude pipeline infrastructure.
* The Saudi-led coalition said Saturday that it had carried out a military operation against Houthi targets in Yemen's western province of Hodeidah, according to a statement released by the coalition's Joint Forces Command.
* At least 62 people were killed, and eight others remain missing as a population of over 1.1 million remains affected in the ongoing floods in India's northeastern state of Assam, according to Assam's Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. The situation continues to be grim, and the flooding has extended to the state's 25 districts.
* An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 jolted Vanuatu Islands at 2137 GMT on Friday, the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences said. The epicenter, with a depth of 10.0 km, was initially determined to be at 14.03 degrees south latitude and 166.79 degrees east longitude.
* At least 13 people died and two were injured when a heavy boulder rolled down a hill and hit a moving vehicle in India's northern hilly state of Himachal Pradesh on Friday, confirmed a local official. The mishap was reported from near the Kadhunala-Rahauli area in the state's Chamba district.
* About 98,000 hectares of land have been burned by wildfires across France so far in 2026, setting a historical record for the country, French authorities said Saturday.
* More than 63,000 people have been evacuated or ordered to remain indoors as multiple wildfires continued to spread across central Spain on Friday, with authorities warning that one of the country's largest active blazes has exceeded current firefighting capacity.
