* The Security Council on Thursday held its first straw poll on the candidates for the next UN secretary-general.
* Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said in Phnom Penh on Thursday that his government valued partners who engage in constructive and equitable cooperation. He made the remarks during a meeting with Thomas Andrews, UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia, said a press release from the prime minister's spokesperson unit.
* The so-called Board of Peace on Thursday reached an agreement for the "complete disarmament" of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza, U.S. President Donald Trump claimed on social media.
* Russia does not recognize the U.S. unilateral extension of its continental shelf boundaries, the Russian delegation to the 31st session of the Assembly of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) said in a statement.
* Pakistan is working to bring the United States and Iran back to the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), stressing that diplomacy remains the only viable path as negotiations between the two countries continue amid concerns over the security situation in the Middle East, the country's foreign office said on Thursday.
* Hamas and Palestinian factions have agreed on a plan to implement the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, including a gradual process for inventorying and storing their weapons, Egypt's state TV reported early Friday.
* Saudi Arabia announced Thursday the establishment of a multinational maritime defense alliance it said aimed at protecting shipping lanes in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden.
* Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi on Thursday urged Bulgaria and Cyprus not to allow the United States to use military bases on their territories for attacks against Iran, according to ministry statements.
* The European Commission said on Friday that it will begin enforcing a broader range of provisions of the European Union (EU)'s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act on August 2, when new transparency requirements for AI systems also take effect.
* Portugal's Council of Ministers on Thursday approved a temporary windfall tax on the excess profits of oil extraction and refining companies, becoming the first of five European Union countries that had urged the European Commission to authorize such a measure to put forward concrete legislation.
* The Russian government has extended its full ban on fuel exports through Jan. 31, 2027, the Russian cabinet announced Thursday. The authorities imposed a new temporary export restriction covering gasoline, diesel, marine fuel and gas oil to stabilize Russia's domestic fuel market.
* Singapore will roll out a second support package worth about 900 million Singapore dollars (about 700 million USD) to help businesses and households cope with rising costs stemming from the prolonged conflict in the Middle East.
* Ukraine received a new 3.47-billion-euro (about 3.98-billion-U.S.-dollar) tranche from the European Union (EU) to finance priority defense needs, the country's Finance Ministry reported Thursday.
* Nearly half of Peru's exports to the United States will be hit with a new 12.5 percent tariff imposed by Washington, the Peruvian Exporters Association (Adex) warned on Thursday.
* The World Trade Organization (WTO) released the latest data on Friday which showed that global merchandise trade growth exceeded expectations in the first quarter of 2026, as surging trade in electronic components related to artificial intelligence (AI) offset the negative impact of the Middle East conflict.
* Around 60,000 migrants are estimated to have entered Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta from Morocco over the past 24 hours, while 34 people have died attempting the crossing, local media reported on Friday.
* Seasonally adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) grew 0.4 percent quarter-on-quarter in the euro area and 0.5 percent in the wider European Union (EU) in the second quarter (Q2) of 2026, Eurostat, the EU's statistical office, said in a preliminary flash estimate released on Thursday.
* Thailand's economic growth was broadly stable on a monthly basis in June, as increased private consumption and exports offset declines in manufacturing output and tourism-related services, the central bank said on Friday.
* Foreign capital inflows into Indonesia strengthened following the central bank's cumulative 100-basis-point interest rate increase since late May, helping bolster the country's financial resilience amid global uncertainty, Bank Indonesia said Friday.
* Singapore's total employment grew by 10,700 in the second quarter, marking the 19th consecutive quarter of growth, according to advance data released by the Ministry of Manpower.
* Annual inflation in the eurozone is expected to edge up to 2.9 percent in July from 2.8 percent in June, according to a flash estimate released by Eurostat on Friday.
* Austria's annual inflation rate is expected to ease to 2.7 percent in July, down from 3.2 percent in June, according to a flash estimate released by Statistics Austria on Friday.
* The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the European Union (EU) on Thursday called for urgent and coordinated international action to combat the growing trafficking of people forced to engage in cyber-enabled fraud and online scam operations.
* India's federal government informed its parliament that 16 Indian nationals, including 10 seafarers, have lost their lives so far in the ongoing conflict in the Middle East that began earlier this year. The information was presented by federal junior foreign minister Kirti Vardhan Singh on Thursday in the upper house of the Indian parliament.
* The 15-member transitional Palestinian technocratic committee for administering the Gaza Strip affirmed on Friday "its full readiness to assume its responsibilities" in the enclave following a reported Hamas disarmament pact.
* Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi on Thursday warned of Israel's "false-flag" operations aimed at undermining regional peace.
* Jordan on Thursday dispatched its 11th humanitarian aid convoy to Lebanon, delivering medical supplies to support those affected by the country's worsening humanitarian situation, according to the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization.
* Malaysia's population is estimated to have reached 34.4 million in 2026, up from 34.2 million a year earlier, reflecting a 0.5 percent annual growth rate, according to official data released on Friday.
* Germany recorded an estimated 9,800 heat-related deaths as of July 19, surpassing the annual total for every year since 2016, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the country's leading public health authority, said Thursday.
* Hungarian authorities declared a top-level heat alert across the country on Thursday which will last till next Tuesday as another intense heatwave grips the nation, heightening health risks and worsening severe drought conditions.
* The African Union (AU) Commission has called on its members to step up preparedness for the expected 2026/2027 El Nino events, which could trigger droughts, floods, food insecurity and economic losses across Africa.
* The number of confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has risen to 3,532, with 1,556 confirmed deaths, according to the latest figures released Friday by the country's public health authorities.
* The death toll from a mountain collapse in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality has risen to 51, and 10 people are still missing, local authorities said Thursday. More than 1,100 residents were evacuated.
* Sri Lankan authorities are strengthening disaster preparedness measures as the El Nino climate phenomenon intensifies, raising the risk of prolonged dry weather followed by heavy rainfall later in the year, officials and climate experts have said.
* A growing outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza in South Australia (SA) will "almost certainly" spread to an endangered species of sea lion, an expert has warned.
* Thirty-four workers trapped in a coal mine explosion in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province were presumed dead, rescue officials said on Friday. The explosion occurred at around 4 p.m. local time on Thursday inside a coal mine on the outskirts of the provincial capital of Quetta, where the miners were working at the time of the incident.
* Heat-induced productivity losses cost Bangladesh between 1.3 and 1.8 billion USD in 2024, or up to 0.4 percent of gross domestic product, a new World Bank report has shown. The losses rise sharply on days when temperatures exceed 37 degrees Celsius, according to the report released on Wednesday.
* At least 25 people were killed and 44 others injured on Friday when a passenger bus crashed in Algeria's northern province of Boumerdes, about 55 km east of the capital Algiers, the Civil Protection Department said.
