* An estimated 9.4 million people - an increase of 500,000 - will need assistance and protection in South Sudan next year, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
* Kassym-Jomart Tokayev was sworn in as the Kazakh leader on Saturday. Kazakhstan held a snap presidential race on Sunday, with six candidates running for the top job. Tokayev garnered 81.31 percent of about 8.3 million ballots, which were cast by more than 11.95 million registered voters.
* Peruvian President Pedro Castillo appointed Betssy Chavez as new prime minister Friday, replacing Anibal Torres, who resigned Thursday after Congress rejected a requested confidence vote.
* Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Friday US President Joe Biden will visit Mexico in early January as part of a North American leaders summit previously planned for December.
* Colombia's government and leftist guerrilla group the National Liberation Army (ELN) said on Friday they have agreed to invite Brazil, Chile and Mexico as so-called guarantor countries in peace talks that seek to end nearly 60 years of conflict.
* EU interior ministers sought to ease resurgent tensions over illegal migration at an emergency meeting on Friday, after the fate of migrants rescued in the Mediterranean triggered harsh words between Paris and Rome.
* Hungary's President Katalin Novak is travelling to Kyiv to meet her Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy, website index.hu reported on Friday, adding Novak would go by train via Poland. The Hungarian President's office said it would neither deny nor confirm the information.
* Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif jointly inaugurated on Friday a corvette warship, which was built by Türkiye for Pakistan Navy.
* The member states of the European Union (EU) on Friday voiced their concern about the discriminatory provisions contained in the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and likely significant repercussions of the IRA on the competitiveness and investment decisions of the EU industry in particular as regards sectors of crucial importance for its transition to a green economy.
* Tunisia and Libya have signed an agreement of a common working strategy for the year 2023 to develop trade relations between the two neighboring countries, the Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP) reported on Saturday.
* Democratic Republic of Congo's M23 rebel group on Friday said it wants to talk directly with the government after Congo's president and other African leaders signed a ceasefire deal aimed at stopping attacks by the militia.
* NATO forces took part in drills in northern Poland on Friday, an area of crucial significance to the security of the alliance's eastern flank.
* Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar on Friday refuted allegations that a Turkish airstrike, launched as part of the country's offensive against the mainly-Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia, hit a position of US coalition forces in northern Syria.
* Oil prices fell on Friday as concerns over a deteriorating demand outlook continued to weigh on the market.
The German cabinet has approved planned gas and electricity price brakes in an expedited process, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Friday, as part of efforts by the government to tackle soaring energy bills for households and businesses.
* Sri Lanka's Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera on Saturday told journalists that he will take all possible measures to ensure uninterrupted power supply by January next year.
* The number of tourists visiting Myanmar during the first seven months of the 2022-23 fiscal year (April 2022-March 2023) jumped by 99.48 percent year-on-year, data from the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism showed Saturday.
* The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on Saturday launched earth observation satellite EOS-06 and eight nano-satellites into their intended Sun-synchronous polar orbits onboard a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C54) rocket, officials said.
* The death toll from the devastating earthquake in Indonesia's province of West Java rose to 318, with 14 others still missing, a senior official of the country's disaster agency said Saturday.
* Serbian police uncovered 600 illegal migrants near the border with Hungary on Friday following a shootout in a town in which one person was shot, the Interior Ministry said.
* A total of 15 people were killed and 11 others injured in recent gun attacks in north Nigeria, a local official said Friday.
