* The Election Commission of Sri Lanka announced on Thursday that steps will be taken to hold the local government elections soon after the parliamentary election concludes in November.
* The Bangladeshi interim government will hold a dialogue on reforms with the major political parties on Saturday. Shafiqul Alam, press secretary of the country's chief adviser, told reporters at a press conference in Dhaka Wednesday that Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus and other advisers will take part in the dialogue.
* The World Bank has approved a new project totaling 56 million USD for upgrading roads in Laos, helping about 600,000 people access public services and markets more easily while making rural roads more resilient to climate change.
* The top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said the country would use all offensive forces, including nuclear weapons, if enemies attempt to use armed forces encroaching upon the DPRK sovereignty, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Friday.
* Russia's armed forces have taken control of the town of Ugledar (or Vuhledar) in Ukraine's Donetsk region, the Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday.
* Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico on Thursday called for a quick end to the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine. He said the conflict is "a misfortune for everyone" and stressed that every war must end at the negotiating table.
* Croatian President Zoran Milanovic affirmed on Thursday that Croatian soldiers would not be involved in any activities that could drag the country into war during his term.
* The European Union (EU) announced on Thursday an additional 30 million euros (33.08 million USD) in humanitarian aid for Lebanon as Israel intensified its attacks on the country.
* China expressed deep concern over the human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories on Wednesday, reaffirming its support for the Palestinian people's pursuit of their legitimate national rights.
* President Joe Biden said on Thursday he did not believe there is going to be an "all-out war" in the Middle East, a region that has been on edge amid Israel's assaults in Gaza and Lebanon and escalation of the U.S. ally's tensions with Iran.
* Israeli strikes sealed off Lebanon's main border crossing with Syria early on Friday, hours after an intense Israeli attack on Beirut's southern suburbs that is thought to have targeted the heir apparent to Hezbollah's slain secretary general.
* Group of Seven (G7) leaders on Thursday voiced "deep concern" over the "deteriorating situation" in the Middle East.
* The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday condemned Israel's decision to declare UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "persona non grata" and ban him from entering Israel.
* UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon are currently staying in their positions and continue to do their best to implement their Security Council mandate in very difficult conditions, the UN peacekeeping chief said on Thursday.
* Nine Turkish NGOs will send 1,300 tons of humanitarian aid to Lebanon to support its people amid ongoing attacks by Israel, local media reported on Thursday.
* Iran's Foreign Ministry on Thursday summoned German and Austrian ambassadors over their countries' summoning of Iranian envoys to protest Tehran's missile attack against Israel, reported the official news agency IRNA.
* The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced Thursday night that Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi, head of the Hamas network in Tulkarm in the West Bank, was killed earlier in the day.
* Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi landed in Beirut on Friday, according to Lebanese state media. A Reuters live broadcast showed an Iranian-flagged plane landing at Beirut airport, just hours after air strikes hit outside the airport perimeter overnight.
* Australian authorities said on Friday they would deploy more police personnel and tighten security measures ahead of pro-Palestine rallies in Sydney and Melbourne on Oct. 6, warning protesters there would be no tolerance of violence.
* Iran and Saudi Arabia have emphasized the need to set aside their differences and work towards the expansion of bilateral relations.
* Russia's Gazprom GAZP.MM said it would send 42.4 million cubic metres of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Friday, a volume in line with recent days.
* The U.S. economy likely maintained a moderate pace of job growth in September while the unemployment rate is expected to have held steady at 4.2%, which would further reduce the need for the Federal Reserve to deliver large interest rate cuts in its final two meetings of the year.
* Hungary's government needs to restart growth first, then focus on wage rises so that the average monthly wage can rise to 1 million forints ($2,749) in the next 2-3 years from around 600,000 forints, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday.
* Austria's finance ministry on Thursday raised its forecast of this year's government deficit to 3.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), above the Maastricht criteria of 3 percent. The ministry's deficit forecast in March was 2.9 percent of GDP.
* The Philippines' annual inflation rate eased to a four-year low of 1.9 percent in September 2024 from 3.3 percent in August 2024, marking the lowest level since May 2020, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Friday.
* Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake reaffirmed his government's broad agreement in principle with objectives of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) program during a meeting with IMF officials on Thursday, according to the President's Media Division (PMD).
* The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), a major U.S. union of maritime workers, announced Thursday that it has reached a tentative agreement with operators on wages and resumed all work immediately.
* The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), a regional economic organization in Africa, on Thursday urged African countries to implement targeted policies to improve access to information and communications technology (ICT) services on the continent.
* NASA's Psyche mission has sent signal from Mars orbit, marking a critical milestone of the mission, NASA said on Thursday.
* More than 5 million people in 16 countries in West and Central Africa have been impacted by floods so far this year, UN humanitarians said on Thursday.
* At least 87 people were killed Thursday after a ferry sank on Lake Kivu in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to a report by local authorities seen by Xinhua.
* At least 25 bodies have been recovered after a boat carrying more than 300 passengers capsized in Niger State in central Nigeria early this week, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu's spokesman said on Thursday.
