* Sri Lankan election officials began accepting nominations for the upcoming parliamentary election scheduled for Nov. 14, Commissioner General of Elections Saman Sri Ratnayake announced on Friday. Ratnayake said that nominations would be accepted at district secretaries' offices in the country's 22 electoral districts from Friday until noon on Oct. 11.
* U.S. President Joe Biden reiterated Friday that while Israel has the right to fight and defend itself against militant groups like Hezbollah, it should put "much more" effort in minimizing civilian casualties during such operations.
* The European Union (EU) has suspended all high-level engagements with the Georgian government, citing concerns over the tone of recent rhetoric from Tbilisi, EU Ambassador to Georgia Pawel Herczynski said on Friday.
* The UN Security Council met Friday on the sabotage of the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines, on the occasion of the two-year anniversary of the attack on the pipelines in the Baltic Sea, at the request of Russia.
* Social media X, formerly known as Twitter, has paid 28.6 million reais (about 5.23 million USD) in fines to the Brazilian government to seek the resumption of its operations in the country, local media reported Friday.
* U.S. President Joe Biden and newly inaugurated Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke on the phone on Friday, both said on social media, with Sheinbaum pointing to discussions about economic and trade cooperation.
* Pakistan has signed four memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with Malaysia to boost trade ties between the two countries, the commerce ministry said in a statement in Islamabad.
* Seoul and Washington have reached a new agreement to share the cost for U.S. forces stationed in the Asian country, South Korea's foreign ministry said Friday.
* The Haitian government has condemned a deadly attack by the "Gran Grif" gang in the town of Pont-Sande, in the Artibonite department in Haiti, which left at least 70 people dead, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said Friday.
* The Biden administration will not renew a temporary humanitarian entry program for hundreds of thousands of migrants with U.S. sponsors who arrived in recent years, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said on Friday.
* Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Saturday discussed ways to support Lebanon amid the ongoing Israeli military offensive in Lebanon.
* An aid plane carrying 55 tons of aid and medical supplies arrived Friday in Lebanon from the United Arab Emirates, the National News Agency (NNA) reported.
* Twenty five people were killed and 127 wounded in Israeli strikes on Lebanon on Friday, the Lebanese health ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
* Lebanon's Hezbollah said on Saturday that the Israeli army is trying to infiltrate the Lebanese southern town of Odaisseh, adding that clashes are ongoing.
* Given the worsening humanitarian needs in Lebanon, UN humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon Imran Riza on Friday announced an additional 2 million USD from the Lebanon Humanitarian Fund to address the deteriorating situation in the country, a UN spokesman said.
* Hundreds of foreign nationals have arrived by sea and air in Cyprus from Lebanon following requests for evacuation provided under the country's "Estia" plan, with many more expected to arrive by air in the next few days, Cypriot authorities said on Friday.
* Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged Canadian citizens still in Lebanon on Saturday to sign up to be evacuated on special flights which have already helped more than 1,000 leave as security there deteriorates.
* A South Korean military transport aircraft returned 97 citizens and family members from Lebanon on Saturday as Middle East tensions rise, the foreign ministry said.
* The first evacuation flight from Lebanon organized by the Dutch government landed in the southeastern city of Eindhoven around 9 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) on Friday.
* Australia started evacuating its nationals from Lebanon via Cyprus on Saturday, in the first large-scale operation to get citizens out of the country amid an Israeli onslaught on Iran-backed Hezbollah.
* Indonesia has evacuated 65 of its citizens from Lebanon following Israeli airstrikes in the country, the Foreign Affairs Ministry announced on Friday.
* U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces on Friday conducted strikes on 15 targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, the command said.
* Several people, including a child, died trying to cross the Channel from France to England, French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said on Saturday.
* At least 41,825 Palestinians have been killed and 96,910 wounded in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, the enclave's health authorities said on Saturday.
* Travel in the world's second-largest economy continued to boom on Thursday, the third day of China's week-long National Day holiday, official data showed Friday. More than 17.6 million train trips were made on Thursday, up 8 percent year on year.
* Laos received 2.6 million foreign visitors in the first eight months of 2024, up 19 percent from 2.2 million over the same period last year. From January to August, Thailand, Vietnam and China were the top sources of foreign tourists to Laos, Lao Economic Daily reported on Saturday.
* Mongolia's gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is projected to reach 6,800 USD in 2025, the country's Prime Minister Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene has said.
* Italy on Friday adjusted its official data on the growth of the country's economy downward, stating the Italian gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.6 percent in the second quarter of the year, a significant drop from preliminary estimates of 0.9 percent released a month ago.
* Sri Lankan departures for foreign employment increased 10 percent in September, compared with the corresponding month of 2023, according to the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment on Friday.
* The International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff team and Ghanaian officials have reached an agreement on the third review of Ghana's economic reforms, paving the way for the disbursement of an additional 360 million USD in loans to the country.
* The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that it has approved the first diagnostic test for mpox, marking a significant milestone in expanding global access to mpox testing. The approval comes as Africa continues to struggle with limited testing capacity, which fueled the spread of the virus.
* Congolese health officials launched their first mpox vaccination campaign on Saturday, a key step in efforts to contain an outbreak that has spread from its epicentre in the Democratic Republic of Congo to 13 other African nations this year.
