* Botswana's ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) on Saturday confirmed that President Mokgweetsi Masisi will be its presidential candidate in the general elections scheduled for October. Masisi was nominated during the party's 40th National Congress in Gaborone, the country's capital.
* The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders have agreed to elevate the issue of sea level rise politically, including at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), and strongly called for the inclusion of sea-level rise as a standalone agenda item in the UNGA and other relevant UN processes, according to a communique issued by the PIF.
* Armenia has proposed a new peace treaty to Azerbaijan, building on the points agreed upon in their ongoing negotiations, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Saturday.
* Beijing, China's first megacity to achieve population reduction, has kept its permanent population below the 23 million cap for six consecutive years since 2017, according to a municipal conference held on Thursday.
* Indonesia has been grappling with a marked reduction in the middle class in recent years, even as the Southeast Asian country strives to reach an economic growth of 5.2 percent in 2025.
* Ukraine launched waves of drone attacks targeting power plants and a refinery near Moscow, sparking fires, while more than 150 drones were destroyed across other parts of the country, Russian officials said on Sunday.
* Ukraine's top commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Sunday the situation was "difficult" around Russia's main attack, which is focused in eastern Ukraine, but that all the necessary decisions were being taken.
* Armenia's sole nuclear power plant, shut down on Friday for security reasons after a lightning strike, has been reconnected to the grid and will soon resume operations in full, Interfax news agency reported on Saturday, citing local authorities.
* Searchers found no survivors among the wreckage of a Russian helicopter that crashed in the far eastern peninsula of Kamchatka with 22 people on board, state news agency TASS said on Sunday.
* Myanmar will conduct a comprehensive population and housing census to obtain accurate population statistics that will contribute to the current and future development of the country, Chairman of Myanmar's State Administration Council (SAC) Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said on Sunday.
* The Moroccan navy intercepted 168 undocumented migrants from a boat off the Atlantic coast near the port of Dakhla on Friday, the Moroccan Royal Armed Forces said in a statement on Saturday.
* South Korea's export grew for the 11th straight month due to strong demand for locally-made tech and oil products, government data showed Sunday.
* Cambodia's famed Angkor Archaeological Park made 30.33 million USD from ticket sales in the first eight months of 2024, up 31.3 percent from 23.09 million dollars over the same period last year, said an official report on Sunday.
* The central bank of Bangladesh has set a new cash withdrawal limit of 500,000 taka (4,166 USD) via cheques per account per day for the current week starting from Sunday.
* Iraq intends to offer 10 gas exploration blocks for U.S. companies during an upcoming visit by Iraqi Oil Minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani to the United States, the minister said on Saturday.
* At least 40,738 Palestinians have been killed and 94,154 wounded in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, the enclave's health authorities said on Sunday.
* Yemen's Houthi group claimed responsibility on Saturday for an attack on a cargo ship named "Groton" in the Gulf of Aden.
* Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Saturday renewed his call for parliamentary blocs to hold talks to end the deadlock over the country's presidential election.
* Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi and Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi have called for promoting bilateral ties and cooperation.
* Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly met his Somali counterpart Hamza Abdi Barre in Cairo on Saturday to discuss economic and security cooperation, according to a statement from the Egyptian cabinet.
* The Zimbabwean government on Friday banned the sale of gasoline that has not been blended with ethanol in an effort to further save foreign currency needed to import the fuel.
* The Philippines has detected three additional monkeypox (mpox) cases, bringing the country's total number of active mpox cases to eight, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Sunday.
* Nigeria will begin vaccinations for mpox from October 8 after regulatory approvals are concluded, a spokesperson for the country's National Primary Health Care Development Agency told a local newspaper on Saturday.
* Kenya's Ministry of Health on Saturday confirmed a fourth case of mpox in the country as the incidence of the disease rises.
* Devastating floods of weeks this month in Bangladesh have killed at least 59 people, according to the National Disaster Response Coordination Center (NDRCC) under the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief.
* Tropical cyclone Shanshan, downgraded from a typhoon, left seven people dead and widespread damage as it churned off the Pacific coast of central Japan on Sunday.
* Tens of thousands of people in Australia's southern island state of Tasmania were without power on Sunday after a cold front brought damaging winds and heavy rains, sparking flood warnings.
