* U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump on Tuesday night faced off in Philadelphia for the first time in the 2024 U.S. presidential debate. Harris and Trump clashed over key issues including the economy, abortion, immigration, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Ukraine crisis, and the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan to appeal to voters across the country.
* China's National Immigration Administration (NIA) has pledged to pursue more open policies to facilitate the cross-border flow of personnel and more inclusive cooperation to boost global immigration governance.
* Russia must be prepared for all possible outcomes, and the country's armed forces must be ready to repel any potential military aggression, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.
* Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet on Tuesday called on exporters of agricultural products to target countries that have free trade agreements with the kingdom so as to reap maximum benefits from these trade pacts.
* Local government in the Indian capital has imposed a complete ban on production, storage, sale and use of firecrackers to control air pollution. The announcement was made by Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai.
* The top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) called for greater efforts for economic development and strengthening national defense on the occasion of the country's 76th founding anniversary, state media reported on Tuesday.
* U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday will observe the 23th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. with visits to each of the three sites where hijacked planes crashed in 2001, killing nearly 3,000 people.
* China is willing to strengthen strategic communication with Russia and continuously enrich the strategic connotations of bilateral ties, Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, said in a meeting with secretary of the Russian Federation Security Council Sergei Shoigu on Tuesday in St. Petersburg.
* Pope Francis arrived in Singapore Wednesday afternoon from East Timor, on the final leg of an ambitious 12-day journey across Southeast Asia and Oceania.
* Indonesian President Joko Widodo launched construction on Wednesday for a new line on Jakarta's mass rapid transit (MRT) system, funded by a loan of nearly $1 billion from Japan, in a bid to alleviate traffic congestion.
* The New Zealand government announced on Wednesday support to drive Artificial Intelligence (AI) uptake among New Zealand businesses.
* Brunei's Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah chaired the board meeting of Brunei's energy companies and stressed the importance of remaining competitive in the future, according to an official media report on Wednesday.
* The World Trade Organization (WTO) Public Forum 2024 opened in Geneva on Tuesday, highlighting the theme "Re-globalization: better trade for a better world." This year's event aims to explore how re-globalization can make trade more inclusive and ensure that more people benefit from it.
* Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Wednesday there does not need to be another trade war, and there should be a need to find a compromise between the European Commission and China.
* The Russian navy has launched its planned large-scale Ocean 2024 strategic exercises, which will run through Sept. 16, the country's defense ministry said in a statement Tuesday.
* Slovakia supports the accession of Moldova to the European Union (EU), Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said Tuesday after meeting with visiting Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean.
* The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday it had reached a preliminary agreement with Ukraine that would give the war-torn country access to about $1.1 billion in financial assistance.
* The U.S. on Tuesday will impose sanctions on individuals and entities in Iran and Russia involved in Tehran's delivery of ballistic missiles to Moscow, the White House said on Tuesday.
* Reports of Iranian weapons transfers to Russia are "ugly propaganda" to conceal Western military support to Israel, Iran's foreign ministry said on Tuesday, after Western powers said they would impose new sanctions on Tehran over the issue.
* U.S. officials will hold talks with Bangladesh's interim government to see how the United States can support the country's economy and development, the U.S. State and Treasury departments said on Tuesday.
* Defense ministers from Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey met on Tuesday in the Georgian city of Batumi, and signed a trilateral protocol aimed at strengthening military ties and regional security, AZERTAC news agency reported, citing the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan.
* Leaders of two major political parties in the Dutch ruling coalition called on the government Tuesday to implement stricter border controls, mirroring recent measures announced by Germany, to curb illegal immigration.
* Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Tuesday that he plans to seek urgent consultations with neighboring countries affected by Germany's decision to tighten border controls.
* Thousands of anti-war protesters gathered on Wednesday morning to rally outside a defense industry exposition in Melbourne in Australia's state of Victoria, local media reported.
* Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said Tuesday that Ottawa has suspended about 30 existing permits for arms sales to Israel, local media reported.
* The European Union Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (EUFOR) will launch the final phase of its "Quick Response 24" exercise, it said on Tuesday.
* New Zealand's net migration rate of 13 per 1,000 in 2024, while down from 2023, remains high by international standards, according to the statistics department Stats NZ on Wednesday.
* The Latvian government on Tuesday extended its reinforced border protection measures along the Belarusian border until Dec. 31 to curb illegal migration. The measure was initially implemented in March and set to expire on Sept. 12.
* Portugal's Education Minister Fernando Alexandre announced on Tuesday a 160-percent rise in immigrant students attending Portuguese schools since 2019.
* Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian visited Iraq on Wednesday on his first foreign trip, signalling his intention to strengthen ties with a strategic ally of both Tehran and Washington as tensions rise in the Middle East.
* Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and visiting European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson vowed to strengthen bilateral cooperation regarding migration and human trafficking, according to a joint statement issued Tuesday.
* The United Nations has protested Israeli forces in Gaza blocking for seven and a half hours and shooting at a marked UN convoy, a UN spokesman said on Tuesday.
* The UN General Assembly (UNGA) concluded its 78th session on Tuesday, with its outgoing president calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, urging UN member states to recommit to ending poverty and hunger, and combating inequalities.
* The UN General Assembly (UNGA) concluded its 78th session on Tuesday, with its outgoing president calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, urging UN member states to recommit to ending poverty and hunger, and combating inequalities.
* Foreign ministers of Arab countries on Tuesday urged Israel's complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, including from the Philadelphi Corridor and the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing.
* Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide condemned an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis in southern Gaza on Tuesday.
* Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi and his Mexican counterpart Alicia Barcena have expressed their countries' support for a ceasefire in Gaza.
* Hamas on Tuesday rejected the U.S. accusation that it is the main obstacle to reaching a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, calling the accusation "a blatant bias in favor of the Israeli position," according to a statement by a senior Hamas official.
* The Houthi group on Tuesday claimed that they had shot down a U.S. MQ-9 drone in northern Yemen, while the U.S. military said it had destroyed two Houthi missile systems.
* The U.N. mission in Libya will resume facilitating talks between factions in Tripoli on Wednesday to try to resolve the central bank crisis that has slashed oil output and threatened to end four years of relative stability.
* An agreement on a financing package of around 101.7 million USD was signed Tuesday between Tunisia and the African Development Bank (AfDB) for facilitating the country's job creation program.
* Russian gas producer Gazprom GAZP.MM said it would send 42.3 million cubic metres (mcm) of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Wednesday versus 42.2 mcm on Tuesday.
* Britain's economy stagnated for a second month running in July as manufacturing output dropped sharply, an inauspicious start for the new government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer who wants to accelerate the pace of growth.
* The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said Wednesday that economists and analysts polled in the quarterly Survey of Professional Forecasters expected the country's gross domestic product (GDP) to expand by 2.6 percent in 2024. The number was 0.2 points higher than the 2.4 percent GDP forecast in the previous survey report.
* South Korea's employment growth stayed above 100,000 for the second straight month due to a fast increase in elderly jobs, statistical office data showed Wednesday.
* Portuguese economy is expected to grow by 2 percent in both 2024 and 2025, according to data revealed in government budget discussions for year 2025. The projection includes budget surpluses of 0.3 percent this year and 0.2 percent next year, Portugal's Lusa News Agency reported on Tuesday.
* Many parts of Laos' northern region have been affected by flooding and landslides, causing significant damage and leaving many residents stranded and severely affected.
* South China's island province of Hainan has reported no outbreaks of infectious diseases after being struck by Super Typhoon Yagi, the provincial health commission said on Tuesday.
* At least two people were killed and hundreds stranded in Thailand after heavy rains swept through two northern provinces, swelling rivers, inundating settlements and triggering mudslides, authorities said on Wednesday.
* Japan's weather agency on Wednesday issued a warning as Typhoon Bebinca is expected to approach the country's southwestern island chain, including Okinawa and Amami regions over the weekend, bringing severe weather conditions.
* Francine strengthened into a hurricane on Tuesday night, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said, as it prompted Louisiana residents to flee inland and oil and gas companies to shut in Gulf of Mexico production.
* The Senegalese navy on Tuesday found 17 more bodies from a boat carrying migrants that capsized off the coast, taking the death toll to 26. The Atlantic migration route from the coast of West Africa to the Canary Islands, typically used by African migrants trying to reach Spain, is one of the world's deadliest.
* The New Zealand government has responded quickly to two newly confirmed cases of mpox and approved the use of the vaccine. The mpox vaccine Jynneos has been given provisional approval by Medsafe, New Zealand's medical safety authority.
