* World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala will seek another four-year term as chief of the trade body, the WTO spokesperson announced on Monday. According to the spokesperson, her decision was formally conveyed on Monday to the WTO General Council.
* India will conduct its national census soon, Interior Minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday, after a delay of about three years. The once-in-a-decade survey was due in 2021 but was delayed by the pandemic and technical and logistical hurdles.
* The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) predicted a robust growth of nuclear energy worldwide by 2050, in a report published on Monday.
* The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation urged world leaders Tuesday to increase global health spending where it is needed most to boost children's health and nutrition, especially in the face of the global climate crisis.
* The number of people aged 100 or older in Japan stood at a record 95,119 as of Sunday, marking an increase for the 54th year in a row, government data showed on Tuesday.
* South Africa is committed to boosting its recycling capacity to tackle plastic pollution, Deputy Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Bernice Swarts said on Monday.
* Australia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have reached a deal on a free trade agreement. Don Farrell, Australia's minister for Trade and Tourism, on Tuesday announced that negotiations on the Australia-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement have concluded.
* Sweden has announced its readiness to take command of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)'s multinational forward land forces to be stationed in Finland, sources said on Monday.
* Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev met with visiting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Uzbekistan's second-largest city of Samarkand to discuss bilateral ties, the press service of the head of Uzbekistan reported on Sunday.
* Germany will provide an additional 100 million euros ($111 million) in aid for Ukraine this winter, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock announced during a visit to Moldova on Tuesday.
* Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday that his government had not transferred any weapons to Russia since it took office in August, after Western powers accused Tehran of delivering ballistic missiles to Moscow in September.
* Germany is interested in expanding trade with Kazakhstan while also ensuring such trade is not used to circumvent EU sanctions on Russia, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on a visit to the Central Asian nation.
* British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hailed Italy's efforts to tackle illegal immigration on Monday, saying the two countries would share intelligence and work more closely together to "smash" the people smuggling gangs.
* Sweden plans to raise its defence spending by 13 billion crowns ($1.3 billion) in the state budget for 2025, Defence Minister Pal Jonson said on Tuesday.
* There has been progress in talks between Cyprus and Greece on the creation of a high-speed electric cable network linking Europe to the Middle East across the Mediterranean seabed, a Cypriot official said on Tuesday.
* Australia said on Tuesday it had reached a trade deal with the United Arab Emirates that would remove tariffs for about 99% of Australian products, and result in savings of A$135 million ($91 million) in the first year.
* Iran could hold direct talks with the United States if Washington demonstrates "in practice" that it is not hostile to the Islamic Republic, President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday.
* Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev spoke to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken over phone on Monday about the peace efforts between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and the upcoming COP29 climate conference, the Azerbaijani president's press service said.
* Iran and Russia on Monday highlighted the necessity to complete the implementation of a transport route linking South Asia to Northern Europe, known as the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC).
* Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday that Tehran would never give up on its missile programme as it needs such deterrence for its security in a region where Iran's arch-foe Israel is able to "drop missiles on Gaza every day".
* U.N. human rights experts criticised mostly Western states on Monday for continuing to support Israel despite what they described as a genocide in Gaza which might turn Israel into a "pariah" nation.
* A Chinese envoy on Monday urged the United States to take tangible actions to push Israel to cease its military operations in the Gaza Strip without delay.
* The United States is still working with mediators Egypt and Qatar to present a revised proposal for a ceasefire in the war in Gaza, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Monday.
* Arab League (AL) Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit warned on Monday that Western "tolerance" for the ongoing Gaza conflict could severely impact Middle East stability.
* Israel on Tuesday expanded its goals of the military operation in Gaza to include the safe return of northern Israel residents who were evacuated due to the ongoing conflict with Hezbollah along the Israel-Lebanon border.
* Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed at least 41,252 Palestinians and wounded 95,497 since Oct. 7, the Palestinian enclave's health ministry said on Tuesday.
* Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud and Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly met in Riyadh on Monday to discuss ways to strengthen and advance bilateral relations.
* Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday that his country has not sent hypersonic missiles to Yemen's Houthi group.
* A Robinson R66 helicopter carrying three people has gone missing in the Amur region in Russia's Far East, local media reported on Tuesday.
* Cambodia made 328.3 million USD in revenue from exports of natural rubber latex in the first eight months of 2024, up 15.5 percent from 284.1 million dollars over the same period 2023, an official report showed on Tuesday.
* Myanmar's manufacturing sector received 75 million USD from 23 foreign enterprises from April to August, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported on Tuesday.
* The World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide 2.5 billion USD for financial sector reforms in Bangladesh.
* Canada's wheat production is projected to grow by 4.1 percent year over year to 34.3 million tonnes in 2024, Statistics Canada said Monday.
* The death toll from Myanmar's flooding has risen to 226, with 77 people still missing, the Information Team of Myanmar's State Administration Council reported late Monday.
* Priority needs for the more than 400,000 victims of northeast Nigeria flooding are food assistance, potable water, hygiene, sanitation and shelter, UN humanitarians said on Monday.
* Continuous rainfalls over the past several days in central and eastern Europe have claimed the lives of local residents, triggered evacuations and caused widespread damages and disruptions.
* Volunteers in the Polish town of Nysa fortified floodwalls to stem swollen rivers on Tuesday after heavy rain and flooding round central Europe that has killed at least 18 people.
* At least 15 people were killed in Peru due to the serious forest fires occurring in various parts of the country, Minister of Health Cesar Vasquez said Monday.
* At least two people died as wildfires raged in central and northern Portugal on Monday, forcing authorities to evacuate villages, close motorways and ask the European Union to send more water-bombing aircraft.
* France has increased its surveillance for African swine fever along part of the border with Germany as the disease continues to spread among wild boar in much of Europe, the agriculture ministry said on Tuesday.
* The UK government has ordered more than 150,000 doses of Bavarian Nordic's BAVA.CO mpox vaccine to boost its preparedness against a new form of the virus currently spreading in African countries.
* The Philippines' Department of Health has detected three more mpox cases, which have brought the number of confirmed cases around the country to 18 so far this year, Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said Monday.
* Malaysia's health ministry reported on Tuesday one new case of the mpox virus infection of the clade 2 variety, a less severe variant of the disease, and said the patient had been isolated and was in a stable condition.
* Austria has reported two outbreaks of bluetongue disease on cattle farms, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) said on Monday, including one with the virus that has been spreading fast in northern Europe.
* The Czech Republic has reported an outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza, or bird flu, on a poultry farm, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) said on Monday.
