* Malawians are going to polling stations to elect the president, parliamentary representatives, and local government leaders. The much-awaited voting exercise started at 6 a.m. local time on Tuesday, with long queues at polling centers across the country.
* Canada's longtime Liberal minister Chrystia Freeland announced on Tuesday she is stepping down from cabinet. In a post on her social media account, the transport and internal trade minister said her departure is to make way for others and to seek fresh challenges for herself.
* Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said on Wednesday that the kingdom set a new monthly minimum wage for the garment, footwear and travel goods industry at 210 USD for 2026.
* U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in London on Tuesday evening for his second state visit to Britain, aiming to secure new trade and security agreements despite ongoing protests.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that 100,000 troops are participating in the Russia-Belarus joint military drills, known as Zapad-2025.
* Ukraine carried out an overnight strike on the Saratov oil refinery in southwestern Russia, the general staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in a statement on Tuesday.
* European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Tuesday condemned Israel's ground offensive in Gaza, warning it would intensify civilian suffering and deepen the region's humanitarian crisis.
* Dutch King Willem-Alexander on Tuesday opened the parliamentary year with a call for compromise and stability amid ongoing political upheaval, placing migration and the economy at the center of his annual Speech from the Throne.
* U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Qatar on Tuesday, reaffirming Washington's support for the Gulf ally as the region reels from last week's Israeli strike on Hamas negotiators in Doha.
* Israeli military spokesman Effie Defrin said on Tuesday the ground offensive in Gaza City would take "months," after the assault began overnight and forced thousands more Palestinians to flee the enclave's largest urban center.
* Foreign ministers from South Africa and 15 other countries on Tuesday expressed concern over the safety of the international Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) heading to Gaza.
* Nearly 48,000 Palestinians have fled southward in the last two days from the Israeli military's ground offensive in Gaza City, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday. Since mid-August, more than 190,000 such movements have been observed, said the UN office.
* Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani met on Tuesday with Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu to discuss bilateral relations and regional security, amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East.
* The Yemeni government on Tuesday welcomed the decision of the United Nations (UN) to transfer the official headquarters of its Resident Coordinator in Yemen from the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa to the southern port city of Aden.
* Yemen's Houthi group said in a statement on Tuesday that it launched attacks at Tel Aviv and the Ramon Airport in Eilat after Israel conducted airstrikes on the group-held port city of Hodeidah earlier in the day.
* Trade between China and ASEAN has seen robust growth in the first eight months of the year, boosted by deepened cooperation in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors, data from the General Administration of Customs (GAC) showed on Tuesday.
* Japan's exports to the United States fell for the fifth consecutive month in August, with auto shipments posting a sharp 28.4-percent decline over U.S. tariff policies, government data showed on Wednesday.
* Canada's Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 1.9 percent year over year in August, up from a 1.7 percent increase in July, Statistics Canada said Tuesday. Gasoline prices fell to a lesser extent year over year in August than in July, leading to faster growth in headline inflation, said the national statistical agency.
* Microsoft on Tuesday announced a 30 billion USD investment in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and operations in Britain over the four years from 2025 to 2028.
* COVID-19 infections are spreading in Latvia at an accelerating rate, and five people died from the disease last week, the Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) reported on Tuesday.
* About 42 million people are estimated to face high levels of acute food insecurity this year across Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) said in a report released Tuesday.
* The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) has launched a major initiative aimed at reducing the rate of preventable stillbirths in the country, the agency announced Tuesday. The NIH will provide over 37 million USD in funding over five years to establish the Stillbirth Research Consortium.
