* Anura Kumara Dissanayake was sworn in as the ninth executive president of Sri Lanka at the Presidential Secretariat on Monday morning. Speaking in his inaugural address, he said his administration will face many challenges and his main task is to create a new political culture.
* Syrian President Bashar al-Assad approved the formation of a new government on Monday, reshuffling 14 ministers, the presidential office said in a statement.
* Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday encouraged personnel in China's space industry to continue to work hard and accelerate progress in space endeavors.
* Cambodia has so far raised 21 million USD from charitable people for border infrastructure development, Prime Minister Hun Manet said on Monday.
* Prime Minister Michel Barnier on Sunday opened the door to raising taxes on France's wealthiest individuals and some big corporations to help close a gaping hole in the public finances, but said he would protect the lower and middle classes.
* British Chancellor Rachel Reeves reassured the country on Monday that the United Kingdom (UK) will not return to austerity policies, referencing the austerity program initiated by the Cameron government in 2009.
* Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will meet Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, Greek government spokesman said on Monday. The two leaders last met on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Washington in July.
* Energy officials from nine EU member states in the Mediterranean said on Monday they wanted to turn the region into a renewable energy hub and would pursue ways to facilitate cross-border projects.
* A decree was issued on Saturday in Guinea banning the manufacturing, import, sale, and use of single-use plastic packaging and products across the country.
* Conflict, insecurity and climate change have displaced more than 342,000 people within Somalia in the first eight months of 2024, a UN refugee agency said Sunday.
* Iran is ready to start nuclear negotiations on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York if "other parties are willing", Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Monday in a video published on his Telegram channel.
* Israel's military issued a warning on Monday that it was about to attack sites in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, where Hezbollah is allegedly storing strategic weapons, urging civilians to evacuate.
* Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday Israel faced "complicated days" as it stepped up strikes against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and he called on Israelis to stay united as the campaign unfolded.
* Israel attacked hundreds of Hezbollah targets on Monday in airstrikes which Lebanese health authorities said killed at least 182 people, making it the deadliest day in Lebanon in nearly a year of conflict with its enemy.
* The Australian government has announced additional humanitarian support for Gaza. Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong and Minister for International Development and the Pacific Pat Conroy on Monday said Australia will provide an additional 10 million Australian dollars (6.8 million USD) in response to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
* At least 15 people were killed and 61 others injured in an artillery attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on a crowded civilian market in Omdurman city, north of the Sudanese capital Khartoum, Khartoum State's Health Ministry announced on Monday.
* Mali's president Assimi Goita pledged on Sunday to intensify the fight against terrorism, reaffirming his determination to pursue peace, security, and development in the country.
* Cambodia's imports of diesel fuel and petroleum oils surged 18 percent in the first eight months of 2024, according to the General Department of Customs and Excise on Sunday.
* Malaysia's inflation, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), eased to 1.9 percent in August, official data showed Monday.
* Singapore's core inflation rose to 2.7 percent in August from 2.5 percent in July, according to official data on Monday. The Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Monetary Authority of Singapore attributed the growth to an increase in services inflation.
* New Zealand's kiwifruit exports were valued at 3.1 billion NZ dollars in the year ended August 2024, an increase of 20 percent when compared with the year ended August 2023, according to the statistics department Stats NZ on Monday.
* At least 30 decomposing bodies were found in a boat drifting around 70 km (38 nautical miles) off the coast of Senegal's capital Dakar, the military said on Monday.
* Three people died and 25 others are missing after a boat carrying migrants and refugees sank off the Greek island of Samos in the Aegean Sea on Monday, Greek state broadcaster ERT reported.
* India's monsoon rains started retreating from the northwest of the country on Monday, nearly a week later than normal, the state-run India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a statement.
* Flooding has displaced 8,545 people in several states in Malaysia as of Sunday afternoon. The worst affected was Kedah state with 8,394 people being housed in 41 flood relief centers, according to the country's social welfare department.
* Nearly 30,000 suspected mpox cases have been reported in Africa so far this year, most of them in Democratic Republic of Congo where tests have run out, the World Health Organization said on Monday.
* India said on Monday that an mpox case involving a man in the southern state of Kerala was from the fast-spreading clade 1b variety, marking South Asia's first recorded case from the new strain.
