* Venezuela reiterated its "strong commitment" to supporting the goals of the Group of Friends in Defense of the Charter of the United Nations, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil said on Friday.
* Former Bolivian President Evo Morales (2006-2019) is constitutionally barred from running for the 2025 presidential elections, the Bolivian government confirmed on Friday. The restriction stems from the country's Constitution, not a decision made by the current administration, said Deputy Communication Minister Gabriela Alcon.
* The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has projected that the Lao economy will grow by 4 percent in 2024, supported by investments in services and clean energy, though macroeconomic challenges from public debt continue to constrain investment prospects and domestic consumption.
* The Cambodian government on Friday approved 23 power investment projects totally worth 5.79 billion USD for 2024-2029, aiming at addressing the shortage of energy sources, said a press release.
* Indonesia and Papua New Guinea on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to promote political dialogue between the two countries' parliaments.
* Vice President of the European Commission Josep Borrell has stressed the need for immediate efforts towards the two-state solution, rather than waiting for a ceasefire, in solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
* Norway will grant collective protection to fewer Ukrainians arriving from six areas deemed safe by the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration, the government said in a press release.
* The U.S.-led coalition's military mission in Iraq will end by September 2025 and there will be a transition to bilateral security partnerships, the United States and Iraq said in a joint statement on Friday.
* Uzbekistan and Egypt agreed to establish a joint Chamber of Commerce, Uzbek media reported on Friday. The agreement was reached during a meeting in Tashkent on Thursday between representatives from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Uzbekistan (CCI) and Egypt's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
* Israeli forces have killed Lebanon's Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the military's Arabic-speaking spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on Saturday, a day after an Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut.
* Israel's military said on Saturday it was mobilising three reserve battalions to bolster the defences of its central command, whose areas of operation includes the occupied West Bank .
* Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Daniel Hagari stated on Friday night that the military will not permit any weapon transfers to Hezbollah, including through Beirut's international airport.
* At least 41,586 Palestinians have been killed and 96,210 others injured in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, Gaza's health ministry said in an update on Saturday.
* At least 8 people were killed and 95 others injured in an attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Friday in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State in western Sudan, a local official stated.
* The total number of food insecure people in East and Central Africa hit 82.2 million, said the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional bloc, in a report released Friday.
* South Korea's number of businesses grew last year due to an increase in the wholesale and retail and transport sectors, statistical office data showed Friday. The combined number of businesses was 6,238,580 at the end of 2023, up 1.6 percent from a year earlier.
* The central banks of Indonesia and Malaysia in Jakarta on Friday renewed their local currency bilateral swap agreement, also known for its abbreviation as LCBSA, of up to 82 trillion Indonesian rupiahs (about 5.42 billion USD) or 24 billion Malaysian ringgits.
* Pakistan has received a Special Drawing Right (SDR) of around 1.03 billion USD from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Friday. The inflows will be reflected in the SBP's liquid reserves, which will be released on Oct. 3.
* Canada's real gross domestic product (GDP) went up 0.2 percent in July, following essentially no change in June, Statistics Canada said Friday.
* Tropical Depression Helene brought life-threatening flooding on Friday to wide sections of the U.S. Southeast, where at least 43 people have been killed by a storm that swamped neighborhoods, triggered mudslides, threatened dams and left more than 3.5 million homes and businesses without power.
* Storm John started dissipating over Mexico's Pacific coast on Friday and was downgraded to tropical depression, but its remnants poured a deluge of almost 100 cm (39 inches) of rain on the southern state of Guerrero.
* Incessant rains in Nepal have unleashed floods and landslides that killed at least 10 people with seven missing during the last 24 hours, while disrupting transport, officials said on Saturday.
* The Algerian Health Ministry announced on Friday that it is dispatching medical teams and supplies to deal with the increasing cases of diphtheria and malaria in the southern regions.
