* Cambodia on Thursday set a new monthly minimum wage for the country's garment, footwear and travel goods industry at 204 USD for 2024, up from the current 200 dollars, Labor and Vocational Training Minister Heng Sour announced.
* Thailand's new prime minister said on Friday he was committed to transforming the country into a major foreign investment destination, including pursuing more free trade deals and expanding manufacturing of both electric and traditional autos.
* It is necessary for Russia to increase defense spending in 2024, due to the hybrid war that is being waged against the country, the Kremlin said Thursday.
* The Democratic-led U.S. Senate forged ahead on Thursday with a bipartisan stopgap funding bill aimed at averting a fourth partial government shutdown in a decade, while the House began voting on partisan Republican spending bills with no chance of becoming law.
* Polish utility Polskie Elektrownie Jadrowe (PEJ) on Wednesday signed an agreement with Westinghouse and Bechtel, leaders of the U.S. nuclear power sector, for the design of Poland's first nuclear power plant.
* Sweden's prime minister summoned the head of the armed forces and the police commissioner in a bid to stem gang violence, he said on Thursday, following a wave of violence that has taken at least 11 lives in September alone.
* Israel reopened crossing points with Gaza on Thursday, allowing thousands of Palestinian workers to get to their jobs in Israel and the West Bank, after nearly two weeks of closure prompted by violent protests along the border.
* Ecuador's National Electoral Council (CNE) began Thursday the nationwide distribution of 2,413 electoral packages for the second round of the early presidential elections in October.
* A new batch of fifth-generation Su-57 fighter jets has been delivered to the Ministry of Defense by Russian aircraft manufacturers, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov said on Thursday.
* At least a dozen Niger soldiers were killed following an attack by hundreds of armed insurgents on motorbikes in the country's southwest on Thursday morning, the West African nation's defence ministry said in a statement.
* The Lebanese army received on Thursday the first shipment of Qatar's fuel donation, the military said in a statement.
* Israel announced Thursday that it had signed a record-breaking 3.5-billion-USD agreement with Germany to sell its Arrow-3 hypersonic missile defense system to the European country.
* Rising tensions and instability in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have put UN peacekeepers on alert as they seek a definitive mandate for their upcoming withdrawal, a UN envoy informed the Security Council on Thursday.
* The Philippine government announced on Thursday that it will host an international conference on disaster risk reduction in 2024 to promote regional coordination.
* Italy's total population is expected to continue to decline, especially in the second half of the century, even though the number of families in the country is on the rise, the country's National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) said on Thursday.
* UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday called for "massive support from the international community" for Pakistan in its fight against climate change.
* Turkey and Moldova signed a deal for the export of natural gas to the latter via pipeline, the Turkish Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAS) announced Thursday.
* The balance of China's inclusive loans to small and micro businesses stood at 27.8 trillion yuan (about 3.87 trillion USD) at the end of August, the country's central bank said.
* Southern Laos' Sekong province has received over 4.2 million USD in grants through Official Development Assistance (ODA), to finance projects centered on agricultural development, rural development, and nutrition.
* Industrial production in Japan was flat in August compared to a month earlier, the government said in a report on Friday.
* Inflation in Germany slowed significantly to 4.5 percent in September from more than 6 percent in the previous month, according to preliminary figures released on Thursday by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).
* Ukrainian state-run energy company Ukrenergo has attracted more than 1 billion USD from foreign countries and organizations to restore the energy infrastructure, the Ukrinform news agency reported Thursday, citing an official.
* Myanmar earned over 4.46 billion USD from exports of manufacturing goods in over five months (from April 1 to Sept. 15) of the present fiscal year 2023-2024, according to figures released by the Commerce Ministry on Thursday.
* It is "vital" for International Monetary Fund shareholders to increase quota-based lending resources this year to deal with growing global economic shocks, IMF spokesperson Julie Kozack said on Thursday.
* The International Monetary Fund's (IMF) executive board on Thursday approved a $1.32 billion, 18-month loan from its new Resilience and Sustainability Facility to help Morocco bolster its resilience to climate-related disasters, the fund said in a statement.
* The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) was committed to continuing its technical and financial support for Tunisia to advance its reforms, said Nodira Mansurova, the institution's investment and operational chief in Tunisia, on Friday.
* The Central Bank of Mexico (Banxico) said Thursday that despite continued inflationary pressures at home, it will maintain the key interest rate at 11.25 percent.
* The central banks of Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed on Thursday a currency swap deal, agreeing to exchange up to 42 billion Egyptian pounds (about 1.36 billion USD) and 5 billion UAE dirhams at nominal value.
* New Zealand's weather institute said on Friday the weather pattern El Nino had arrived and was expected to lead to high winds, extreme temperature changes and variable rainfall over the coming three months.
* Kenyan authorities said Thursday they are ramping up mitigation measures, including raising public awareness and mapping out flood-prone areas ahead of the expected El Nino rains.
* The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Thursday provided water treatment material to the flood-hit eastern Libya.
* Sri Lanka's National Building Research Organization (NBRO) on Thursday issued early landslide warnings for several areas in seven districts as heavy rains continue.
