* Chinese and Singaporean navies will conduct a joint exercise in early September in the waters and airspace near Zhanjiang, south China's Guangdong Province.
* Singapore has committed 112 million Singapore dollars (88.28 million USD) over the next five years in research and innovation for the built environment, the Building and Construction Authority said on Wednesday.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin said negotiations on Ukraine had stalled, while dismissing reports that Russia would launch a new round of mobilization after the State Duma election as "nonsense."
* Russia said Wednesday that its forces had targeted a dry-cargo ship loaded with weapons and ammunition for the Ukrainian forces in the Black Sea. Group strikes were also carried out against two logistics facilities in the Ukrainian capital city of Kiev.
* The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the German Charge d'Affaires Bernd Finke on Wednesday to protest Berlin's allegations that a drone found with explosives at the Leipzig airport last month was of Russian origin.
* The European Union have summoned Russian ambassadors over the Leipzig attacks, the block's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told the press on Wednesday prior to the Informal meeting of Foreign Affairs Ministers in Wicklow, Ireland.
* A renewed push by several European Union (EU) member states to use frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine drew little enthusiasm from EU ministers, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said on Wednesday following an informal meeting with his EU counterparts in Ireland.
* The comprehensive national defense exercise Namejs'26 started in Latvia on Wednesday, the Baltic country's military announced. The annual drills, which are scheduled to take place until October 8, will be joined by 12,000 soldiers and national guardsmen from all units of the National Armed Forces (NAF), including conscripted soldiers and reserve officers, as well as servicemen from allied countries.
* Venezuela's acting president Delcy Rodriguez signed trade agreements and contracts with Italian company Eni and U.S. company Chevron on Wednesday. The agreements with Chevron include the expansion of operations into new oil exploration areas.
* Cuba received 794,492 travelers in the first seven months of this year, down 49.8 percent year on year, amid intensifying U.S. economic and financial sanctions, the National Office of Statistics and Information said Tuesday.
* United Nations (UN) officials on Thursday called for investment in resilient infrastructure, cross-sector partnerships and greater regional connectivity in transport, energy, trade and digital technologies to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are "far off course" from being achieved.
* UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is gravely concerned by the renewed exchanges of fire overnight between the United States and Iran, his spokesperson said Wednesday.
* The U.S. military is prepared to launch more strikes on Iran "any time we want," U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday. The U.S. military "took out all of the new equipment that they tried to build along the Strait of Hormuz," said Trump.
* Iran's Army said Thursday that its forces had struck U.S. military bases in the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait with missiles and drones earlier in the day.
* Iran's Health Minister Mohammad-Reza Zafarghandi said on Wednesday that 18 people were killed and 108 others wounded in overnight strikes by the United States against the country, according to a statement published on the website of the Iranian president's office.
* Qatar on Wednesday reaffirmed the country's support for diplomatic efforts aimed at de-escalating tensions and reaching a solution that ensures freedom of maritime navigation and paves the way for sustainable peace in the region.
* Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the security of civilian maritime transport in the Black Sea is of great importance, the Turkish media reported Wednesday.
* Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a visit to the Gaza Strip on Wednesday that Israeli troops would remain in the enclave along the so-called "Yellow Line."
* Israel's E1 settlement project in the West Bank will further undermine the prospect of a two-state solution, European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned Wednesday.
* At least 15 militants were killed by Pakistani security forces while attempting to infiltrate the country, the military said Thursday.
* China's customs authority has rolled out enhanced screening and quarantine measures for travelers and goods arriving from polio-affected countries or regions. The measures were announced after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the risk of international poliovirus spread remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
* In an effort to support Pakistan's livestock industry, the Chinese government has donated 300,000 high-quality doses of veterinary vaccines to Pakistan.
* More than 80 migrants were feared dead after a boat carrying 128 people was found drifting off Spain's Canary Islands following 26 days at sea, Spanish news agency EFE reported Thursday. Forty-five survivors were rescued, while five bodies were found on board, the report said.
* The Bank of Canada announced on Wednesday that it will maintain its benchmark interest rate at 2.25 percent.
* Nordea Bank, a leading Nordic banking group, on Wednesday raised its forecast for Finland's economic growth this year to 1.7 percent from 1 percent, citing stronger-than-expected growth in the first half of 2026 and improving domestic demand. The bank expects Finland's gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by 2 percent in both 2027 and 2028.
* The number of unemployed people in Slovakia increased by 8,300 to 152,800 in the second quarter of this year, the Slovak Statistics Office said on Wednesday, adding that unemployment rate increased by 0.3 percentage point year-on-year to 5.6 percent.
* The death toll from the devastating mudslide in Nepal on Aug. 26 has risen to 1,252, with 4,875 people still missing as of 10 a.m. local time on Thursday, according to the police.
* More than 162 million children, representing over two-thirds of all children in eastern and southern Africa, live in regions vulnerable to the intensifying 2026/2027 El Nino phenomenon, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned on Tuesday.
* Namibia has recorded more than 122,000 confirmed malaria cases and 122 deaths since the beginning of this year, Health and Social Services Minister Esperance Luvindao said Wednesday.
* Typhoon Saudel, the 18th typhoon of 2026, made its third landfall in east China's Fujian Province on Thursday, with maximum sustained winds of 23 meters per second near its center, according to the provincial meteorological observatory.
* Global warming is likely to surpass the 1.5-degree Celsius limit set by the Paris Agreement within the next few years, according to a report released Wednesday by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
* Heatwaves and drought in France are expected to shave 0.1 percentage point off France's gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2026 due to lower agricultural production, France's Ministry of Economy and Finance said Wednesday.
* August 2026 was the hottest month recorded in Hungary since 1901, with the nationwide average temperature reaching 24.9 degrees Celsius, the country's meteorological service HungaroMet said on Wednesday.
