* The Ukrainian minister in charge of weapons production resigned on Tuesday in anticipation of another defence role and four other ministers stood down in a major government shake-up at a critical juncture in the war with Russia.
* Peruvian President Dina Boluarte on Tuesday unveiled new appointments to four cabinet posts at a swearing-in ceremony held at government headquarters in Lima.
* An International Monetary Fund mission began work on Wednesday on the fifth review of its $15.6 billion lending programme to Ukraine amid a major wartime government reshuffle.
* The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Russia was adjusting its nuclear doctrine because the United States and its Western allies were threatening Russia by escalating the war in Ukraine and riding roughshod over Moscow's legitimate security interests.
* Patience is running out among United Nations Security Council members and the 15-member body will likely consider taking action if a ceasefire cannot soon be brokered between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Slovenia's U.N. envoy - council president for September - said on Tuesday.
* Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin arrived in Russia's far eastern port city of Vladivostok early on Wednesday to take part in the Eastern Economic Forum to be attended by several Asian dignitaries, Russian news agencies reported.
* China, Tanzania and Zambia signed an initial agreement on a railway project, Chinese state media said on Wednesday. President Xi Jinping witnessed the signing of the memorandum of understanding on the Tanzania-Zambia railway activation project with the Tanzanian and Zambian presidents, who were Beijing attending the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, said state broadcaster CCTV news.
* Nigeria and China agreed to strengthen ties in the Belt and Road initiative, human resources development and nuclear energy after the countries' leaders met on Tuesday, a government spokesperson said.
* At least 51 people have been killed and 271 others injured Tuesday in a Russian missile attack on the city of Poltava in central Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
* South Korea and New Zealand on Wednesday agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation in areas including economy, trade, science, and education during a meeting of their leaders in Seoul, according to the South Korean presidential office.
* Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will hold talks with President Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey on Wednesday in the first presidential level visit in 12 years amid a warming of long-frozen relations between the regional powers.
* Switzerland reopened its embassy in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, on Tuesday after 33 years of closure following the Gulf War.
* Finland's ruling centre-right coalition plans to spend more on NATO membership, defence and security in 2025, while scaling back on welfare spending to tame the Nordic country's fiscal deficit, it said on Tuesday.
* Scottish Finance Secretary Shona Robison announced a government spending cut of 500 million pounds (655 million USD) on Tuesday, during her speech to the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood.
* Chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Tuesday that the agency will step up assistance to Ukraine to protect the country's energy infrastructure, which is vital to the safety of its nuclear power plants (NPPs).
* The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is supporting a nationwide vaccination campaign by the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), a UN spokesman said on Tuesday.
* The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) announced on Tuesday that Libya's two rival legislative bodies have agreed to work towards resolving the central bank crisis within a few days.
* The Palestinian presidency on Tuesday reiterated its rejection of any Israeli military presence along the Philadelphi Corridor or at the Rafah crossing on the Gaza-Egypt border.
* The Yemeni government on Tuesday condemned recent Houthi attacks on chemical and oil tankers in the Red Sea, describing them as "systematic terrorism" that threatens environmental, economic, and humanitarian stability in the region.
* The European Union's naval mission, Aspides, announced Tuesday that it is suspending efforts to salvage the MV Sounion, a Greek-flagged oil tanker stranded in the Red Sea after an attack by the Yemeni Houthi forces.
* Israeli forces killed at least 35 Palestinians across Gaza on Tuesday as they battled Hamas-led militants, Palestinian officials said, but brief pauses in fighting allowed medics to conduct a third day of polio vaccinations for children.
* Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned the British charge d'affaires on Tuesday in response to recent British sanctions on three Iranian individuals and one entity.
* Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Tuesday unveiled the government's 2025 budget plan, detailing substantial spending cuts as Israel grapples with aggravated Gaza war-related costs.
* A boom in data centers is expected to produce about 2.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions globally through the end of the decade, and accelerate investments in decarbonization efforts, according to Morgan Stanley research.
* The World Bank on Tuesday revised India's growth prospects during 2024-25 to 7 percent, up from its June forecast of 6.6 percent. In a press statement, the World Bank said that amid challenging external conditions, it expected India's growth to remain strong in the next two years.
* Japan's rice exports hit a record high between January and July of this year both in volume and value, local media reported. Rice exports climbed 29.1 percent from a year earlier to 6.46 billion yen (about 44.4 million USD) in the reporting period, while the export volume increased 23 percent to 24,469 tons, Jiji Press reported on Tuesday, citing agriculture ministry data.
* Economic activity in the U.S. manufacturing sector contracted in August for the fifth month in a row, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said Tuesday.
* The Swedish Central Bank's forecast of carrying out two or three further rate cuts this year still looks like a well balanced policy outlook, Riksbank Deputy Governor Per Jansson said on Wednesday.
* Chile's central bank cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 5.5% on Tuesday, in line with traders' expectationsand following a unanimous vote. The Andean country's rate cut brings the rate down 575 basis points from a high of 11.25% in July 2023.
* Australia has reported its slowest annual economic growth excluding the COVID-19 pandemic period in over 30 years. Official figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Wednesday revealed that Australia's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 1.5 percent in the 2023-24 financial year spanning from July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024 - down from 3.1 percent in 2022-23.
* Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu has approved the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Act, which is expected to bring new advantages to the Maldives by aligning the country's investment framework with the current global climate, state-owned PSM News said on Tuesday.
* Agri-food exports of the Europe Union (EU) in the first five months of this year increased by 2 percent year-on-year to reach 97.4 billion euros (107.5 billion USD), showed an agri-food trade report published the European Commission on Tuesday.
* The number of food-insecure people in the Horn of Africa stands at 66 million, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) said in a new report released Tuesday.
* The death toll from flash flooding and landslides triggered by typhoon Yagi and the southwest monsoon in the Philippines has risen to 15, with 21 still missing, the country's Office of Civil Defense (OCD) said Wednesday.
* China's southernmost province of Hainan on Wednesday suspended part of coastal ferry services in an upgraded emergency response to approaching typhoon Yagi.
* Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) on Wednesday updated detection, tracing, isolation, and vaccination measures to prevent the mpox Clade I infection.
* About 367 cases of mpox, including three deaths, have so far been confirmed in five countries in East and Southern Africa amid fears that the number could further rise, said a UN relief agency Tuesday.
* New Zealand's international tourism is continuing to recover from the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, according to the International Visitor Survey published on Wednesday.
