* Postal voting for the Sri Lankan presidential election, scheduled for Sept. 21, commenced Wednesday morning and will continue until Sept. 6, the Elections Commission said. Commissioner General of Elections Saman Sri Ratnayake told journalists in Colombo that voting will take place at over 1,500 centers.
* Indonesia kicked off on Thursday the two-day International Sustainability Forum (ISF) in Jakarta, gathering state leaders, decision-makers, CEOs and sustainability experts from 53 countries to build collaboration for green energy transition agenda.
* President Xi Jinping pledged on Thursday to step up China's support to the world's fastest-growing continent with funding of nearly $51 billion, backing for more infrastructure initiatives and a promise to create at least 1 million jobs.
* Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Thursday that China stands ready to work with Africa to implement 10 partnership action plans to jointly advance modernization.
* India and Singapore signed memorandums of understanding for cooperation in semiconductors, digital technologies, skill development and healthcare during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the city-state, foreign ministry said on Thursday.
* Russia does not see any prerequisites for peace talks with Ukraine at the moment, the RIA news agency said on Thursday, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
* Russia said on Thursday it would take retaliatory measures against U.S. media in response to U.S. charges against Russian media executives and state broadcaster RT, which Washington has accused of trying to influence the 2024 presidential election.
* 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 Swiss government has submitted its proposed free trade agreement with India to parliament, it said on Thursday, moving closer to a deal that could open up the world's most populous country to Swiss exports.
* Belarus may take part in the construction of a new deep-water port in the Russian Far East, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday during a speech at the Eastern Economic Forum.
* Russia intends to increase cargo traffic along the Northern Sea Route, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday during a speech at a panel at the Eastern Economic Forum.
* Mexico's Chamber of Deputies, or the lower house, on Wednesday approved a judicial reform package spearheaded by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
* The U.S. imposing tariffs on Chinese goods is "adding insult to injury," Chinese commerce ministry spokesperson He Yongqian said on Thursday, urging the U.S. to "immediately lift all tariffs on Chinese goods."
* Deputy U.S. national security adviser Jon Finer met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other officials in Kyiv on Wednesday to discuss top priorities in Ukraine's war with Russia for the remainder of President Joe Biden's term, U.S. officials said.
* The U.S., Britain and the EU are expected to sign the first international treaty on the use of AI that is legally binding, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
* Australia's centre-left government said on Thursday it planned to introduce targeted artificial intelligence rules including human intervention and transparency amid a rapid rollout of AI tools by businesses and in everyday life.
* Sri Lanka's navy arrested four Indian fishermen for poaching in the country's territorial waters on Wednesday, the navy said in a statement.
* Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will attend the BRICS summit scheduled to be held in the Russian city of Kazan in October, Habertürk daily reported on Wednesday, citing presidential sources.
* Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, vowed on Wednesday to enhance bilateral relations during the first visit by an Egyptian president to Turkey in 12 years.
* Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced on Wednesday that Spain and Palestine will hold their first bilateral summit this year to strengthen ties.
* Norway is poised to cooperate with Qatar on peace talks and reconciliation efforts in the Middle East, said Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store on Wednesday. Store made the remarks after meeting with visiting Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who is on a tour of the Nordic region.
* The World Bank's board has approved a $68 million programme to prevent Pacific Island nations from being cut off from the international financial system that underpins tourism, trade and aid flows, the lender's President Ajay Banga said on Thursday.
* South Africa would use its chairmanship of the Group of 20 (G20) to advance tax reforms to ensure that global monopoly platforms pay taxes in countries they raise revenue, said a government official Wednesday.
* African countries' inadequate access to debt relief and scarce resources is a recipe for social unrest, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday, proposing fresh reforms to the international financial architecture.
* Hamas said on Thursday there was no need for new ceasefire proposals for Gaza and pressure should be put on Israel to agree to a U.S. plan that the Islamist group had already accepted.
* A Yemeni government naval official said on Wednesday that a minor oil spill had been detected from a Greek tanker targeted by Houthi forces two weeks ago in the Red Sea.
* Haiti has expanded its state of emergency to cover the entire nation's territory, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Garry Conille said on Wednesday, as the Caribbean country battles violent gangs that have taken over much of the capital and started expanding into nearby regions.
* A 14-year-old boy killed two fellow students and two teachers and wounded nine others in a shooting at a Georgia high school on Wednesday, jolting the United States with the first mass campus shooting since the start of the school year.
* Indonesia aims to have rice reserves of 2 million tons by the end of December to prepare for a potential decline in domestic production expected towards the end of this year and early 2025, according to Arief Prasetyo Adi, head of the National Food Agency.
* Japanese workers' real wages in July climbed 0.4 percent from a year earlier, rising for the second consecutive month, boosted by summertime bonus payments, government data showed Thursday.
* South Korea's revised real gross domestic product (GDP), adjusted for inflation, was down 0.2 percent in the second quarter compared to the previous quarter, central bank data showed Thursday.
* The Philippines' headline inflation eased to 3.3 percent in August from 4.4 percent in July, mainly due to slower increases in food and non-alcoholic beverages, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Thursday.
* Indonesia is seeking an investment of 14.2 billion USD to increase its renewable energy electricity production capacity to 8.2 gigawatts by 2025, according to an official from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources on Wednesday.
* Malaysia's approved investments rose 18 percent year on year to 160 billion ringgit (37 billion USD) across the services, manufacturing, and primary sectors from January to June, official data showed Wednesday.
* Cambodia recorded 3.53 million air travelers during the first seven months of 2024, up 20 percent compared to the same period last year, said a State Secretariat of Civil Aviation's report on Wednesday.
* The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Thursday that it has launched a new six-year country partnership strategy designed to ensure that the Philippines' growth is sustained, inclusive, and resilient in the face of climate challenges.
* The United Nations has allocated 4 million USD from its Central Emergency Response Fund for Bangladesh, which has been hit by devastating floods, a spokesman said on Wednesday.
* The Portuguese government announced on Wednesday a plan to allocate 7.6 million euros (8.42 million USD) for the vaccination of citizens against COVID-19 and influenza in pharmacies, with the goal of maximizing vaccination coverage by the end of November.
* Seven people have been rescued and 21 others remain missing at sea after the boat they were traveling in capsized off the island of Lampedusa on Monday, the Italian coast guard said Wednesday.
* Italy has been battered by storms in the last few hours, with risk warnings issued for several regions on Wednesday, according to the country's Civic Protection Agency.
* The first three-day phase of the first round of polio vaccinations has reached 187,000 children under 10 years of age in Gaza's central zone, UN humanitarians said on Wednesday.
* US’s California Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency for Rancho Palos Verdes, a Southern California city grappling with an ongoing landslide that has forced hundreds of residents to evacuate and left many without power or gas.
* An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.2 jolted 66 km northeast of Angoram, Papua New Guinea, at 01:03:16 GMT on Thursday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The epicenter, with a depth of 10 km, was initially determined to be at 3.487 degrees south latitude and 144.251 degrees east longitude.
