* Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a three-day halt to strikes against Kiev, a move linked to preparations for contacts with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday.
* Ukraine is ready to observe a ceasefire in airstrikes against the cities involved in the negotiation process, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday. Ukraine is ready to refrain from strikes on Moscow from now until Monday, "and we expect the Russians to do the same" regarding Kiev, Zelensky said in an X post, adding that he had just spoken with U.S. envoys.
* Chinese Vice Premier Liu Guozhong has stressed the need to step up agricultural disaster prevention and mitigation to secure a bumper autumn grain harvest.
* The first tunnel on the Kyrgyz section of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway has been drilled through, marking a major milestone in the development of the cross-border route, the project company said Saturday.
* The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday that the notice issued by Ukraine claiming that Russian airspace was not safe for civilian aviation distorts facts, misleads users of Russian airspace and carries no legal force.
* Agricultural representatives from the Visegrad Four countries in central Europe called on the European Union (EU) on Friday to take immediate action to help farmers cope with an extreme drought that has reduced fodder yields and hit crops in several countries in the region.
* Ukrainian Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko said Ukraine is facing an external financing gap of 32.6 billion USD next year, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported Friday.
* U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that the U.S. military may soon strike Iran's Pickaxe Mountain -- a fortified site near Iran's Natanz enrichment facility -- while trying to downplay the conflict with Iran as "small potatoes."
* Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) said Saturday that its forces had smashed a "terror" team it said was affiliated with the United States and Israel in southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan province, killing two of its members.
* Türkiye is continuing diplomatic efforts to help peacefully resolve tensions between Iran and the United States, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a phone call with United Arab Emirates(UAE) President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Friday.
* An Iranian oil tanker was targeted in a U.S. missile attack about 10 km off Iran's southern Kharg Island on Saturday morning, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
* The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that its soldiers intercepted a drone launched by Hezbollah militants towards IDF-held positions in southern Lebanon's "Security Zone."
* Somalia has formally become the 50th country to ratify the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, depositing its instrument of ratification with the African Union.
* The United Nations General Assembly voted on Friday to adopt a non-binding resolution that encourages the use of the Equal Earth cartographic projection in maps worldwide to replace the Mercator projection widely used so far, which distorts the sizes of continental landmasses.
* At least 40 Yemeni government soldiers and 50 Houthi fighters have been killed in fierce fighting across the country's western frontlines since Thursday, medical officials told Xinhua Friday.
* A F-4 Phantom aircraft crashed on Saturday afternoon during the Athens Flying Week air show at Tanagra Air Base, Greek national broadcaster ERT reported.
* Around 70 employees of the Russian Consulate General in Bonn and their families are to leave Germany following the closure of the diplomatic mission, Russian Consul General in Bonn Oleg Krasnitsky said.
* A total of 48 terrorists have been killed in the last 72 hours during intensified counter-terrorism operations in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, the military said Friday.
* China has issued a plan to promote high-quality development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) during the 2026-2030 period, setting targets for business growth, innovation and the development environment.
* Cambodia's international tourist arrivals plunged 46 percent year on year to 1.99 million in the first seven months of 2026, according to a report from the Tourism Ministry released Saturday. The report identified China, Vietnam, and the United States as the top three inbound tourism markets from January to July.
* Myanmar exported over 130,411 tonnes of fishery products in the first five months of the fiscal year 2026-27, which began in April, earning over 225 million USD, according to the Department of Fisheries on Saturday.
* Finland's goods exports to China rose 12.9 percent year on year in the first half of 2026, while China accounted for 10.3 percent of the country's goods imports during the period, according to a report released Friday by the Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
* The death toll from the deadly mudslide in Nepal has crossed the 1,300 mark, the Nepal Police said on Saturday. According to the latest details released by police, as many as 1,344 bodies had been recovered by 5 a.m. local time Saturday.
* The death toll rose to 12 as rescuers continued searching for 16 people still missing after a ferry capsized and sank off the northern coast of Cyprus on Aug. 30, Turkish Cypriot authorities said Friday.
* One person has been confirmed dead and 11 others are missing after a mudslide struck a village in Suichuan County, Ji'an City, east China's Jiangxi Province at around 4 a.m. on Saturday, local authorities said.
* China is stepping up meteorological support for Nepal following last week's mudslide disaster, providing satellite data and meteorological services to assist cross-border disaster monitoring and emergency response, according to the China Meteorological Administration (CMA).
* More than 115,000 people in seven districts of Sri Lanka have been affected by prevailing dry weather conditions linked to the El Nino weather pattern, the National Disaster Relief Services Center said Saturday.
* Spain recorded a temperature of 45.7 degrees Celsius on Thursday, matching the highest temperature ever registered in the country in September, the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) said Friday on social media platform X.
* Mount Anak Krakatau in Indonesia's South Lampung regency continued erupting Saturday morning, with booming and rumbling sounds heard from a nearby volcano observation post, authorities said.
* The United States had recorded 3,134 confirmed measles cases this year as of Thursday, with the nationwide total continuing to rise amid declining childhood vaccination coverage, according to data released Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
