* Britain's King Charles III on Friday pledged "lifelong service" in his first address to the nation and the Commonwealth after assuming the throne following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, on Thursday.
* U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for "massive" international support for flood-ravaged Pakistan while visiting the country on Friday, while Islamabad put the cost of flood-related damage at 30 billion USD.
* The chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Friday said the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine is becoming "increasingly precarious" after shelling caused a complete blackout in the nearby city of Enerhodar.
* Prime ministers of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have issued a joint statement, agreeing to temporarily restrict Russian visa-holders' entry into the European Union (EU) and the Schengen area for tourism, culture, sport and business purposes, according to a release from the Polish Prime Minister's Office on Thursday.
* President Vladimir Putin said in televised remarks on Friday that Russia would export 30 million tonnes of grain by the end of the year, and was ready to increase this volume to 50 million tonnes.
* Germany's difficulties in getting European partners to sign bilateral agreements on sharing gas in case of an emergency predate the current situation, the economy ministry said on Friday in response to a report outlining the problems.
* The Kremlin said on Friday that it expected President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the implementation of a deal on Ukrainian grain exports when they meet in Uzbekistan next week.
* A meeting between US President Joe Biden and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan later this month is under discussion, a senior Turkish official said on Friday, with Turkey-Russia relations, US weapons and conflicts in Ukraine and Syria on the agenda.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia is ready to donate its potash fertilizers to developing countries.
* UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called for efforts to help victims of terrorism.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday held a meeting in Kiev with his visiting Latvian counterpart Egils Levits and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Zelensky's press service reported.
* The energy ministers of the European Union (EU) member states on Friday agreed a common position on temporary emergency measures to curb energy prices, according to senior officials.
* Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye called on Thursday the international community to act immediately to protect the two-state solution, the prime minister's office said in a statement.
* The US Treasury Department on Friday imposed sanctions on Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security and its minister, accusing them of being tied to a July cyberattack on Albania and engaging in cyber activities against the United States and its allies.
* France and Germany pledged on Friday to act together to protect households and companies from soaring energy prices, while also using fiscal policy to fight record high inflation.
* Brunei saw its foreign trade hit 2.85 billion Brunei dollars (2.03 billion USD) in May, marking a 48.7 percent increase year-on-year, official data showed on Friday.
* EU countries and Britain granted 227.97 billion euros (228 billion USD) in state aid in 2020 to support companies hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, with Poland and Greece topping the list, the European Commission said on Thursday.
* The European Central Bank said on Thursday lasting vulnerabilities caused by the pandemic still pose a risk to a smooth transmission of its monetary policy. The institution expects a flexible approach in reinvesting redemptions coming due in the Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme Portfolio.
* A top Iranian military commander said on Friday the country will carry out the final test of its upgraded homegrown missile defense system, dubbed Bavar (Belief) 373, in the coming days, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.
* Working gas storage in the contiguous United States was 2,694 billion cubic feet in the week ending Sept. 2, a net increase of 54 billion cubic feet from the previous week, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Thursday in a report.
* China reported 1,404 new COVID-19 infections on Sept. 8, of which 301 were symptomatic and 1,103 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Friday.
* Over 14.5 million children in the United States have tested positive for COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic, according to the latest report by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children's Hospital Association.
* Dutch railway workers went on strike again on Friday, bringing trains across the country to a halt as a wage dispute between unions and state-owned NS Railways continues.
* The number of tourists visiting Israel in the first eight months of 2022 reached nearly 1.5 million, recording a more than sevenfold increase compared to the same period last year, when 209,000 tourists visited the country, Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics said Thursday.
* Suspected militiamen carrying guns and knives killed at least 15 people and burned hundreds of houses during an attack overnight on a market in a town in eastern Congo, local officials and a resident said on Friday.
* At least 14 people died and 26 were missing after a boat sank Thursday morning near the Brazilian city of Belem, capital of northern Para state, official sources reported.
