* China has shortened the suspension time for inbound international flights on routes found to have COVID-19 cases starting on Aug. 7.
* India's federal health ministry on Saturday wrote to seven states asking them to ensure adequate testing, promote COVID-19 appropriate behaviour and increase the pace of vaccination to contain the ongoing increase in cases.
* Cambodia and Pakistan on Saturday vowed to further promote bilateral relations for benefits of the two countries and peoples, a Cambodian spokesman said.
* The Italian Green leftist federation on Saturday agreed to join an electoral alliance led by the Democratic Party (PD), in a move seen as strengthening the centre-left ahead of an election next month.
* The U.S. Senate on Saturday began debating a Democratic bill to address key elements of President Joe Biden's agenda - tackling climate change, lowering the costs of medication for the elderly and energy, while forcing corporations and the wealthy to pay more taxes.
* Four ships carrying Ukrainian foodstuffs sailed from Ukrainian Black Sea ports on Sunday as part of a deal to unblock the country's sea exports, Ukrainian and Turkish officials said.
* Sudan summoned the Chadian ambassador to Sudan on Saturday to protest what it called a cross-border attack by Chadian armed groups that killed at least 18 Sudanese civilians, official SUNA news agency reported.
* At least 24 Palestinians have been killed and 215 injured as Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) continued their exchange of fire for the second day.
* The only power plant in the Gaza Strip has been shut down because of fuel shortage, the Gaza-based energy authority announced Saturday, as Israel has kept Gaza crossings closed.
* China's foreign trade of goods jumped 10.4 percent year on year to 23.6 trillion yuan (about 3.5 trillion USD) during the first seven months of the year, official data showed Sunday.
* Qatar's Central Bank foreign reserves and hard currency liquidity rose 2.79% year-on-year in July to 211.325 billion riyals (57.74 billion USD), the Gulf state's official news agency QNA reported on Sunday.
* Islamic state claimed responsibility for an attack which wounded 22 people in Afghanistan's capital Kabul on Saturday, the group said on its Telegram channel.
* China reported 868 new coronavirus cases for Aug. 6, of which 390 were symptomatic and 478 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Sunday.
* Russia reported 20,303 new daily coronavirus cases on Sunday, authorities said, the highest such figure since March 28.
* India reported 18,738 new cases of COVID-19 during the past 24 hours, taking the total tally to 44,145,732 in the country, according to federal health ministry data released on Sunday morning.
* Malaysia reported 4,684 new COVID-19 infections as of midnight Saturday, bringing the national total to 4,705,824, according to the health ministry.
* Twelve people were killed in Croatia on Saturday when a Polish bus filled with religious pilgrims slipped off a road and crashed near Varazdin, authorities said.
* Two more confirmed cases of monkeypox have been detected in Cyprus, raising the total to three, the country's Health Ministry said on Saturday.