* Visiting British Prime Minister Boris Johnson started talks with French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday afternoon, with the thorny issue of Irish border plan of the Brexit deal on the top of agenda.
* China attaches great importance to cooperation with the Republic of Korea (RoK) and Japan and is ready to make joint efforts to pursue a higher level of trilateral cooperation with its two neighbors, Premier Li Keqiang said Thursday.
* Russia's deputy UN envoy on Thursday (August 22) appealed to European countries to heed the United States' recent withdrawal from a Cold War arms control treaty and warned of a possible new arms race. At a Security Council meeting, Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia's acting permanent representative to the United Nations, called on the Europeans to act to prevent the deployment of US intermediate-range missiles on their continent.
* United Nations Security Council will brief Russia and China, at their request, on US plans to deploy land-based medium-range missiles in the Asia-Pacific region, Russia said Thursday.
* French Minister for European Affairs Amelie de Montchalin said in Helsinki on Thursday that France is currently not to invite Russia back to G8. Montchalin made the comments when visiting Finland ahead of the G7 summit, which is due to take place in the coming weekend in Biarritz, France.
* Tunisian Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui on Thursday discussed with Foreign Minister of Libya's UN-backed government Mohamed Sayala the latest developments in the war-ravaged country as well as bilateral relations.
* President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Patrick Harker said Thursday that there's no need for another cut to the benchmark interest rate, US media reported.
* The East African Community (EAC) bloc on Thursday called for swift review of the regional common external tariff (CET) in order to boost trade in the region.
* Clashes between forces of Libya's UN-backed government and the eastern-based army on Wednesday killed 13 people and injured dozens south of the capital Tripoli, military sources said Thursday.
* Afghan National Police (ANP) have arrested 15 militants loyal to the Taliban in southern Afghanistan's Kandahar province, local police said Thursday.
* Twenty-two passengers were injured when a passenger bus collided head-on with a private van in Sri Lanka's North Central Province on Friday, the police said.
* Four people were killed in Poland and another in Slovakia as a result of lightning strikes during thunderstorms on Tatra Mountains at border area between the two countries, Polish media reported Thursday.
* Seventeen people were killed when a passenger bus collided with a truck in Nigeria's Kwara State on Thursday, the road safety police said.
