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Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Cairo for an official visit as Egypt and China marked 70 years of diplomatic relations. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi welcomed Xi at Cairo International Airport on Tuesday. First Lady Entissar El-Sisi also attended the reception alongside Xi’s wife, Peng Liyuan. This marks Xi’s first visit to Egypt in a decade, coinciding with both nations reviewing a broad partnership spanning political, economic, and developmental cooperation.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks in Bishkek during the 26th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit. The meeting on August 31 addressed topics including political relations, trade, defense, energy, space, mobility, and people-to-people links. Their discussion also touched on regional conflicts and multilateral cooperation. This gathering marked their first face-to-face encounter of 2026 and continued a pattern of high-level exchanges between India and Russia.

Child protection efforts face mounting pressure from conflict, climate and digital abuse. The report states that nearly 19% of children globally now reside in conflict zones, a significant rise from approximately 10% in the 1990s. By the end of 2024, conflict and violence had displaced 48.8 million children worldwide, nearly tripling the figure of about 17 million recorded in 2010. This includes refugee and asylum-seeking children, along with millions displaced within their own countries due to violence and conflict. Climate-related hazards are further compounding risks for children worldwide. Almost half of all children, or 1.1 billion, are exposed to at least three overlapping climate threats. Nearly every child faces at least one such danger, according to UNICEF’s climate risk assessment for 2026. Over 4 million children are threatened by as many as six concurrent hazards, including drought, extreme heat, heatwaves, floods, fires, tropical storms, and sand and dust storms. Digital dangers intensify child protection issues The UN assessment also highlights how digital spaces have expanded the range of threats against children. Roughly one in three internet users worldwide is under 18. Annually, over 300 million children experience online sexual exploitation and abuse, per UN data. During the past year, at least 1.2 million children reported that artificial intelligence had transformed their images into sexually explicit deepfakes. Additional risks include cyberbullying, fraud, identity theft, trafficking, and

India and Uzbekistan expand cooperation under a new Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Trade and economic ties were a central focus of the talks. According to the Uzbek government, bilateral trade hit $1.3 billion in 2025, marking a 33% increase. Both nations aim to boost annual trade to $5 billion by 2030. The number of joint ventures has grown sevenfold recently. Currently, India and Uzbekistan each operate 14 direct flights weekly, and four Indian universities are active in Uzbekistan. The leaders emphasized the importance of expanding industrial and commercial cooperation. The two governments agreed to create a foreign ministers-led mechanism to oversee the implementation of bilateral agreements. They also plan to establish a joint working group to address non-tariff barriers and investment hurdles. Following a feasibility study for an India-Uzbekistan Preferential Trade Agreement, officials will explore further steps. The leaders highlighted energy, electrical engineering, metallurgy, critical minerals, and agriculture as priority sectors, with discussions also covering healthcare, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, electronics, mechanical engineering, and jewelry industries. Agreements foster multi-sector cooperation During the state visit, India and Uzbekistan signed 11 agreements, memoranda, and related arrangements, addressing areas including culture, higher education, scientific research, environmental protection, traditional medicine, tourism, geology, and mineral resources. The package also involves cooperation on archival projects and economic and financial dialogue. An additional agreement connects Gujarat state with Uzbekistan’s Samarkand region, and both sides approved

Rescue operations continue after deadly floods across Nepal and Tibet. (AI-generated image) Rescue teams have evacuated 10,451 individuals to safety, including 252 foreign nationals. Among those still missing are 592 foreigners, along with 933 workers engaged in hydropower projects along the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli corridors. Authorities recorded 267 injuries, with 156 patients having been released after treatment. Over 20,000 security personnel are actively involved in search, rescue, and relief operations across impacted districts, while helicopters are transporting survivors and supplies to isolated communities.

On Friday afternoon, a moderate earthquake with a magnitude of 5.1 was registered in Longchang City, located in China’s Sichuan Province southwest, according to data published by the China Earthquake Networks Center. The event took place at 1:13 p.m. Beijing time at a depth of 13 kilometers. Seismologists pinpointed the epicenter at 29.23 degrees north latitude and 105.22 degrees east longitude within Neijiang prefecture. The magnitude 5.1 tremor prompted local emergency agencies to begin preliminary impact assessments across the county.

Wildfires in northeastern Algeria have claimed at least 12 lives and left 54 injured, officials announced Wednesday night. The fatalities include five in Jijel, four in Bejaia, and three in Tizi Ouzou, according to Interior Minister Said Sayoud. Six of the injured remain in critical condition, receiving intensive care for burns. The blazes spread across multiple provinces amid a severe heatwave impacting Algeria and neighboring regions of North Africa.

Gulf Region Sees Nearly 22,000 Pakistanis Sent Back Amid Broader Immigration Crackdowns – Official figures released by Pakistan’s federal government reveal that 21,951 Pakistani citizens were deported from Gulf nations between March 1 and July 13, 2026. Data presented to the National Assembly indicates these removals stemmed from violations such as overstaying visas, illegal entries, drug-related crimes, forged documents, and involvement in organized begging networks. The nearly 22,000 Pakistanis expelled within four months due to visa breaches and begging underscores increased immigration enforcement across the Middle East.

NORTH SUMATRA / RankWire.AI / – On Tuesday, a 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck offshore of Indonesia’s North Sumatra province, affecting several areas along Sumatra’s coastline. The tremor was recorded at 1:02:23 p.m. western Indonesian time, or 06:02:23 UTC. According to official data, the epicenter was located in the sea, 147 kilometers southeast of South Nias Regency. The quake’s depth was 29 kilometers, originating beneath waters west of Sumatra.

The Ebola crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has become the deadliest in the country’s history. According to government figures, there have been 4,945 confirmed cases and 2,325 fatalities as of Aug. 16. Over the previous 24 hours, health officials documented 101 new confirmed infections. The death count now exceeds the 2,299 deaths recorded during the Ebola outbreak from 2018 to 2020 in the country.