GENEVA, Sept 1 — Health authorities in the Gaza Strip have confirmed the first case of polio in the Palestinian enclave in 25 years last month.

SYDNEY, Sept 1 — The Pacific Islands Forum removed references to Taiwan from a group communiqué after complaints from China — a change Taipei condemned as a "rude intervention" but which a forum official said did not alter the leaders' decisions.

JAKARTA, Sept 1 — When Pope Francis visits Indonesia next week, he will stop by a mosque in Jakarta that has an unusual feature — a tunnel connecting it to the city's Catholic cathedral, as part of a push for interfaith harmony on his 12-day Asia-Pacific tour.

BANGKOK, Sept 1 — Thailand's anti-graft body said it was investigating 44 members of the disbanded Move Forward party, following a complaint seeking their lifetime bans from politics for backing legislation aimed at amending a law against royal insults.

SINGAPORE, Sept 1 — Singapore's Home Ministry has said it will introduce a law in the coming months to grant police the power to temporarily restrict the banking transactions of targets of scams who refuse to believe they are being duped.

BEIJING, Sept 1 — The Philippines and China exchanged accusations of intentionally ramming Coast Guard vessels in disputed waters of the South China Sea yesterday, the latest in an escalating series of clashes in the vital waterway.

MUMBAI, Sept 1 — India is forecast to receive above-average rainfall in September after surplus rains in August, the weather department said yesterday.

ZURICH, Aug 31 — World soccer's governing body Fifa has delayed again its decision on a Palestinian bid to have Israel suspended from international soccer over the war in Gaza.

CAIRO/GAZA, Aug 31 — Israeli strikes on Saturday killed at least 48 people in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian health authorities said, as clashes took place in central and southern areas of the enclave ahead of the planned start of a polio vaccination campaign.

TOKYO, Aug 31 — At least six people were dead as Typhoon Shanshan crept eastward through Japan on Saturday, drenching large areas with torrential rain, triggering landslide and flood warnings hundreds of kilometres from the storm's centre.

GAZA CITY, Aug 30 — Palestine Health Minister Majed Abu Ramadan announced today that a polio vaccination campaign for children under the age of 10 will begin in Gaza on Sunday.

WELLINGTON, Aug 30 — New Zealand's Māori King Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII died peacefully today morning aged 69, according to a statement released by his representatives.

JAKARTA, Aug 30 — Indonesia signed a Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) with Australia yesterday, demonstrating the serious commitment of both nations to enhance and strengthen defence relations within the framework of a comprehensive strategic partnership.

CAIRO/GAZA, Aug 30 — Palestinians in Gaza were waiting yesterday to see if there would be a pause in fighting to allow a polio vaccination campaign to begin, as the conflict raged across the besieged enclave, killing at least 34 people.

NEW YORK, Aug 30 — Elon Musk and his electric vehicle company Tesla won the dismissal of a federal lawsuit accusing them of defrauding investors by hyping the cryptocurrency dogecoin and conducting insider trading, causing billions of dollars of losses.

HONG KONG, Aug 30 — Concentrated bets on popular Chinese e-commerce giant PDD Holdings may have led to losses in billions of dollars for hedge funds from a crash in its shares following downbeat comments from its executives.

SYDNEY, Aug 30 — Australia's largest public transport project has achieved something few urban planners expect: social media fame.

FUKUOKA, Aug 30 — Typhoon Shanshan deluged large parts of Japan with torrential rain today, prompting warnings for flooding and landslides hundreds of miles from the storm's centre, halting travel services and shutting production at major factories.

JAKARTA, Aug 30 — Over 1,000 motorcycle taxi drivers staged a strike in several Indonesian cities yesterday to protest against low pay, and called on the government to provide more protection against what they say are unfair practices by ride-sharing companies.

BEIJING, Aug 30 — China's Coast Guard has urged the Philippines to stop sending missions to resupply a vessel near a contested shoal in the South China Sea, warning that such "adventurous actions" could trigger unspecified incidents.