* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed the situation in Ukraine with his Chinese counterpart during a meeting in Uzbekistan, the foreign ministry in Moscow said in a statement on Thursday.
* US and Cuban officials discussed migration issues as the Biden administration braces for the end of COVID-era border restrictions that have blocked Cubans in recent months from crossing into the United States from Mexico.
* US President Joe Biden did not discuss the leak of intelligence documents with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak when the two men met in Northern Ireland this week, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Thursday.
* Romania and Bulgaria should be admitted Europe's open-borders Schengen area as soon as possible, the Polish foreign minister said on Thursday.
* Qatar and Bahrain will resume their diplomatic ties, both Bahrain news agency (BNA) and the Qatari foreign ministry said on Wednesday. The move comes over two years after an Arab boycott of Qatar was lifted.
* Saudi Arabia and Syria's foreign ministers welcomed the beginning of procedures to resume consular services and flights between the two countries, the Saudi foreign ministry reported on Wednesday citing a joint statement.
* Tunisia and Syria decided to reopen their respective embassies to resume diplomatic ties between the two countries, the Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Wednesday.
* Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Wednesday he discussed military support for his country with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
* Switzerland will make an additional 1.5 billion Swiss francs (1.68 billion USD) available for Ukraine by 2028, Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said at a conference in Washington.
* The "grain corridor" from Ukraine under the Black Sea Grain Initiative will resume its work on Wednesday, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported.
* A Russian Su-27 fighter jet escorted a German patrol plane over the Baltic Sea on Wednesday to prevent it from entering Russia's airspace, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
* Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said on Wednesday that his country will continue its support for the Palestinians and take "all necessary steps" to halt the Israeli practices that "deprive Palestinians of their right to freedom, statehood, and sovereignty."
* The Turkish Coast Guard said in a statement on Wednesday that it has rescued 77 illegal migrants off the country's western Aegean coast.
* Japan has pledged to double the percentage of International Monetary Fund Special Drawing Rights monetary reserves that it will reallocate to poorer countries to 40%, Japanese Finance Minister Suzuki Shunichi said on Wednesday.
* The World Bank said on Wednesday it would finance 200 million USD to help fix Ukraine's energy and heating infrastructure, with partners and others to provide another 300 million USD as the project expands.
* Japan, France and India will announce a new platform for creditors to coordinate restructuring of Sri Lanka's debt, Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Wednesday, adding it would be "very nice" if China were to join the effort.
* Cambodia collected 1.9 billion USD from all sources of taxes in the first quarter (Q1) of 2023, up 2 percent from nearly 1.86 billion dollars in the same period last year, according to press statements released on Thursday.
* India's retail inflation dropped to 5.66 percent in March, the latest government data showed. It marked the lowest in 15 months.
* US stocks ended lower on Wednesday as concerns over another rate hike in early May and economic recession dampened short-lived optimism from the lower-than-expected inflation in March.
* French unions have called on workers to walk off the job and join protest rallies on Thursday for a twelfth nationwide day of protests against a bill that will make the French work longer.
* Britain's economy stagnated in February as strikes by public workers hit output but a bounce in January was stronger than first thought, meaning a recession is a bit less likely to be brewing in early 2023, official data showed.
* Italy's debt and deficit levels are falling, according to new data from the Italian government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, the two authorities hold differing views on the rate of change.
* Businesses reopened and traffic was back in urban centres of Ethiopia's Amhara region on Wednesday after six days of violent protests over a planned shake-up of local forces, residents said.
* The Russian government has decided to extend the operation of its segment on the International Space Station (ISS) until 2028, said Yuri Borisov, head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos on Wednesday.
* The population in Japan declined to 124.95 million in 2022, marking the 12th consecutive year of decline, government data showed Wednesday.
* Data released on Thursday confirmed a reduction in New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions in 2021.
* Cameroon's Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute has said a new Commonwealth trade hub for Cameroon and Gabon would bring new opportunities and offer huge momentum in strengthening the countries' economies.
* Despite the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and the geopolitical risk, the poverty rate for Bangladesh has dropped to 18.7 percent in 2022 from 24.3 percent in 2016, according to the latest Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data.
* COVID-19 immune vaccination is an ongoing program in Zambia and people should access the services in their regions, a senior government official said Wednesday.
* Tunisian coast guards have retrieved 10 bodies of illegal immigrants after two boats sank off Tunisian coasts, Tunisian National Guard said Wednesday.
* A keenly-watched malaria vaccine from Oxford University has secured its first approval, in Ghana, as the African country ramps up efforts to combat the mosquito-borne disease that kills a child every minute.
* UN humanitarians launched a 674 million USD relief plan on Wednesday to help 4.4 million people in Chad, one of the world's poorest countries.
* The South African police said on Wednesday that they arrested 43 people for illegal mining on Tuesday night in Ga-Phasha Village in the country's northernmost province of Limpopo.
* Somalia is hosting 35,381 refugees and asylum-seekers, 69 percent of them women and children, the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Wednesday.
* A strong wind and a heavy dust storm are now hitting the southern Gobi provinces of Mongolia, the country's meteorology and environmental monitoring agency said Thursday.
* Australia's northwest region, home to the world's largest export hub for iron ore, could be hit by the most powerful tropical cyclone there in a decade as ports cleared ships and residents rushed to stock up on essential supplies.
