* China's President Xi Jinping will hold talks with Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday afternoon, the official Xinhua news agency said.
* Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu and his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu will discuss global and regional security at planned talks on April 16-18, the defence ministry in Moscow said on Friday.
* The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) test-fired a new-type intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), Hwasongpho-18, on Thursday local time, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Friday.
* The man who leaked a trove of US intelligence documents, some marked as top secret, to the public is a young airman enlisted in the Massachusetts Air National Guard (MANG), The New York Times reported Thursday.
* Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Thursday attended the fourth foreign ministers' meeting among neighboring countries of Afghanistan in the Uzbek city of Samarkand.
* European leaders are becoming increasingly supportive of French President Emmanuel Macron's push for "strategic autonomy" away from the United States, European Council president Charles Michel said on Tuesday.
* Finnish President Sauli Niinisto called for a better understanding of the increasing geopolitical tensions and Finland's role in global politics as a new member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on Thursday while addressing the opening session of the Finnish parliament.
* Iranian foreign minister on Thursday said Afghanistan is in need of regional cooperation to solve its current challenges rather than the US-led intervention that had pushed the country toward poverty and instability.
* The top UN envoy for Colombia, Carlos Ruiz Massieu, on Thursday called on armed groups in Colombia to engage in and promote dialogues with the aim of reducing violence and consolidating peace in the country.
* Turkey and Egypt will work closely on regional issues, particularly on Libya and Syria, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday.
* The release and swap of nearly 900 detainees by the two sides in Yemen's conflict began on Friday, the International Committee of the Red Cross said, a significant confidence-building measure amid peace talks between Saudi envoys and the Houthi group.
* Around 380,000 people participated in the 12th nationwide general mobilization organized by the unions against the government's pension reform plan, the French Interior Ministry said on Thursday.
* Improving access to knowledge and resources for women working in the food and agriculture sectors can boost global growth and contribute to feeding millions, according to a new report released on Thursday by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
* The United Arab Emirates has confirmed financial support of 1 billion USD to Pakistan, the South Asian nation's finance minister said on Friday, removing a key hurdle to securing a much-awaited bailout tranche from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
* Moody's Investors Service (Moody's) on Friday affirmed the Malaysian government's local and foreign currency long-term issuer and local currency senior unsecured debt ratings at A3. The outlook remains stable.
* Recent bank failures in the US and European banking systems have had a limited impact on Mexico, the Central Bank of Mexico (Banxico) said Thursday.
* The Ukrainian economy shrank a record 29.1 percent last year due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to the figures released by the State Statistic Service on Thursday.
* Germany is expected to narrowly escape recession and post modest growth in the first quarter of the year, according to an economy ministry report published on Friday.
* Italy's economy continues to struggle, but slowing inflation and growing consumer and business confidence are seen as precursors of a positive turn, the country's National Statistics Institute (ISTAT) said Thursday.
* For the first time, this year consumers in Greece planning to prepare a festive meal for the Greek Orthodox Easter, which falls on Sunday, will be able to purchase the basic ingredients at reduced prices.
* Brazil is expecting to see a record grain harvest of 299.7 million tons this year, up by 13.9 percent from a year ago, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) said Thursday.
* Saudi Arabian Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud on Thursday launched four new special economic zones in the kingdom.
* A magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck off Indonesia's Java island on Friday but there was no risk of tsunami, the country's geophysics agency said. The quake was strongly felt in Surabaya, Tuban, Denpasar, and Semarang.
* People in the Western Pacific Region live for 77 years on average due to public health investments and innovations over the decades, the World Health Organization (WHO) Western Pacific Region said on Friday.
* Over 26,000 people have perished or gone missing while crossing the Mediterranean since 2014, the United Nations human rights office said on Thursday.
* The Republic of Koreans are the leading foreign tourists that visited the Philippines this year, the Philippines' Department of Tourism said on Friday.
* Tourist arrivals in Morocco reached 2.9 million in the first quarter of 2023, a 17-percent increase from the same period of 2019, a reference pre-pandemic year, the Moroccan Ministry of Tourism said on Thursday.
