* The commander of Sudan's powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti, called army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan a criminal and accused the army of carrying out a coup, in a live phone interview with the Qatar-based Al Jazeera network on Saturday.
* European Union foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell on Saturday called on all forces involved to stop the violence in Sudan immediately and said in a tweet that all EU staff in the country were safe and accounted for.
* Saudi Arabia is deeply concerned about escalation and clashes in Sudan and called on those involved to choose dialogue over conflict, its foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
* Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad arrived in Algeria on Saturday for an official visit, Syrian state media reported.
* The world body on Friday held an interfaith moment of prayer for peace at a special time on the spiritual calendar, when Christians are celebrating Easter, Jews are marking Passover, Muslims are observing the holy month of Ramadan, and Sikhs are celebrating Vaisakhi.
* Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio was evacuated unhurt after a suspect threw what appeared to be a smoke bomb at an outdoor speech in western Japan on Saturday.
* The United States, Japan and the Republic of Korea said in a joint statement they discussed the regularisation of missile defence and anti-submarine exercises to deter and respond to nuclear and missile threats in the Korean Peninsula.
* The leaking of top secret military intelligence records online has not affected Washington's cooperation with its partners and allies, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday.
* Gulf Arab foreign ministers and their counterparts from Egypt, Iraq and Jordan discussed Syria's possible return to the Arab fold at a meeting in Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
* Senior aides to US President Joe Biden on Friday hailed progress toward resolving conflict in Yemen after "constructive" talks in Saudi Arabia with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.
* Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel said the island's ongoing gasoline shortages were caused by countries contracted to supply the fuel not complying with their requirements due to "a complex energy situation."
* US President Joe Biden said on Friday he has decided to run for a second term and would formally announce his re-election campaign "relatively soon."
* US President Joe Biden will host a bilateral meeting with Colombian President Gustavo Petro, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement on Friday.
* French President Emmanuel Macron has signed into law a controversial bill to raise the country's retirement age by two years, the government's official journal showed on Saturday.
* The Irish government has been pushing for neutrality to be dismantled since the Ukraine conflict and US President Joe Biden's visit has assisted this aim, said an Irish parliamentarian on Friday.
* Turkey's Foreign Ministry on Friday summoned Denmark's ambassador Danny Annan over the burning of the Muslim holy book of the Quran and a Turkish flag at a public demonstration in Denmark's capital Copenhagen.
* Finland is building a fence on its border with Russia, the country's Border Guard said in a press release on Friday.
* The International Monetary Fund's steering committee on Friday said it would accelerate its discussions on quota reforms at the global lender with an eye to making "considerable progress" by its next meeting in October.
* International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva said on Friday that debtors and creditors made "tangible progress" on debt restructuring issues this week, but urged countries facing mounting debt problems to seek help earlier in the process.
* UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomes the swap of about 900 conflict-related detainees in the Yemeni war, said his spokesman on Friday.
* Dozens of Palestinians were injured on Friday by Israeli soldiers during clashes in several West Bank towns and villages, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said in a statement.
* Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that his country should make a new constitution to embrace the dreams of all its people, semi-official Anadolu Agency reported.
* The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected that Laos will see economic growth of 4 percent in 2023 and 2024, thanks to China reopening its borders and removing travel restrictions.
* The Philippine Board of Investments (BOI) approved investments rose 155 percent in the first quarter of 2023, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said on Friday.
* Ukraine would receive a total of 4.5 billion USD from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this year, the country's finance ministry said Friday.
* The French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) revised upwards on Friday the country's March consumer price index (CPI) to 5.7 percent year-on-year from the previously forecast 5.3 percent.
* The Afghan central bank sold 15 million USD via auction on Saturday in a bid to keep the national currency afghani stable against foreign currencies, especially the US dollar, Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) said in a statement.
* Nigeria's annual inflation accelerated to 22.04% in March from 21.91% in the previous month, its bureau of statistics said on Saturday.
* Ugandan government said late Friday that it had dispatched more than 3 million kg of food aid to people facing acute food insecurity in the northeastern region also known as Karamoja.
* Lebanon said on Friday it welcomes a joint statement issued by Saudi Arabia and Syria earlier this week to facilitate the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland.
* The Peruvian government announced a 60-day extension of the state of emergency in two provinces in the department of Loreto, as the country continues its fight against drug trafficking in its northeast border region, according to a decree released Friday.
* At least three bomb attacks hit the Ecuadorian port city of Guayaquil between Thursday night and early Friday morning with no casualties reported, the National Police confirmed Friday.
* The United Nations and partners are continuing to help people affected by February's earthquakes in Syria, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Friday.
* The European Space Agency (ESA) launched on Friday an Ariane 5 rocket carrying its Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.
* An Israeli experiment, aiming to create a three-dimensional (3D) map of planet Jupiter's atmosphere, was launched aboard a European spacecraft that lifted off on Friday, the Israel Space Agency (ISA) said.
* 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.
* Kenya launched its first operational earth observation satellite on Saturday onboard a SpaceX rocket from the United States, a live feed from Elon Musk's rocket company showed.
* The US government is testing four potential bird flu vaccines for poultry, officials said on Friday, after more than 58 million chickens, turkeys and other birds have died in the nation's worst outbreak ever.
* Residents of Australia's Outback have been warned to brace for damaging winds and heavy rainfall from tropical cyclone Ilsa.
