* China on Thursday released a new judicial interpretation to intensify the crackdown on criminal cases involving intellectual property infringement.
* Japan's government on Friday introduced a package of emergency economic measures to ease the impact of higher U.S. tariffs, Kyodo News reported.
* A Ukrainian drone strike ignited a fire that destroyed a wooden church complex in west Russia's Belgorod region, authorities said Thursday.
* A group of 316 Venezuelan migrants arrived in Caracas on Thursday from Mexico on a flight of the state airline Conviasa. The repatriates include 174 adults as well as 142 children and adolescents, state-run Venezolana de Television reported.
* Croatian President Zoran Milanovic on Thursday expressed skepticism regarding the future enlargement of the European Union (EU), particularly with respect to Croatia's neighboring countries and Ukraine.
* British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with visiting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen Thursday, with both agreeing that progress has been made in ongoing negotiations to strengthen bilateral ties, according to Downing Street.
* South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday met with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in Pretoria, the country's administrative capital, to discuss bilateral relations and other issues.
* Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi met in Cairo with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on Thursday to discuss enhancing bilateral relations and addressing pressing regional issues.
* Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani was summoned to the Lebanese Foreign Ministry Thursday over remarks criticizing efforts to disarm Hezbollah.
* Syria on Thursday welcomed Britain's decision to lift sanctions on 12 Syrian entities operating in key sectors.
* South Sudan hosts 552,333 refugees and asylum-seekers across 140,445 households, settled in 29 locations nationwide as of March, the United Nations refugee agency said on Thursday.
* California's economy has overtaken Japan to become the world's fourth-largest economy, behind only the United States, China and Germany in global economic rankings. Gavin Newsom, California's governor, made the announcement on Wednesday, citing the latest data from the International Monetary Fund and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. The Golden State's nominal GDP reached 4.1 trillion USD in 2024, surpassing Japan's 4.02 trillion dollars.
* Indonesia's Financial System Stability remains strong in the first quarter despite rising global economic and financial market uncertainties, according to Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati.
* Cambodia is making great progress towards achieving its malaria-free target by the end of 2025, Prime Minister Hun Manet said. In a message to mark the National Malaria Day on Friday, he said the Southeast Asian country reported only 355 malaria cases in 2024, a significant drop of 75 percent compared to 2023.
* Cambodia and Thailand remained committed to expanding trade relations amid global trade friction, the Cambodian Foreign Ministry said in a press release on Thursday.
* Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced on Thursday a 45-day extension to the deadline for clearing overgrown vegetation on private properties, as part of the country's efforts to better prepare for what is expected to be another challenging wildfire season.
* Cambodia has reported 1.96 million air travelers in the first quarter of 2025, up 19 percent compared to the same period last year, a spokesperson said on Friday.
* The Indonesian government is targeting a total sale of electric vehicles (EVs) at 100,000 by the end of 2025, as EV adoption continued to rise in the Southeast Asian country.
* Angola generated 6.4 billion USD in crude oil export revenue during the first quarter of 2025, marking an 18 percent year-on-year decline, Secretary of State for Oil and Gas Jose Barroso said on Thursday.
* Lebanon signed a 250 million USD loan agreement with the World Bank on Thursday to support critical reforms in its struggling electricity sector, according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA).
* A small police plane crashed near the shore of Thailand's resort town of Hua Hin on Friday morning, killing six people, the Thai police said. The police said the accident took place when the plane was conducting a test flight for parachute training.
