* Cuban and US officials met on Friday in Havana to discuss anti-terrorism measures, Cuba's interior ministry said, broaching a particularly thorny subject between the two long-time rivals in the latest in a series of bilateral talks.
* Turkish citizens living abroad started to cast their ballots Thursday for the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled on May 14 at Turkey's airports and border gates.
* A senior official of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has hit out at the Washington Declaration issued by the United States and the Republic of Korea after a summit between leaders of the two countries, state news agency KCNA reported Saturday.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin has authorized oil and oil product supplies to friendly countries under contracts signed before Feb. 1, according to a decree published on Friday.
* The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Friday sounded the alarm over "increased military presence and activity" near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine.
* UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the Black Sea grain export deal over the phone on Friday.
* Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will pay a visit to Syria, a senior Iranian official confirmed on Saturday.
* Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Friday hailed the recent political rapprochement among Middle Eastern countries, noting that the region has entered a new phase of cooperation.
* South Sudan said on Friday it hopes to use the recently extended ceasefire agreement in Sudan to push for face-to-face talks between the warring parties.
* Syrian air defenses intercepted a fresh Israeli missile attack in the central province of Homs in the early hours of Saturday, state news agency SANA reported.
* Five people, including an eight-year-old, were killed in a shooting at a home in southeast Texas late Friday night, authorities confirmed on Saturday.
* Russia's Gazprom GAZP.MM will ship 37 million cubic metres (mcm) of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Saturday, the RIA news agency quoted the company's spokesperson as saying, compared with 42.4 mcm on Friday.
* Myanmar's seaborne trade surged 12.19 percent year-on-year to over 25.35 billion USD in the 2022-23 fiscal year, data of the country's Ministry of Commerce showed on Saturday.
* Brunei Darussalam's National Climate Change Committee (BNCCC) issued a directive on mandatory greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting, local daily Borneo Bulletin reported on Friday.
* Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Friday that his government would introduce new laws to establish the country as a green economy, according to a statement from the Presidential Media Division.
* Italy's economy grew 0.5 percent in the first quarter (Q1) of this year, surpassing earlier expectations for negative or near zero growth, Italy's National Statistics Institute (ISTAT) said Friday.
* Germany's economy stagnated in the first quarter (Q1) of 2023, with its gross domestic product (GDP) showing zero growth when adjusted for price, seasonal and calendar effects compared to the previous quarter, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said Friday.
* Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Saturday announced the government would invest 1.3 billion euros (1.43 billion USD) in vocational training.
* Nigeria has postponed a census due to take place next week and a new date will be set by the incoming government, the information ministry said on Saturday as it announced the latest delay to the country's first census in 17 years.
