* A meeting of the Communist Party of China (CPC) leadership has stressed strengthening Party discipline and urged senior leaders to set an exemplary and leading role in observing Party rules.
* Minister of Economy and Finance Choi Sang-mok, who doubles as deputy prime minister for economic affairs, vowed the stable management of state affairs on Friday after becoming a new acting president following the impeachment of Prime Minister Han Duck-soo.
* The Japanese government on Friday approved a record 115.54 trillion yen (about 733 billion USD) draft budget for fiscal 2025 as expenditures for social security and national defense continue to rise.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) will further coordinate efforts in the coming year to cope with current threats and challenges, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Friday.
* The Netherlands is planning to provide an additional 6 billion euros (some 6.24 billion USD) in military aid to Ukraine, Dutch Ambassador to Ukraine Alle Dorhout has said.
* The Russian navy has received its newest Yasen-M class nuclear submarine Arkhangelsk, local media reported Friday, citing the Russian Defense Ministry. The submarine was officially handed over to the Russian Navy on Friday, RIA news agency reported.
* The commencement ceremony of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway project was held in Jalalabad, Kyrgyzstan on Friday. The railway is a strategic connectivity project linking China with Central Asia.
* African Union (AU) Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat on Thursday expressed concern over the post-election violence in Mozambique.
* Turkey is planning to build three nuclear power plants by 2035, Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar confirmed in an interview with Hurriyet Daily News on Friday.
* Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday that the country's security forces conducted anti-terror operations in border areas with Afghanistan to protect its people from terror groups, including the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
* Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia will continue to achieve all the goals of its special military operation in Ukraine in 2025, calling it the number one task.
* Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday, on improving bilateral relations and the European path of the two countries.
* Leaders of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries have decided to grant Iran observer status at the bloc, according to a document published on the EAEU website on Thursday.
* Russia expects to resume economic and investment cooperation with the new Syrian leaders, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday.
* Azerbaijan Airlines announced on Friday a suspension of flights from Baku to several Russian cities, effective Saturday. The decision, made by Azerbaijan's State Civil Aviation Agency, aims to mitigate potential risks to flight safety, the airline's press service confirmed.
* Ukraine, a global producer and exporter of grain and oilseeds, has sent its first batch of food aid to Syria, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday.
* At least 69 people died after a boat headed from West Africa to the Canary Islands capsized off Morocco on Dec. 19, Malian authorities said, as data showed deaths of migrants attempting to reach Spain surged to an all-time high in 2024.
* UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned the escalation between Yemen's Houthis and Israel, and called for a ceasefire, his spokesperson said on Thursday.
* Israeli forces raided the Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of only three medical facilities on the northern edge of the Gaza Strip, on Friday, ordering dozens of patients and hundreds of others to evacuate the compound, officials said.
* Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed at least 45,436 Palestinians and wounded 108,038 since Oct. 7, 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Friday.
* Yemen's Houthi group announced on Friday that it launched a "hypersonic ballistic missile" targeting Israel's Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, claiming it had hit its target.
* Initial jobless claims in the United States slightly decreased to 219,000 last week amid a cooling labor market, the U.S. Labor Department reported on Thursday.
* Unemployment rate in Japan was unchanged from the previous month at 2.5 percent in November, government data showed Friday.
* Serbia achieved a record level of foreign direct investments (FDI) of over 5 billion USD in 2024, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told national television RTS on Thursday. For the first time, Europe and Asia are almost equal in terms of investments.
* The Philippines' Bureau of Treasury said Thursday that the government's budget deficit was 213 billion pesos (about 3.67 billion USD) in November this year.
* Thailand's economy slowed in November compared to the previous month as reduced private consumption and investment offset continued growth in tourism and exports, the country's central bank said on Friday.
* The Maldivian government plans to increase tourism revenue to 5 billion USD in 2025, PSM News, the official state media of the Maldives, reported on Thursday quoting Minister of Tourism Ibrahim Faisal.
* A 30-year-old man recently returning from West Africa was confirmed as a new case of mpox in Serbia on Friday. He is also the first confirmed mpox case in the Kosovo region, according to the regional Institute of Public Health.
* Greece has been in the grip of a wet weather front named Elena since Christmas, causing traffic disruptions and flooding across the country, authorities said Thursday.
