* French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday evening that he will nominate a new prime minister "within the coming days" to replace Michel Barnier, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote the day before.
* South Korea's defense ministry said on Friday that it suspended the duty of three military commanders involved in the martial law declaration, made by President Yoon Suk-yeol earlier this week.
* Chinese Premier Li Qiang will host talks with leaders from 10 international economic organisations in Beijing on Dec. 9, a spokesperson for China's foreign ministry said on Friday.
*Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hayashi Yoshimasa said on Friday arrangements are being made to hold a video conference among leaders from Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies by around mid-December.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved a proposal to sign security guarantees with Belarus within the framework of the Union State, the Kremlin said in a statement Thursday.
* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in an interview broadcast on Thursday, said the use of a hypersonic missile in the Ukraine war sought to make the West understand that Moscow was ready to use any means to ensure no "strategic defeat" would be inflicted on Moscow.
* The Ukrainian army is set to receive more than 30,000 Deep Strike combat drones next year, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov announced on Thursday.
* Russia's Gazprom said that it will send 42.4 million cubic metres of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Friday, a volume in line with recent days.
* UN humanitarians said on Thursday they are gravely concerned about increased hostilities in northwest Syria.
* Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres held a phone call on Thursday, discussing the latest developments in Syria, according to a statement from Erdogan's office.
* Hamas announced on Thursday its approval of the Egyptian proposal on forming a joint committee with Fatah to run the post-war Gaza Strip.
* A total of 8,034 gunmen, including suspected terrorists and bandits, were killed by the Nigerian Armed Forces in the past 11 months, military authorities said Thursday.
* Indonesia's foreign exchange reserves fell to 150.2 billion USD in November, down from 151.2 billion dollars in the previous month, due to government foreign debt payments, the central bank said on Friday.
* The unemployment rate in the Philippines rose to 3.9 percent in October from 3.7 percent in September, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Friday.
* A magnitude 7.0 earthquake shook parts of Northern California (the US) early Thursday, triggering a brief tsunami warning that led to evacuations in some coastal areas of Northern California and the San Francisco Bay.
* The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on Thursday launched an appeal worth 1.4 billion U.S. dollars for 2025 to deliver reproductive health services and gender-based violence prevention programs to more than 45 million women and girls.
* The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) launched an action plan on Thursday aimed at tackling agricultural land degradation through sustainable soil management.
* Indonesia will import 2 million live cattle by 2029, with an annual target of around 400,000, to support the increase in domestic meat and milk production, said the Ministry of Agriculture on Thursday.
* At least 12,847 children aged 11 have been vaccinated against the human papillomavirus (HPV) as part of Mongolia's nationwide campaign, local media reported on Friday, citing the country's health ministry.
* The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Thursday announced delays in its Artemis moon exploration program. NASA is now targeting April 2026 for Artemis II, the first crewed mission, and mid-2027 for Artemis III, a moon landing mission exploring the lunar South Pole region.
