* Cambodian Senate President Samdech Techo Hun Sen arrived at Wattay International Airport in Lao capital Vientiane on Thursday, leading a high-level delegation for a two-day official visit to Laos at the invitation of Lao National Assembly President Saysomphone Phomvihane.
* Russia and Ukraine have swapped 300 prisoners of war in their latest swap mediated by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Russian defense ministry said Wednesday.
* Thailand has tightened border control to prevent possible adverse effects after it suspended power supply to five areas in Myanmar as part of its effort to combat illegal operations, Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said on Thursday.
* U.S. President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post on Thursday that the Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting.
* France on Wednesday affirmed its opposition to any forced displacement of Gaza's Palestinian population, in the wake of remarks made by U.S. President Donald Trump that he plans to take over the Gaza Strip and redevelop it after Palestinians are relocated elsewhere.
* The Panama Canal Authority denied reports on Wednesday that it would allow U.S. government vessels to transit the canal for free, clarifying that no changes have been made to tolls or fees.
* The Indonesian government plans to push its product diversification strategy as part of efforts to anticipate any economically negative impacts resulting from new tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, Minister of Trade Budi Santoso said on Wednesday.
* The first batch of Mirage 2000 fighter jets from France have arrived in Ukraine, said French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu on Thursday. The fighter jets were flown by Ukrainian pilots who had been trained for several months in France, he said in a post on social media X.
* The Mazhilis, or the lower house of Kazakhstan's parliament, has ratified the Agreement between the governments of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan on the regulation of operations at the Central Asia International Industrial Cooperation Center, according to the Kazakh government's press service on Wednesday.
* Malaysia and Uzbekistan will move to strengthen cooperation in petrochemicals and clean green energy sectors, the leaders of both countries said on Wednesday.
* Bulgarian President Rumen Radev on Wednesday expressed concerns about proposals to increase defense expenditure. Speaking at The Economist Bulgaria Business Summit, Radev said that while the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Commission have called for increased defense spending, reaching 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) would be extremely difficult.
* Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko signed a decree approving the state investment program for 2025, the press service of the head of state said on Wednesday.
* Despite U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to take over Gaza, UN humanitarians said on Wednesday they and their partners are assessing needs and scaling up aid operations across the region.
* Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has ordered the army to prepare a plan to allow the "voluntary departure" of Gaza residents for any country willing to receive them, according to a statement issued by his office on Thursday.
* The Navy of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Thursday took delivery of the homegrown "Shahid Bagheri" drone carrier, the official news agency IRNA reported.
* Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday urged the members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to unite and consistently prevent the United States from pressuring any of them.
* Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier jointly rejected proposals to displace Palestinians from Gaza on Wednesday, reaffirming their support for a two-state solution in opposition to recent U.S. suggestions.
* The Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, claimed responsibility on Wednesday for a shooting attack at a checkpoint in the northern West Bank, which killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded eight others on Tuesday morning.
* Tensions between South Africa and the United States continue to escalate following U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio's recent announcement to skip the upcoming Group of 20 (G20) Foreign Ministers' Meeting later this month.
* It is vital to stay true to the bedrock of international law and "avoid any form of ethnic cleansing" in Gaza, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Wednesday.
* The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) on Wednesday said it has made significant gains in the capital Khartoum after heavy fighting with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
* The European Commission on Tuesday called for faster progress across the European Union (EU) to protect waters and better manage flood risks. According to the latest report on the state of water in the EU, only 39.5 percent of EU surface water bodies have good ecological status while only 26.8 percent of waters are achieving good chemical status.
* Indonesia recorded a gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 5.02 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024, which brought the Southeast Asian country to post a 5.03 percent economic growth throughout last year, Statistics Indonesia (BPS) announced on Wednesday.
* The British central bank announced on Thursday that it would cut the interest rate from 4.75 percent to 4.5 percent, citing concerns about stagnant growth.
* The Philippines' unemployment rate fell to 3.1 percent in December 2024 from 3.2 percent in the previous month, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Thursday.
* Croatia has successfully issued a 2-billion-euro (2.08 billion USD) Eurobond on the international capital market, the Croatian Ministry of Finance announced on Wednesday.
* Thailand's headline inflation picked up in January, driven by rising fuel and food prices, official data showed on Thursday. The Southeast Asian country's consumer price index (CPI) climbed 1.32 percent last month from a year earlier, quickening from a 1.23 percent increase in December 2024, according to the Ministry of Commerce.
* Cambodia attracted fixed-asset investment of 748 million USD in January 2025, up 300 percent from 187 million dollars year on year, the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) said in a news release on Wednesday.
* Slovenia's exports of goods to non-European Union (EU) countries jumped by 25 percent in 2024, while imports from those countries rose by 47 percent, the country's Statistical Office said Tuesday.
* Malaysia's services producer price index (SPPI), which measures changes in producer prices for the domestic services sector, posted a marginal increase of 0.7 percent in 2024, as compared to a 2.1 percent rise in 2023, official data showed Thursday.
* The Consumers Association of Singapore revealed on Thursday that prepayment losses in 2024 quadrupled compared to 2023, reaching 1.93 million Singapore dollars (about 1.43 million USD).
* Republic of Korea's imported car sales grew in double digits last month due to strong demand for German luxury models, industry data showed Wednesday.
* Indonesia plans to import 100,000 tons of buffalo meat to maintain stable meat stocks ahead of the Ramadan season, which begins in March, the country's National Food Agency announced on Wednesday.
* Sri Lanka's cabinet has approved a proposal to import coconut kernels and dried coconut pieces with coconut (non-copra) husks equivalent to 200 million coconuts for coconut oil production, according to a statement released by the government information department on Wednesday.
* The national minimum wage in South Africa will increase by about 4.4 percent to 28.79 rand (about 1.55 USD) per hour, effective March 1, the Department of Employment and Labor announced Wednesday.
* Iran's oil exports set a 10-year-high record from Dec. 21, 2024 to Jan. 19, 2025, official news agency IRNA quoted Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad as saying on Wednesday.
* Indonesia's resort island of Bali has experienced extreme heat, with temperatures reaching up to 36 degrees Celsius in some areas over the past two days, according to the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Regional Bali on Wednesday.
* Two metro lines in central Brussels were suspended Wednesday morning following a shooting near Clemenceau station in the city's southwest, authorities said.
* Uganda has started screening departing travelers for Sudan Ebola virus disease (SVD) at the East African country's border points to prevent the exportation of the virus.
* Heavy rains in Bolivia have claimed 23 lives since November and displaced over 109,000 families in eight of the country's nine departments, an official said Wednesday.
