* The presidential inauguration ceremony for Croatian President Zoran Milanovic's second five-year term is scheduled for Feb. 18 and will take place at the presidential office, according to a statement he released on Wednesday.
* Nikitas Kaklamanis, a senior lawmaker from Greece's ruling New Democracy (ND) party, was elected speaker of parliament on Wednesday, securing 247 votes in the 300-member plenary.
* Belarusian Foreign Ministry has declared gross interference in the country's election campaign by the European Union. Anatoly Glaz, a representative of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, told local media on Wednesday about the "grossest interference" in the republic's sovereign affairs during the election campaign.
* Gabon's Energy Minister and government spokesperson Séraphin Akure-Davin announced late Wednesday that the central African country's presidential election will take place on April 12.
* China aims to achieve substantial progress in all-around rural revitalization and promote the modernization of agriculture and rural areas to a new stage by 2027, according to a plan issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council.
* Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto aims for self-sufficiency in rice, corn, and salt by 2026, emphasizing the importance of food independence amid the global crisis.
* French President Emmanuel Macron and visiting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have stressed the need for a stronger and more united Europe to address emerging global challenges, including Donald Trump's return to the U.S. presidency.
* Mexico and the United States have started formal talks on bilateral issues, such as immigration and security, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday.
* Colombia's Attorney General's Office on Wednesday reactivated arrest warrants for 31 leaders of the nation's largest rebel group following the attacks in the northeastern Catatumbo region that have left at least 80 dead and 32,000 displaced.
* Cambodia's two state-owned ports, Sihanoukville Autonomous Port (PAS) and Phnom Penh Autonomous Port (PPAP), reported double-digit growth in revenue in 2024, said the Ministry of Public Works and Transport's report on Wednesday.
* The Maldives will require an additional 450 megawatts of power to support President Mohamed Muizzu's objective of increasing the country's renewable energy generation rate to 33 percent by 2028, the official PSM News said on Wednesday.
* U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday to re-designate the Houthis, a Yemen-based militant group, as a "Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO)."
* A total of 1,114 trucks of humanitarian aid have so far been sent to the Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing since the border was reopened Sunday, Egypt's Al-Qahera News TV channel reported on Wednesday.
* An Israeli security delegation arrived in Cairo on Wednesday to continue negotiations on the implementation of the second phase of the recently-reached Gaza ceasefire-for-hostage release deal, according to well-informed Egyptian sources.
* Syria's interim Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani told the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday that his country offered "tremendous investment opportunities" despite the devastation of over a decade of war, while a UN envoy in Damascus called for sanctions relief.
* Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said on Wednesday that Cairo is committed to working on the full implementation of the Gaza ceasefire agreement recently reached between Israel and Hamas.
* Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Hamad Al Busaidi met with Yemeni Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Shaya Mohsin Zindani on Wednesday to strengthen bilateral ties and discuss cooperation, Oman's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
* Kazakhstan is set to transport 1.5 million tons of oil via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline in 2025, maintaining the same level as in 2024, the Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency reported on Wednesday, citing the Kazakh Energy Ministry.
* Japan logged a trade deficit of 5.33 trillion yen based on preliminary statistics using an average exchange rate of 150.97 yen to the USD in 2024, data from the Ministry of Finance showed Thursday. The deficit, marking the fourth consecutive year in the red, decreased by 44.0 percent from the previous year, the data showed.
* Singapore's core inflation, measured by the consumer price index (CPI), eased to 1.8 percent year-on-year in December, down slightly from 1.9 percent in November, according to official data released on Thursday.
* Cambodia reported a total of 6.24 million air travelers in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 22 percent, an official said on Wednesday.
* Pakistan's cement exports increased 23.21 percent in the first half of the current fiscal year (July 2024- June 2025), compared to the same period of the last fiscal year, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said on Wednesday.
* Libya's daily oil output has topped 1.43 million barrels, the state-run National Oil Corporation (NOC) said on Wednesday, as the North African nation pushes to boost production despite persistent political instability.
* The number of undocumented migrants crossing from Tunisia to Europe has fallen sharply to 19,245 in 2024 from 97,667 in 2023, Tunisian private radio station Mosaique FM reported on Wednesday, citing a senior security official.
* An estimated 71,000 people may have died between January 2022 and June 2024 due to the devastating drought that affected large parts of Somalia in 2022, according to a report released Wednesday in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu.
* A fast-moving brush fire erupted in U.S. Los Angeles County Wednesday morning, expanding over 500 acres (2.02 square kilometers) with zero containment, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).
