* Belgium's King Philippe appointed Bart De Wever, president of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), to form the federal government on Wednesday.
* Spanish far right party Vox threatened to bring down ruling coalitions with the centre-right People's Party in protest over an agreement to transfer some 400 underage migrants from the Canary Islands to continental Spain.
* South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has sacked the country's finance minister who was just four months into the job, state-owned television reported, the sixth replacement in the post since 2020.
* The UN General Assembly on Wednesday designated 2025-2034 as the "United Nations Decade on Combating Sand and Dust Storms."
* China firmly opposes the continued spread of ungrounded false information by the United States about Russia's so-called "defense industrial base fueled by China," foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Thursday.
* Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a state visit to Austria and met with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer on Wednesday. At a joint press conference, the two leaders pledged to expand bilateral ties and deepen cooperation.
* The Kremlin said on Thursday it was watching as NATO's military infrastructure moved closer towards Russia's borders and that Moscow would need to act to contain the Western military alliance, the TASS news agency reported.
* Russia will develop a military response to the threat in connection with the U.S. Pentagon's plans to deploy long-range missiles in Germany, local media reported on Thursday, citing Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.
* Russia does not accept ultimatums and will not participate in a new summit on Ukraine, Russian media RIA Novosti quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin as saying on Thursday.
* U.S. President Joe Biden told Britain's new Prime Minister Keir Starmer that he welcomed his desire for closer ties with European counterparts, according to a UK government statement on Thursday.
* Britain's new Prime Minister Keir Starmer and U.S. President Joe Biden discussed their ambition for an immediate Gaza ceasefire to get hostages out and to get humanitarian aid in, according to a UK government statement on Thursday.
* Ukraine seized a foreign cargo ship in the Black Sea off its Odesa region and detained the captain on suspicion of helping Moscow export Ukrainian grain from the Crimea region, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on Thursday.
* Turkey is seeking an explanation from Saudi Arabia after Saudi police detained a Turkish journalist over alleged comments he made about the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Turkish diplomatic source said.
* Norway will donate six F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, with plans to start delivering the aircraft this year, the Norwegian government announced in a statement on Wednesday.
* Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and his visiting Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi held talks in Cairo on Wednesday, renewing calls for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and warning against a regional spillover from the conflict.
* Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa on Wednesday called for a unified Palestine under a single authority and government once a ceasefire is reached in Gaza.
* Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah confirmed on Wednesday that his group will stop attacking Israel if an agreement is reached on a ceasefire in Gaza.
* More than 38,345 Palestinians have been killed and 88,295 have been injured in the Israeli military offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
* Several drones from Lebanon fell inside Israel on Thursday, the Israeli military said, while the head of the local municipality told Israel's Channel 12 that one person was critically injured.
* The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) announced on Wednesday that its funds for sustaining vital operations will only last until the end of August.
* UN humanitarians said on Wednesday that Israel's directive to evacuate Gaza City only increases the suffering of Palestinian families, especially the many earlier ordered out of other parts of the city.
* Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera on Wednesday urged southern African countries to collaborate in finding solutions that would help address climate change issues affecting farmers in the region.
* Libya's Interior Minister Emad al-Tarabelsi on Wednesday rejected calls to resettle migrants in the country, saying Libya is already grappling with a large number of undocumented foreigners.
* The third UN conference on landlocked developing countries will be held in Botswana in December.
* U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday reiterated that the central bank will make decisions based on economic data and won't take political factors into consideration, as the central bank is expected to cut rates before the Nov. 5 election.
* Spain's Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo said on Thursday a new central bank governor may not be appointed in time to represent Spain at the next European Central Bank monetary policy meeting on July 18.
* Britain's economic output rose by 0.4% in May, faster than expected, data from the Office for National Statistics showed on Thursday.
* Industrial production in Italy increased in May, reversing a recent downward trend and providing a little boost to the economy. Italy's National Statistics Institute (ISTAT) said Wednesday that industrial production in May was 0.5 percent higher than in April, its first month-on-month increase in three months.
* Russian gas producer Gazprom GAZP.MM said it would send 42.4 million cubic metres (mcm) of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Thursday, the same volume as on Wednesday.
* Germany's state railways will on Monday close for five months a main line connecting the financial centre of Frankfurt with the south to carry out a 1.3 billion euro ($1.4 billion) upgrade to creaking infrastructure.
* The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announced on Wednesday that it will uphold its earlier forecasts for global oil demand growth in 2024 and 2025.
* Venezuela in June registered its highest crude oil production so far this year, according to a monthly report issued Wednesday by the OPEC.
* India's palm oil imports in June rose to reach the highest level in six months on robust demand from refiners for upcoming festivals, while sunflower oil imports surged to a record level, a leading trade body said on Thursday.
* Malaysia, the world's second largest palm oil producer, has reported higher palm oil inventories in June amid weak exports, according to official data.
* Myanmar received 600,000 international tourists during the first half of 2024, the official daily The Mirror reported on Thursday.
* NASA and Boeing officials said on Wednesday that Starliner might return as early as the end of this month from the International Space Station (ISS), pending ground testing results.
* South Korea's population aged 65 and older topped 10 million, coming closer to a super-aged society, the interior ministry said Thursday. The number of officially registered residents aged 65 or higher reached 10,000,062 on Wednesday.
* The United States was hit by 15 climate disasters in the first half of this year, each with losses exceeding 1 billion USD, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
* The number of people who survived the landslides and flash floods in Bone Bolango regency, Gorontalo province, Indonesia, increased to 95 on Wednesday, according to an official.
* About 31,000 people have been evacuated since the beginning of July due to floods affecting several parts of Myanmar, according to the country's Department of Disaster Management on Wednesday.
* The United States saw the second-hottest June in its 130-year record, with the average temperature reaching 71.8 degrees Fahrenheit (22.1 degrees Celsius), 3.4 degrees above the long-term average, the country's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported on Tuesday.
* As heat waves have become more frequent and lengthy because of climate change, an estimated 39 million Americans currently live with migraine, according to the American Migraine Foundation.
* A major heatwave will hit most major Italian cities this week, with temperatures forecast to be the hottest in the summer so far, according to authorities.
* Brazil is making headway in fighting fires in the Pantanal region, one of the world's largest freshwater wetlands, having put out 30 of 54 blazes, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Marina Silva said Wednesday.
* Torrential rain in the megacity of Chongqing in southwestern China triggered mudslides and flooding that killed at least six people and caused widespread disruption, Chinese state media reported.
* The District of Wells in the Canadian province of British Columbia issued an evacuation order for some areas due to wildfires late on Wednesday, the local authority said in a statement.
* The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology revised the magnitude of the offshore earthquake that rattled Sultan Kudarat province in the southern Philippines on Thursday morning to 7.1 from 6.5.
