* The Ukrainian parliament on Thursday approved the formation of a new cabinet, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported. The decision followed the resignation of former Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, which led to the automatic dismissal of the entire government.
* Togo held municipal elections on Thursday to elect 1,527 municipal councilors across the country's 117 communes.
* More than 20 schools across Delhi received bomb threats via emails on Friday morning, as a result of which such schools were evacuated and thoroughly searched to ensure that there was no bomb or any other explosive material placed inside the premises.
* China has achieved its target ahead of schedule for actual use of foreign direct investment (FDI) during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), a commerce official said Friday.
* Indonesian Trade Minister Budi Santoso said on Thursday that Indonesia has opened 2,400 retail stores in the Philippines and plans to expand into Malaysia, Bangladesh, and other Asian countries.
* Cambodia exported garments, textiles, shoes, and travel goods totally worth 7.62 billion USD in the first half of 2025, up 22 percent from the same period last year, an official report said on Thursday.
* The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote Thursday on a bill to cut funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting after the Senate passed it.
* Russia has lodged a protest against Japan for its participation in a large-scale U.S. military exercise, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
* Ukraine has received 1,000 bodies of individuals killed in the bilateral conflict from Russia, Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said Thursday.
* The sixth China-Croatia joint police patrol was launched in Zagreb on Thursday, with eight Chinese police officers joining the one-month mission in four of Croatia's top destinations for Chinese tourists, including Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Zadar, and Plitvice Lakes National Park.
* British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Thursday signed a wide-ranging bilateral deal covering various areas including defense and migration, which is believed to be the most significant treaty between Britain and Germany since the end of World War II.
* Hungary has banned three high-ranking Ukrainian military officials from entering its territory, citing their responsibility for "forced military conscriptions," Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said Thursday.
* Polish Ambassador to Hungary Sebastian Keciek ended his service on July 15, Polish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pawel Wronski announced on Thursday. The announcement came a day after Hungarian State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Levente Magyar acknowledged the diplomatic downgrade in a statement and expressed regret over the development.
* The Slovenian government on Thursday declared Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich personae non gratae, citing their incitement to violence and grave violations of Palestinian human rights through what it called "genocidal" statements.
* UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described discussions between Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders as "constructive" following a meeting he convened Thursday at the UN headquarters.
* Iceland and the European Union (EU) are set to launch negotiations on a security and defense partnership, Icelandic Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir announced on Thursday.
* German Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel said on Thursday that higher U.S. tariffs on European Union (EU) imports are likely to present a significant downside risk to Germany's economic outlook.
* Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Thursday that Brazil will not tolerate foreign interference in its internal affairs, amid growing tensions with the United States over new tariffs and digital regulations.
* Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Thursday criticized the U.S. decision to keep its border closed to Mexican cattle over a screwworm outbreak, saying the measure lacks a clear scientific basis and may be politically motivated.
* The European Commission (EC) is proposing to allocate 678 million euros (786 million USD) for the decommissioning of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant in Lithuania for 2028-2034, the Energy Ministry said on Thursday.
* Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty met Thursday with his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah Al Saud in the northern Egyptian city of Alamein, where they reaffirmed the strength of bilateral ties and discussed key regional developments, said the Egyptian Foreign Ministry in a statement.
* Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday criticized Israel's recent military actions in Syria, saying that Turkey would not allow any attempt to divide the neighboring country.
* Israel "deeply regrets" a bombing of Gaza's only Catholic church on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, in an attack that killed three people and wounded at least 10 others.
* The Afghan interim government, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan have signed a feasibility study agreement for the Trans-Afghan Railway project, aimed at boosting trade and transit across Central and South Asia, the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced in a statement late Thursday.
* The United Nations refugee agency and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) have raised alarm over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Syria's southern Sweida province following days of intense violence and Israeli airstrikes, warning that the fragile ceasefire may not be enough to stabilize the region.
* At least 34 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes across Gaza on Thursday, whereas two rockets fired from northern Gaza towards Israel were intercepted, according to Palestinian and Israeli sources.
* Turkish security forces have detained 153 suspects across 28 provinces in a sweeping counterterrorism operation targeting the Islamic State (IS) over the past two weeks, a cabinet minister said on Friday.
* Iran on Thursday denied having sent a military shipment to Yemen.
* The death toll from this week's deadly clashes in southern Syria's Sweida province has risen to nearly 600, as tensions continued Thursday amid an Israeli airstrike on the outskirts of the provincial capital of Sweida, state-run media and a war monitor reported.
* Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday directed departments to prepare a comprehensive action plan for providing easy-term loans to small and medium-scale farmers to boost agricultural output.
* China imported consumer goods worth 7.4 trillion yuan (about 1.03 trillion USD) between 2021 and 2024, the first four years of the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao told a press conference Friday.
* Namibia should implement its newly adopted local content policy for the oil and gas sector with caution to avoid deterring investment and missing job creation targets, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said.
* As more laboratory-confirmed mpox cases continue to be detected in South Africa, the National Department of Health has announced plans to commence vaccination to curb the spread of the disease.
* At least 109 people have been killed, 35 others missing and 199 injured in monsoon rain since June 20 in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, officials said Thursday.
* Torrential rain in Republic of Korea left at least two people dead and about 1,000 evacuated, with more downpours expected in coming days, the interior ministry said Thursday.
* Major rivers in Mongolia have seen water levels rise due to continuous downpours, local media reported Thursday, citing the weather monitoring agency.
* Volcanic activity on southwestern Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula is declining, prompting civil protection authorities to lower the alert level from "emergency" to "threat," Icelandic public broadcaster RUV reported Thursday.
