* The Lao Front for National Development (LFND) is planning to expand its solidarity village fund project to support farming families and cooperative groups to promote socio-economic development in rural areas.
* As agreed between China and the European Union, President of the European Council Antonio Costa and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen will visit China on July 24. Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet with them, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson announced on Monday in Beijing.
* Lao Deputy Minister of National Defense Saichay Kommasith received Songwit Noonpackdee, chief of defense forces of the Royal Thai Armed Forces, during an official visit to strengthen bilateral military cooperation.
* The Russian government will allocate nearly 180 billion rubles (about 2.3 billion USD) over the next three years to upgrade border checkpoints across the country, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on Monday.
* Russia is ready to move quickly toward a settlement on Ukraine, but the main objective is to achieve its goals, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Sunday.
* Bulgarian law enforcement authorities at the country's Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint near the border with Turkiye have seized 205.94 kg of cocaine hidden in a diplomatic car, officials said on Sunday.
* New Zealand and Canada have settled a longstanding dairy trade dispute under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
* The Afghan interim government has signed an agreement with a Qatari company to facilitate the deployment of Afghan workers to Qatar, said a statement of the interim administration's Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs on Monday.
* Cambodia exported products worth 2.4 billion USD to the European Union (EU) market in the first half of 2025, a year-on-year increase of 20.6 percent from 1.99 billion dollars, said an official report on Monday.
* The Indonesian government launched the operation of more than 80,000 village cooperatives on Monday to strengthen grassroots economic development across the country.
* Hungary and Serbia will construct a new oil pipeline between the two countries to enhance energy security and preserve the results of Hungary's utility cost reduction measures, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said here on Monday.
* More than 60 of leading German companies, including Siemens and Deutsche Bank, pledged on Monday to invest 631 billion euros (735 billion USD) in the country by 2028 in a joint effort to restore investor confidence, according to the German newspaper Handelsblatt.
* China had more than 1.12 billion internet users as of June 2025, according to a report released by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) on Monday.
* Indonesia has recorded a 48 percent increase in rice production, with government rice reserves reaching 4.2 million tons, according to President Prabowo Subianto.
* The Palestinian death toll from Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has surpassed 59,000 since the outbreak of the conflict on Oct. 7, 2023, the Gaza-based health authorities said on Monday.
* A ceasefire agreement brokered in southern Syria has brought a fragile calm to Sweida province after eight days of intense fighting, with human rights groups reporting the full implementation of the deal on Monday.
* Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday that a new round of talks between Tehran and France, Britain and Germany (E3) is scheduled to be held in Turkey's Istanbul on Friday.
* Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi warned on Sunday that Britain, France, and Germany (E3) should not undermine the credibility of the UN Security Council (UNSC) by triggering the snapback mechanism to reinstate sanctions on Tehran.
* The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that it attacked Houthi military targets in Hodeidah port in northwestern Yemen on Monday.
* The Malian army announced on Sunday that at least 70 terrorists were killed during operations earlier this week in northern and central Mali.
* Somalia's Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) has warned local businesses and individuals to stop any dealings with al-Shabab, amid heightened efforts to deny the terror group's access to regional and international financial networks.
* New Zealand's annual inflation rate climbed to 2.7 percent in the year to June 2025, driven by sharp increases in local authority rates and rising rents.
* Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to Sri Lanka more than doubled in the first half of 2025, rising by 101 percent compared to the same period last year, state media reported on Sunday, quoting a senior official.
* The Afghan interim government's Ministry of Public Health on Monday announced a four-day vaccination campaign aimed at protecting 7.3 million children under the age of five from poliovirus.
