* The election campaign for Japan's House of Councillors, or the upper house of the Diet, was officially launched on Thursday. The 17-day campaign will determine whether the ruling coalition, currently a minority in the lower house, can retain a majority in the chamber by securing at least 50 of the 125 contested seats.
* Republic of Korea's parliament approved the appointment of prime minister nominee Kim Min-seok on Thursday. The motion to appoint Kim, the ruling Democratic Party's four-term lawmaker, was approved with 173 votes in favor, three against and three invalid.
* At the Fourth United Nations Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4), global partners announced a new Action Plan to scale up private sector investment in developing countries through blended finance.
* The Kremlin expects the dates for a third round of Russia-Ukraine talks to be finalized "in the near future," spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.
* At the 13th round of China-EU High-level Strategic Dialogue Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas agreed to deepen mutual understanding and work together to get well-prepared for the upcoming leaders' meeting for enhancing cooperation.
* European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Brussels on Wednesday, with both sides expressing willingness to deepen cooperation and jointly address global challenges.
* Republic of Korean President Lee Jae-myung said Thursday that he was not sure about whether to reach a trade deal with the United States by July 8, a deadline set by U.S. President Donald Trump to implement the so-called "reciprocal tariffs."
* Cambodia and Singapore on Wednesday vowed to further boost bilateral relations and cooperation. The commitment was made during a meeting between Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and his visiting Singaporean counterpart Lawrence Wong in Phnom Penh, said a news release from the Cambodian prime minister's spokesperson unit.
* Indonesia and Saudi Arabia have agreed on business cooperation worth some 27 billion USD in various sectors, including clean energy, petrochemical industries, aviation fuel services, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and health technology.
* A U.S. federal judge on Wednesday blocked President Donald Trump's latest effort to shut the nation's asylum door, ruling that the White House overstepped both Congress's immigration statutes and the Constitution.
* U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday demanded Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell "resign immediately."
* The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People's Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) on Tuesday strongly condemned the U.S. policy to reinforce economic aggression and blockade against Cuba.
* U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to meet with the heads of state from Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania and Senegal in Washington, D.C. next week, Semafor reported on Wednesday. If confirmed, the gathering will mark the first Trump-Africa summit during Trump's second term.
* Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday called for a stronger multilateral system for international trade at a round-table discussion held during the 4th United Nations International Conference on Financing for Development.
* The Pentagon said Wednesday that U.S. strikes last month on three key Iranian nuclear facilities have set back Tehran's nuclear program by as much as two years.
* The European Commission on Wednesday proposed a revision of the EU Climate Law, setting a target to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent by 2040 compared to 1990 levels.
* The European Commission on Wednesday proposed two strategies aimed at positioning the European Union (EU) as a global leader in quantum technologies and life sciences by 2030.
* Norway has introduced its first-ever national strategy for radiation protection and nuclear safety, a move aimed at strengthening the country's health preparedness and security amid rising global tensions, Norwegian authorities said in a press release on Wednesday.
* Iran's decision to suspend cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is concerning, said a UN spokesman on Wednesday.
* Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys confirmed on Wednesday that the number of irregular migrants entering the country rose significantly during the January-June period this year.
* Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, held a phone conversation on Wednesday to discuss the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and regional developments in the Middle East, the Egyptian presidency said in a statement.
* The Indonesian government has set an ambitious target of achieving 1 million barrels of oil per day by 2029 or 2030 to strengthen the nation's energy security, Deputy Minister for Energy and Mineral Resources Yuliot Tanjung said on Wednesday.
* The Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a local aid agency to assist returnees, displaced people, and needy families, the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
* Two projectiles from northern Gaza were intercepted by Israel's air defense systems on Wednesday, the Israeli military said in a statement. The projectiles triggered sirens in the southern city of Sderot and the community of Ibim.
* Iran on Wednesday announced the closure of its airspace in the country's central and western parts to international transit flights after having reopened it five days ago.
* Hamas said on Wednesday that it is conducting consultations to discuss Gaza ceasefire proposals put forward by mediators.
* Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on Wednesday discussed joint efforts to secure a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and ease regional tensions, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
* The UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, on Wednesday called for a "just political settlement" to the protracted conflict in Yemen.
* Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem reaffirmed on Wednesday that the Lebanese group will not give up its weapons, citing a "real and strategic threat" from Israel.
* Bahrain is preparing to reopen its embassy in Beirut and appoint a resident ambassador, signaling a significant step toward restoring diplomatic relations with Lebanon after nearly four years of strained ties, Lebanon's National News Agency reported on Wednesday.
* The Ethiopian House of Peoples' Representatives, the lower chamber of the parliament, has approved a law to allow foreigners to own properties in Ethiopia. Under the previous laws in Ethiopia, foreign nationals were not allowed to own houses in Ethiopia.
* Business conditions in Singapore's private sector continued to improve at the end of the second quarter, albeit at a softer pace, with the seasonally adjusted Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) easing to 51.0 in June from 51.5 in May, according to a report released Thursday by S&P Global.
* Indonesian Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Sakti Wahyu Trenggono said on Wednesday that the country's export value of fishery products rose by 6.5 percent year-on-year, reaching 1.94 billion USD in the first quarter of 2025.
* Pakistan's exports rose by 4.67 percent year-on-year during the fiscal year 2024-25 to 32.11 billion USD, up from 30.68 billion dollars in the previous year, official data showed on Wednesday.
* Bangladesh remittances hit an all-time high of over 30 billion USD in the fiscal year 2024-25, according to the Bangladesh Bank. The remittances surged around 27 percent to 30.33 billion dollars in the fiscal 2024-25 from July 2024 to June 2025.
* Turkey said on Wednesday it was closing all livestock markets nationwide to contain the spread of a highly contagious strain of foot-and-mouth disease, which has severely impacted the country's agricultural sector.
* The death toll in a chemical factory in India's southern state of Telangana rose to 40 on Wednesday. The massive blast took place on Monday in the Pashamylaram industrial area of the state's Sangareddy district.
* French Civil Aviation Authority on Tuesday asked airlines to cancel 40 percent of flights at Paris airports on Thursday due to an air traffic controllers' strike, with southern regions already experiencing severe disruptions on the eve of summer school holidays.
* Spain continues to endure a record-breaking heatwave. More than 100 monitoring stations of the Spanish meteorological agency AEMET registered temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius during the first major heatwave of the year.
