* Thailand's cabinet on Thursday agreed to appoint Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Phumtham Wechayachai as acting prime minister, following the suspension of Paetongtarn Shinawatra.
* Denmark officially assumed the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union on Thursday, marking the occasion with a visit by leaders from the European Commission and the European Council and an official opening ceremony in Aarhus, Denmark's second-largest city.
* The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill, a sweeping package of trillions of dollars of spending and tax breaks, in a major win for Republicans. The bill passed 218-214, with two Republicans siding with Democrats.
* The Lao government is ramping up efforts to harness artificial intelligence (AI) to promote inclusive development and improve quality of life.
* Cambodia and Japan on Friday launched the first phase of cross-border QR code payment connection, said a press release from the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC).
* China's Ministry of Commerce on Friday announced the final ruling of its anti-dumping investigation into brandy imports from the European Union (EU), saying that it will impose anti-dumping measures on these imports for a period of five years, effective Saturday.
* A good China-Germany relationship will not only drive the overall positive development of China-EU relations but also holds great significance for global stability and development, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at the eighth round of China-Germany Strategic Dialogue on Diplomacy and Security held in Berlin on Thursday.
* Russia has officially recognized the Afghan interim government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan said in a statement late Thursday. Russia's RIA Novosti news agency also quoted Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov as saying that Russia has officially recognized the Taliban government in Afghanistan.
* The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) condemned the "unilateral coercive act" of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, known as the Quad, comprising the United States, Japan, India, and Australia, the official Korean Central News Agency reported on Friday.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow would achieve its goals in the conflict with Ukraine, including the elimination of its root causes, in a telephone conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday, according to Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov.
* U.S. President Donald Trump said that he did not make any progress during his phone call earlier on Thursday with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin over Iran and the Ukraine conflict.
* Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Thursday that China has consistently advocated for peace talks to solve the Ukraine crisis and welcomes the efforts of all parties to reach a comprehensive, lasting, and binding peace agreement.
* Major General Mikhail Gudkov, deputy head of the Russian Navy, has been killed in a Ukrainian strike in Russia's Kursk Region, the governor of the far eastern Primorye Territory said Thursday.
* Russia carried out a major aerial assault overnight Friday, launching a combined 550 drones and missiles across Ukraine, with Kiev sustaining the heaviest damage, said the Ukrainian Air Force.
* Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Thursday that rare earth exports have never been and should not become an issue between China and Europe.
* European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday that the European Union (EU) is "ready for a deal" with the United States to resolve ongoing tariff disputes. However, she emphasized that the bloc is also preparing for the possibility of no satisfactory agreement being reached to defend Europe's interests.
* Canadian exports to the United States continued to drop in May, while exports to other countries reached a record high, Statistics Canada said on Thursday.
* Slovak Health Minister Kamil Sasko and his Czech counterpart Vlastimil Valek signed a framework agreement Friday to enhance cross-border cooperation on emergency medical services, local media reported.
* Amid growing public outcry, the Indian capital government Thursday put the End-of-Life (EoL) vehicle impounding policy on hold and rolled back the contentious order of denying fuel to them.
* Cambodia reported 24 landmine and explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties in the first half of 2025, down 31 percent from the same period last year, a spokesperson said on Friday.
* Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has identified stimulating growth and productivity as key economic priorities of his government's second term in power.
* Indonesia has begun implementing a visa-free policy for Brazilian and Turkish nationals, effective on Thursday, as Brazil and Turkey have previously granted visa-free access to Indonesian citizens.
* Myanmar's Ministry of Cooperatives and Rural Development has been planning to implement development projects in 458 villages during the 2025-26 fiscal year, with a budget of 6.87 billion kyats (about 3.27 million USD), the state-owned Myanmar Radio and Television reported on Friday.
* Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) has launched an investigation into the sinking of a passenger ship in the Bali Strait on Wednesday night, which left six people dead, the committee's head Soejanto Tjahjono said on Friday.
* Iran on Thursday reopened its airspace to domestic, foreign and international transit flights, the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development announced.
* Hamas said in an official statement on Friday that it will deliver its final decision over the Gaza ceasefire proposal to the mediators after the consultations are over.
* Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty on Thursday called for an end to the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, urging the international community to assume its responsibilities amid worsening conditions in the occupied Palestinian territories.
* Pakistani security forces killed 30 terrorists attempting to infiltrate Pakistan from Afghanistan over the past two nights, the military said in a statement on Friday.
* Iraq's prominent Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called on Friday the country to have full control over weapons, and reaffirmed his earlier decision to boycott Iraq's upcoming parliamentary elections.
* The non-governmental humanitarian organization Save the Children said on Thursday that 933 people were killed in attacks on health facilities in Sudan during the first half of 2025.
* The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is set to hold its 9th OPEC International Seminar from July 9 to 10, bringing global energy leaders to Vienna to discuss key industry issues and build up cooperation.
* Indonesia's central bank, Bank Indonesia (BI), has projected the country's economic growth in 2026 to fall within the range of 4.7 percent to 5.5 percent.
* Cambodia exported 387,070 tonnes of milled rice in the first half of 2025, making a gross revenue of 283.4 million USD, the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) said in a news release on Thursday.
* China's national observatory on Friday issued an alert for high temperatures in many parts of the country, and forecast particularly heavy rains and rainstorms in certain areas in Sichuan Province in southwest China.
