* UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is alarmed by the renewed military confrontations in the Gulf and calls for de-escalation, his spokesman said Wednesday. The secretary-general called on all parties to exercise maximum restraint, avoid any further escalatory action, and take immediate steps to de-escalate.
* Russia has rolled out multiple measures to stabilize its domestic fuel market after Ukrainian drone attacks targeting Russia's oil refineries and energy infrastructure caused a temporary reduction in gasoline and diesel production volumes, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Wednesday.
* Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez on Wednesday expressed gratitude for the humanitarian aid provided by 28 countries to support victims of the country's recent quakes. She made the remarks after inspecting a collection center in Caracas, where more than 2,000 tons of international aid are sorted for distribution to temporary camps housing victims of the June 24 earthquakes.
* Australia will export uranium to India for nuclear energy under an arrangement signed on Thursday by Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese and Narendra Modi.
* Chinese and Russian naval vessels on Thursday started to carry out live-force, live-fire maritime drills in designated areas near the city of Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province.
* The United States could resume a naval blockade against Iran in the Strait of Hormuz and possibly take over Iran's Kharg Island, U.S. President Donald Trump said in Ankara on Wednesday on the sidelines of the NATO summit. Earlier, Trump told reporters in Ankara that the United States may hit Iran again "hard" on Wednesday night.
* U.S. forces conducted strikes against Iran for a second straight day on Wednesday to "degrade" Iran's ability "to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz," the U.S. Central Command said.
* Pakistan has expressed deep concern over the escalating tensions in the Middle East, urging all parties to exercise restraint and resolve differences through dialogue and diplomacy.
* U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday he will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin Wednesday, adding both sides in the Ukraine conflict want a settlement. At the NATO summit in Ankara, Trump said he will grant Ukraine a license to produce Patriot missiles domestically amid critical shortages of interceptors.
* Russian forces conducted a group strike with ground-based precision weapons targeting Ukrainian defense facilities in Kiev, while Ukraine carried out multiple attacks on Russian civilian infrastructure, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.
* Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in Ankara on Wednesday that restrictions on defense cooperation among NATO member states, particularly in the defense industry, "must be lifted" if the alliance is to meet its capability targets.
* The European Commission on Wednesday reiterated its support for Denmark on the issue of Greenland, after U.S. President Donald Trump once again said Greenland should be controlled by the U.S. during the NATO summit.
* Hungary will not provide weapons or military personnel to Ukraine, Prime Minister Peter Magyar said in Ankara on Wednesday, while emphasizing Budapest's commitment to humanitarian aid and NATO unity.
* The Trump administration has launched its first major investigation into alleged H-1B visa abuse, U.S. Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D'Esposito was quoted by Fox Business as saying on Wednesday.
* U.S. President Donald Trump announced Wednesday an immediate halt to all trade, including visits with Spain, criticizing Madrid's lack of participation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance during a NATO summit held in Ankara.
* Spain said Wednesday it received the remarks of U.S. President Donald Trump with "calm and normality" and was not surprised by their tone or manner, after Trump accused Spain of being a "terrible" ally and threatened to cut off trade with the country.
* At least 54 terrorists and 42 others, including policemen, troops and civilians, were killed in three major engagements between security forces and militants across Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province over the past four days, the Pakistani military said on Wednesday.
* Pakistan has released 638 Afghan detainees from its jails over the past week, while 3,340 Afghan refugees returned home from the country in a single day, Afghan officials confirmed Thursday.
* Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and Yemeni Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Shaya Mohsen al-Zindani discussed on Wednesday efforts to release the Egyptian sailors aboard a vessel hijacked off the Somali coast.
* Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem said Wednesday the group will remain "in the field" to confront Israel, while rejecting the U.S.-brokered framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel.
* Sri Lanka's foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows rose to 1.04 billion USD in 2025 from 759 million dollars in 2024, according to the United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD)'s World Investment Report 2026.
* Escalating violence has injured 45 response and aid workers since the mid-May Ebola outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), UN humanitarians said Wednesday.
* The death toll from the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reached 600, with 1,759 confirmed cases reported, according to the country's health authorities.
* Belgium recorded 1,747 excess deaths during the heatwave from June 18 to July 1, local media reported Wednesday, citing data released by Belgian public health institute Sciensano. It was the deadliest heatwave-related episode recorded in Belgium since such analyses began in 2000, the report said.
* Floods triggered by rounds of torrential rains have left 39 people dead and nine others missing in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, local authorities said Thursday.
* June 2026 was the hottest June on record for Western Europe and the second-warmest June globally, said the European Union (EU)'s Copernicus Climate Change Service in a report released on Thursday.
