* Foreign ministers from the BRICS countries are meeting in South Africa from Thursday as the five-nation bloc seeks to forge itself into a counterweight to Western geopolitical dominance in the wake of Russia-Ukraine’s crisis.
* Argentina's Celeste Saulo was appointed to head the U.N. weather agency on Thursday, a World Meteorological Organization (WMO) spokesperson said, beating three other candidates.
* Effective governance of outer space is necessary for the benefit of all humankind, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a new policy brief published on Wednesday.
* The Kremlin said on Thursday that relations with Saudi Arabia were constructive and based on mutual understanding and respect ahead of an OPEC+ meeting.
* NATO's secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday he would go alone on a trip to Ankara for talks on Sweden's NATO membership.
* European Council President Charles Michel on Thursday said he hoped a broad European summit in Moldova would offer the opportunity for Azerbaijan and Armenia to show their willingness to find a solution for their conflict.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday Kyiv wanted to receive a "clear" decision on its future in the NATO military alliance when the bloc's leaders meet in Vilnius in July.
* The upcoming second European Political Community (EPC) summit will be an opportunity to showcase Moldova's readiness toward the European Union (EU) accession, Deputy Prime Minister Nicu Popescu said on Wednesday.
* It's important that Turkey moves forward with the ratification process for Sweden's NATO membership, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said on Thursday at a meeting of the military alliance in Oslo.
* NATO is prepared to deploy more troops to Kosovo to quell violence in the ethnically polarized north, the alliance's chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday, adding that the first 700 reinforcement troops are on the way there.
* A dispute between the European Union and major palm oil producers Indonesia and Malaysia over a new deforestation law will have no bearing on the two countries' stalled negotiations with the bloc on free trade agreements, a Malaysian minister said on Thursday.
* The European Union on Thursday said it had decided to sue Italy over the country's failure to treat urban waste water properly.
* In a sign of confidence that the worst of Sri Lanka's financial crisis is over, its central bank surprised markets by cutting interest rates for the first time in three years on Thursday, signalling a change of course to fuel a rebound in the economy.
* Pakistan's annual inflation rose to 37.97% year on year in May, the statistics bureau said on Thursday, becoming the highestrate in South Asia. The CPI stood at 36.5% in April, which the bureau said was the highest on their records.
* Spain expects to receive more tourists in the summer of 2023 than before the COVID-19 pandemic, after international tourist arrivals for April were 1.2% higher than in the same month in 2019, the tourism minister said on Thursday.
* Iraq's oil exports averaged 3.3 million barrels per day (bpd) in May, the oil ministry said on Thursday. Iraq exported the same levels in the previous month.
* Russia has imposed a temporary ban on the export of firearms cartridges and cartridge cases, the cabinet said on its website on Wednesday.
* Ukraine's combined grain and oilseeds exports are expected to fall by a third this year, Agrarian Policy and Food Minister Mykola Solsky said on Wednesday.
* Energy prices in Italy were down sharply in May, pushing the overall inflation rate lower to reverse a recent trend, the country's National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) reported on Wednesday.
* Israel gave a green light to the London-based gas and oil company Energean to develop a new gas field discovered in the Mediterranean Sea off the country's northern shores, the Israeli Energy Ministry said in a statement Wednesday.
* Tunisia and Italy are willing to continue to cooperate in the fight against illegal immigration in the Mediterranean region and develop a common approach in this regard, reported the official Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP) on Wednesday.
* Sudan's Civil Aviation Authority on Wednesday extended the closure of the country's airspace to June 15 amid continued armed conflict between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
* Tunisia has foiled 26 attempts by illegal immigrants to reach the Italian shore by crossing the Mediterranean Sea, National Guard Spokesman Houcemeddine Jbabli said on Wednesday.
* The Central Bank of Mexico (Banxico) on Wednesday upgraded its economic growth forecast for 2023, but slightly lowered its projected growth for 2024 due to an expected slowdown in industrial activity in the United States.
* Bangladeshi bank has raised the USD price for export proceeds to 107 takas, local media reported on Wednesday. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Association of Bankers Bangladesh (ABB) and Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers Association on Wednesday.
* The New Zealand government will enter into a funding arrangement with local councils to offer a voluntary buyout for owners of residential properties affected by natural disasters in the cyclone and flood-affected regions in the first two months of 2023.
* Israel is not on track to reach its climate targets, said a report published by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on Wednesday.
* A large typhoon is expected to approach Japan's southernmost prefecture of Okinawa between Thursday evening and Friday, prompting the weather agency on Thursday to warn of violent winds, high waves and torrential rain.
* India Meteorological Department (IMD) Thursday said the country's national capital territory Delhi recorded its coolest May in 36 years.
* The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology on Thursday warned of a possibility of steam-driven eruptions at Bulusan Volcano in Sorsogon province, on southeastern tip of Luzon island.
