* U.S. forces on Wednesday began launching additional strikes against multiple targets in Iran, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said on X.
* Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Thursday that it struck and destroyed 18 U.S. "important targets" in response to fresh U.S. attacks on Iran.
* Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) said Thursday it had launched missile attacks on U.S. military bases in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain in retaliation for U.S. strikes.
* The U.S. Embassy in Iraq on late Wednesday night issued a security alert advising U.S. citizens in the country to maintain heightened readiness and stay alert amid unfolding regional developments.
* Cuba on Wednesday denounced the United States' blockade of energy supplies to the island, saying it hampered the work of international agencies and organizations in the Caribbean nation and restricted national economic activity.
* The Russian State Duma on Wednesday slammed the U.S. blockade on Cuba as a "blatant interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state." In a statement, the State Duma deputies urged the United States to immediately lift the trade, economic, financial, and energy blockade imposed on Cuba.
* The Ukrainian parliament on Wednesday voted to update the country's defense budget for this year to a record 4.4 trillion hryvnias (98.1 billion USD), an increase of 1.56 trillion hryvnias, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said.
* Foreign ministers of the member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) on Wednesday called for urgent measures to prevent an arms race in outer space.
* The International Aerospace Exhibition, also known as ILA Berlin, opened on Wednesday, with drones and European defense cooperation in focus. Organizers said in a press release that more than 750 exhibitors from 37 countries are presenting innovations and future technologies across the aviation, space and defense sectors at this year's event.
* Indonesia's central bank said it will expand its QRIS cross-border payment service to Saudi Arabia and India to facilitate transactions for Indonesians abroad and support international tourism and travel.
* U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. military has secretly assisted more than 200 commercial vessels in transiting the Strait of Hormuz since last month.
* Jordanian air defense systems and Royal Air Force fighter jets intercepted and shot down 20 missiles fired from Iran early Thursday morning, according to a Jordan Armed Forces statement on Thursday.
* Kuwait reopened its airspace and resumed normal flight operations on Thursday after lifting precautionary restrictions imposed earlier amid heightened regional security tensions.
* The International Maritime Organization (IMO) on Wednesday strongly condemned an attack on a tanker near the Strait of Hormuz that reportedly left three seafarers missing.
* UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday called for continued United Nations "uniformed presence" following the departure of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), a process set to begin at the end of this year.
* With the reopening of the Rafah crossing on Wednesday, UN humanitarians said medical evacuations of people seeking treatment outside Gaza are now ready to resume.
* The U.S. consumer price index (CPI) rose 4.2 percent year on year in May, marking its highest level since May 2023, as energy prices remained high, according to data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Wednesday.
* New Zealand's food and fiber exports are forecast to hit a record 64.3 billion NZ dollars (about 37.28 billion USD) in the year to June 30, driven by strong global demand for dairy, meat and horticulture, a new report said Thursday.
* Bangladesh's economy crossed the half-a-trillion USD mark for the first time in the current fiscal year 2025-26, ending this month. According to a provisional estimate by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) released on Wednesday, the South Asian country's gross domestic product at current prices rose to 501 billion dollars from 456 billion dollars a year earlier.
* Thailand welcomed 2.35 million international tourist arrivals in May, representing a year-on-year increase of 3.54 percent, official data revealed Thursday.
* Pakistan's National Economic Council (NEC), the country's highest constitutional body for economic planning, on Wednesday approved a national development budget of 3.669 trillion Pakistani rupees (about 13 billion USD) for the fiscal year 2026-27 and set a 4-percent economic growth target for the next fiscal year.
* At least 47 people were killed, 31 missing and 688 injured after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the southern coast of Mindanao, the Philippines, on Monday, said the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council on Thursday.
* Sri Lanka's Department of Agriculture on Thursday urged farmers to use water sparingly as the country prepares for the possible impact of El Nino conditions.
* Uganda's Ministry of Health on Wednesday announced additional Ebola prevention measures aimed at curbing the possible spread of the disease. According to the ministry, Uganda has not recorded any new Ebola cases in the past five days. The country has registered a cumulative total of 19 confirmed cases so far, including two deaths.
* The number of confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has risen to 635 as of June 9, Health Minister Roger Kamba said Wednesday.
* The British government has confirmed a case of hantavirus infection in Tristan da Cunha, a remote British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic Ocean, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday.
