* Russian President Vladimir Putin and visiting Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero vowed on Wednesday to deepen bilateral cooperation.
* Spain expects to conclude the European Union's migration deal under its presidency during the second half of this year and seek a closer cooperation with migrant origin countries, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Thursday. Spain takes over the bloc's rotating presidency on July 1.
* The government of new Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu won a parliamentary confidence vote on Thursday, as the ruling coalition maintained a rotating premiership deal to stabilise policymaking to unlock European Union recovery funds.
* The United States, Britain, the Netherlands and Denmark will partner to send air defence equipment including hundreds of missiles to Ukraine to help it fight Russian forces, the nations said in a joint statement.
* One Azerbaijani and one Armenian border guard were wounded, the South Caucasus countries said in separate statements on Thursday, after what Yerevan said was an attempt by Baku's forces to raise an Azerbaijani flag over Armenian territory.
* Nicaragua and Iran signed "important agreements," said Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega on Wednesday, adding that Nicaragua is ready to send a delegation to Iran for the implementation of the documents.
* Kosovo has tightened controls on its border with Serbia following the arrest of three of its policemen by Serbian forces, Prime Minister Albin Kurti said on Thursday as he demanded the immediate release of the detainees.
* Germany aims to reach NATO's 2% of gross domestic product target for military spending in 2024, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Thursday.
* NATO countries need to increase their defence spending to 2.5% of their gross domestic product (GDP), instead of the current target of 2%, Estonian Defence minister Hanno Pevkur said on Thursday.
* Norway and Denmark have agreed to donate an additional 9,000 rounds of artillery to Ukraine, the Norwegian ministry of defence said on Thursday.
* The conflict in Sudan hit the two-month mark on Thursday with no sign of a resolution as diplomatic peace efforts hit roadblocks and the risk of a broader ethnic war rises.
* The Lebanese foreign minister on Thursday warned of increased tensions between the Lebanese citizens and the Syrian refugees the country is hosting in large numbers, calling on the international community to support Syrians' safe return to their homeland.
* Lebanese caretaker Health Minister Firas Abiad on Thursday called for increased international support for the country's health system to help it meet the growing needs of citizens and refugees.
* Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud will make a visit to Iran's capital Tehran on Saturday, the semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported Thursday.
* Sudan's Civil Aviation Authority on Thursday extended the closure of the country's airspace until June 30, as armed clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) goes on.
* India's seafood exports hit an all-time high at 8.09 billion USD in fiscal year 2022-23 (April 2022-March 2023), said the federal Commerce and Industry Ministry on Wednesday.
* The Cambodian government recorded a total public debt stock of 10.27 billion USD by the end of the first quarter (Q1) of 2023, a quarter-on-quarter increase of 2.8 percent from 9.99 billion dollars, an official bulletin showed on Wednesday.
* The tourism sector contributed 6.2 percent of the Philippines' gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Thursday.
* Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Thursday his country's economy will grow 2% this year, "may be even more," echoing upbeat forecasts from his economic team.
* The German government said on Thursday it would allocate 1.05 billion euros to help the refugee crisis in Syria and the region.
* World Bank President Ajay Banga wants to focus on improving the development lender so that he can earn the right to press member countries for more capital, as the new chief looks to expand its role in fighting climate change, pandemics and other crises.
* Japan's core machinery orders rose a seasonally adjusted 5.5 percent in April from the previous month, government data showed on Thursday.
* Foreign direct investment (FDI) that flowed into Myanmar went down over 52 percent year on year to more than 10.22 million USD during April and May this year, according to the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA) on Wednesday.
* A Turkish energy delegation will meet Iraqi oil officials in Baghdad on June 19, to discuss the resumption of Iraq's northern oil exports, Iraqi deputy oil minister for upstream affairs, Basim Mohammed, told Reuters on Thursday.
* Croatian tourism officials are anticipating a record year for the sector after the country joined Europe's free-movement Schengen zone in January, which has boosted the number of visitors to its picturesque Adriatic coast.
* France would further invest 500 million euros (541 million USD) to make the French Artificial Intelligence (AI) sector "go faster and stronger," French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday at a tech show.
* The World Bank said on Wednesday that it has approved a 750-million-USD loan to finance the Philippines' programs to boost environmental protection and climate resilience as the Southeast Asian country strives to accelerate economic recovery and promote long-term economic growth.
* A European Union deal on how to share out the responsibility for looking after migrants and refugees should be put to a referendum in Poland, the ruling party leader said on Thursday as he stressed Warsaw's opposition to the agreement.
* Bangladesh's trade deficit in the first 10 months of the 2022-23 fiscal year from July 2022 to June 2023 narrowed by 43.21 percent to 15.73 billion USD, showed the latest central bank data.
* Sri Lanka's economy shrank 11.5% in the first three months of 2023, official data showed on Thursday, as the country remained in the grip of its worst financial crisis in decades.
