* UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called out the selective application of the UN Charter, saying it is not an a-la-carte menu.
* The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Thursday welcomed a ceasefire between Israel and Iran and urged the countries involved to avoid further escalation.
* Chinese lawmakers on Friday passed a revised version of the anti-unfair competition law, which will take effect on Oct. 15, 2025.
* The National Assembly (NA) of Laos approved 10 significant laws aimed at modernizing the legal system and promoting sustainable national development in response to evolving social and economic conditions.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) as one of the key centers of global development.
* Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday reaffirmed his government's commitment to pro-business reforms aimed at empowering micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) as drivers of sustainable economic growth.
* The Australian government's online safety commissioner on Friday issued a warning over an increase in AI-generated intimate images of children.
* Ukraine and Russia on Thursday carried out another round of their prisoner exchange, according to Ukraine's Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
* The goal to increase the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) military spending will not significantly impact Russia's security, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that he discussed steps toward a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine conflict during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.
* A large majority of Hungarian citizens are opposed to Ukraine's accession to the European Union (EU), according to a consultation announced by Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban this week.
* Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko proposed to launch the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) 2.0, which would present its own signature Eurasian product, in demand and common to all participating countries.
* Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Thursday called for unity among the ruling coalition. The appeal comes as leaders of the governing alliance are engaged in discussions over a possible government reshuffle.
* Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez emphasized the country's sovereignty on Thursday while responding to threats made by U.S. President Donald Trump to raise tariffs on Spanish products, following Sanchez's refusal to increase defense spending to five percent of gross domestic product (GDP) at the NATO Summit.
* Norway has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 70-75 percent by 2035 compared to 1990 levels, according to its updated climate targets submitted on Thursday.
* The Indonesian government is collaborating with Qatar's Qilaa International Group to build 1 million affordable housing units in the country, as part of President Prabowo Subianto's plan to develop 1 million new urban housing units each year, primarily in the form of vertical housing.
* More than 20 projects at Russell Group institutions, an association of 24 leading universities in Britain, have been halted following the withdrawal of U.S. funding, local media reported Wednesday.
* Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel's recent military campaign against Iran has created a "window of opportunity" to expand regional normalization agreements, days after a fragile ceasefire took effect.
* Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said on Thursday that no arrangement or commitment had been made to resume negotiations with the United States, amid heightened tensions following attacks by Israel and the United States on Iranian territory.
* Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer held a phone call on Thursday to discuss the recent ceasefire between Israel and Iran, urging a diplomatic path toward a peaceful resolution of the crisis, the Egyptian presidency said in a statement.
* Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Thursday the United States gained nothing from the war against Iran and instead received a "harsh slap" in the face.
* Iran announced on Thursday the closure of its northern, southern, and western airspace will remain in effect until Friday afternoon, state-run IRIB news agency reported.
* The Indonesian government has canceled its plan to take a 138-million-USD loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to support the national housing program, according to Minister of Housing and Settlement Maruarar Sirait.
* Yemen's Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said on Thursday that his forces have launched 309 ballistic, hypersonic missiles, and drones at Israel since mid-March, as part of what the group calls the second phase of its military campaign.
* The number of China's private sector entities reached 185 million by the end of May, increasing 2.3 percent year on year, official data showed Friday.
* U.S. economy shrank for the first time in three years in the first quarter of this year, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Commerce Department. U.S. gross domestic product dropped 0.5 percent in the January-March period from a year ago, the Commerce Department reported Thursday in its final report.
* Japan's job availability ratio in May dropped 0.02 point from the previous month to 1.24, falling for the first time in three months, government data showed Friday.
* The Philippine government has revised its 2025 economic growth target downward to a range of 5.5-6.5 percent, from the earlier 6.0-8.0 percent, taking into account heightened global uncertainties, the country's Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) said Thursday.
* Indonesia's shipments of halal food reached 41.9 billion USD in 2024, Director-General of National Export Development at the Trade Ministry, Fajarini Puntodewi, said on Thursday.
* Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Thursday issued multi-region alerts for potential flooding and rain-related disruptions as widespread monsoon activity intensified across the country.
* Serbia is under a red-level weather alert as an extreme heatwave grips the country, with temperatures soaring above 40 degrees Celsius in several eastern cities, the national weather service said on Thursday.
