* China's President Xi Jinping will attend and deliver a speech at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) via video link on July 4, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Friday.
* Western sanctions and the departure of foreign companies have a positive effect on the Russian economy, as such moves have expanded business opportunities for Russian entrepreneurs, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday.
* French President Emmanuel Macron convened his cabinet for a second crisis meeting in two days on Friday, after the most destructive night of nationwide rioting yet in protest at the fatal shooting of a teenager by police.
* Japan's foreign minister Hayashi Yoshimasa said on Friday the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi will visit Japan during July 4-7 to see the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
* Ethiopia, one of Africa's fastest-growing economies, has asked to join the BRICS bloc of emerging markets, the foreign ministry said on Thursday.
* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called on Friday for a widening of the U.N. Security Council to give more representation to Asian, African and Latin American countries in order to break what he called Western domination of the world.
* Foreign Minister of India S. Jaishankar and Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the Philippines Enrique Manalo on Thursday decided to further strengthen bilateral partnership in such areas as maritime, space, law enforcement, trade and investment.
* Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez plans to visit Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kiev on Saturday as Spain takes over the European Union's six-month rotating presidency.
* Sweden's prime minister said on Friday his Hungarian counterpart had assured him that Budapest would not delay the Nordic country's NATO accession, following reports that Hungary's parliament would delay a ratification of the membership.
* Ukraine will receive $1.5 billion from the World Bank to support reconstruction and recovery, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Friday.
* Australian and European Union trade ministers spoke on Thursday evening, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters, as optimism builds that sticking points over a free trade agreement (FTA) can be overcome with more negotiation.
* The European Union gives more support to countries outside the bloc like Turkey to help them deal with migration than it gives to its own members, the Polish president said on Friday.
* The U.N. human rights office has updated a list of companies doing business with Israeli settlements, removing 15 companies from the database that were no longer involved, a spokesperson said on Friday.
* The Libyan Foreign Ministry on Thursday demanded actions by Swedish authorities against the burning of the Muslim holy book Quran by protesters in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden.
* Lebanese Foreign Ministry on Thursday condemned the burning of a copy of the Quran in Sweden.
* Dozens of Iraqis protested on Thursday in front of the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad after a man burned a Koran outside a mosque in Stockholm.
* The United Nations (UN) Security Council on Thursday decided to renew the mandate of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) on the Golan Heights for six months, until Dec. 31.
* United Nations (UN) officials informed the Security Council on Thursday that Syrians are confronted with an escalating humanitarian crisis amid the enduring 12-year-long conflict.
* Since fighting broke out in Sudan in mid-April, more than 2.6 million people have fled their homes, with more than 560,000 of them becoming international refugees, UN humanitarians said on Thursday.
* Ecuador's government is seeking to activate credit lines with international lenders in an effort to mitigate expected El Nino weather disruptions, the country's finance ministry announced on Thursday.
* Global mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity fell 36% year-on-year in the second quarter, but investment bankers and lawyers expressed optimism that the stock market's recovery will gradually restore chief executives' dealmaking confidence.
* The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week by the most in 20 months, the latest sign of the economy's resilience that could push the Federal Reserve to resume raising interest rates in July.
* The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reached a staff-level pact with Pakistan on a $3 billion stand-by arrangement, the lender said, a decision long awaited by the South Asian nation which is teetering on the brink of default.
* Sri Lanka could exit bankruptcy by September, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Friday, signalling a turnaround for the country which is emerging from its worst financial crisis in decades.
* The British government on Friday published a consultation on reforming its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing supervision system.
* New Zealand's central bank said on Friday it was ramping up its monitoring of stablecoins and crypto assets due to uncertainties about how the sector will develop and the potential risks they could pose for the financial system.
* Panama expects international financial-crime watchdog FATF to remove it this October from a watch list for nations deemed to be doing too little to fight money laundering, the country's deputy finance minister said, adding that other intergovernmental groups might follow suit.
* COVID-19 health and safety measures for aviation were formally retired by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) on Thursday.
* Air traffic at Geneva Airport was at a standstill early on Friday, with 64 flight arrivals and departures cancelled, due to a strike over pay by public service staff, who plan to continue striking into Saturday.
* Japanese weather officials said Friday that heavy rain is expected in areas along the Sea of Japan coast through Saturday, warning of disaster risks such as landslides.
* Torrential rain in South Korea triggered a landslide that killed a one-year-old baby and forced hundreds of families to evacuate as it flooded roads and bridges, authorities said on Friday.
