* Nearly six million Burundian citizens living in Burundi and abroad on Thursday went to the polls to elect 100 deputies and 1,050 district councilors in the East African country's provinces of Buhumuza, Bujumbura, Butanyerera, Burunga and Gitega.
* Wang Wentao, China's commerce minister, and European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maros Sefcovic held talks in Paris on June 3 on the European Union's (EU's) anti-subsidy case involving Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), China's anti-dumping investigation into brandy originating from the EU, and export control policies, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce said on Saturday.
* Russian forces launched a barrage of drones and missiles on Ukraine overnight Friday, killing at least four people and injuring dozens, Ukrainian authorities said.
* Ukraine's second-largest city Kharkiv came under the "most intense" Russian attack early Saturday since the start of the two countries' conflict, said Mayor Ihor Terekhov.
* NATO's annual large-scale multinational military exercise, Baltic Operations 2025 (BALTOPS 25), officially began Thursday in Latvia, according to the Latvian news agency LETA.
* Republic of Korean President Lee Jae-myung held a phone conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump at 10:00 p.m. local time on Friday, according to the presidential office of the RoK.
* A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked U.S. President Donald Trump's visa ban on Harvard's foreign students. U.S. District Court Judge Allison Burroughs issued a temporary restraining order that prohibits anyone from "implementing, instituting, maintaining, enforcing, or giving force or effect to the Presidential Proclamation" that Trump issued Wednesday.
* Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Argentine President Javier Milei on Friday jointly adopted the Italy-Argentina Action Plan 2025-2030 aimed at dramatically strengthening bilateral ties. The move was made during Milei's visit to Rome, his first stop on a ten-day swing through Europe and Israel.
* UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said on Friday that he was "profoundly disturbed" by the U.S. government's decision to impose sanctions on judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
* South African Presidential Spokesperson Vincent Magwenya has confirmed that a commercial flight recently departed for the United States with white Afrikaners on board, under an executive order by U.S. President Donald Trump granting them refugee status.
* A flight carrying 192 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived Friday at the Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía, which serves the capital Caracas area, the Ministry of Interior, Justice and Peace reported.
* Lithuania and five other countries are preparing a joint procurement of CV90 armored infantry fighting vehicles, the Baltic News Service (BNS) reported Friday.
* Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi warned France, Germany, and Britain on Friday that Tehran would respond strongly if its rights are violated.
* Yemen's Houthi group announced on Friday its readiness to exchange all prisoners with the Yemeni government, a significant proposal put forward by the group since the outbreak of the civil war in late 2014.
* Libyan Prime Minister Abdul-Hamed Dbeibah on Friday ordered an investigation into clashes that broke out Thursday in the northwestern coastal city of Sabratha.
* Pakistani security forces killed two terrorists during an intelligence-based operation in the country's southwest Balochistan province, the military said Friday.
* The 18th International Forum on Ecological Civilization kicked off Thursday at Pomona College in the U.S. city of Claremont, as ecological experts around the world warned that mankind needs to take more drastic actions to preserve the ecological environment before it's too late.
* The global goal to protect 30 percent of the world's oceans by 2030 will not be sufficient to ensure the survival of marine megafauna such as whales, sharks, turtles, and seals, international scientists have warned.
* Romanian President Nicusor Dan signed into law on Friday new regulations tightening control over pyrotechnic materials, introducing prison sentences ranging from one to five years for the unauthorized production, possession, sale, or use of high-risk fireworks and explosives.
* Cambodia's trade with the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) member countries hit 12.92 billion USD in the first four months of 2025, up 15.4 percent from 11.19 billion dollars over the same period last year, said an official report on Friday.
* The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is recommending broad tax reforms in Romania, including higher VAT, excise duties, and dividend taxes, alongside lower labor taxes, to help reduce the country's growing deficit, which reached 8.65 percent of GDP in 2024.
* India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on Friday slashed the repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.5 percent. This was the third consecutive reduction in the repo rate announced by the RBI since February 2025.
* The Russian Central Bank cut its key interest rate by 100 basis points to 20 percent as inflation pressures decline, it said in a statement Friday.
* Italy's main statistical agency on Friday lowered its forecast for the country's economic growth, citing continued global economic uncertainty.
* Thailand's headline inflation rate remained negative for the second consecutive month in May, driven by falling food and energy prices, official data showed on Friday.
* Cambodia exported garments, textiles, footwear, and travel goods worth 4.58 billion USD in the first four months of 2025, up almost 22 percent from 3.76 billion dollars over the same period last year, an official report showed on Saturday.
* An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 jolted 52 km WSW of Diego de Almagro, Chile at 17:15:06 GMT on Friday, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said. The epicenter, with a depth of 76.6 km, was initially determined to be at 26.64 degrees south latitude and 70.49 degrees west longitude.
* An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 jolted the Fiji Islands region at 19:28:32 GMT on Friday, the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences said. The epicenter, with a depth of 378.1 km, was initially determined to be at 21.98 degrees south latitude and 177.73 degrees west longitude.
* Thirty-two earthquakes have been felt in several areas of Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi since June 1, said a senior Met officer on Friday. Local authorities continue to monitor the situation closely to keep the public informed.
* Smoke from wildfires burning in northern Ontario and the Prairies of Canada caused poor air quality and reduced visibility in major cities including Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal on Friday.
