* Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held talks in Beijing on Friday, agreeing to enhance the all-weather, strategic cooperative partnership to achieve more fruitful results.
* The Russian economy is demonstrating resilience and adaptability amid changes in the global economic landscape and the rise of a new multipolar world, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.
* Secretary-General of the League of Arab States (AL) Ahmed Aboul-Gheit has spoken highly of the 10th ministerial conference of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum, praising the unprecedented high level of development of China-Arab relations.
* Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was hit by a man in central Copenhagen on Friday and the man has been arrested, Ritzau news agency reported.
* Russian forces have destroyed an Abrams tank and a Bradley infantry fighting vehicle in the Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, TASS news agency reported Saturday, citing the Russian Defense Ministry.
* France supports the "effective launch" of negotiations for Ukraine's accession to the European Union "by the end of the month," French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday.
* Fresh from commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day, French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed U.S. President Joe Biden in Paris on Saturday for a state visit marked by pomp as well as talks on trade, Israel and Ukraine.
* France and the United States will double their efforts to avoid the Middle East exploding, notably in Lebanon where there is urgency to reduce tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday.
* Germany has tightened border controls for the upcoming UEFA EURO 2024 football championship, with police now allowed to carry out checks at all of the country's borders, the Ministry of the Interior (BMI) has said.
* Suspected Islamist rebels killed at least 38 people in an overnight attack on villages in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, two district officials and a civil society leader said on Saturday.
* Hamas said on Saturday it still held the largest number of hostages and could increase it, after Israeli forces rescued four hostages held by the Palestinian Islamist group in a raid in the central Gaza Strip.
* Yemen's Houthi group on Friday claimed responsibility for launching missile and drone attacks against two commercial vessels in the Red Sea.
* Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa said on Friday that the militarization of the country's violent coastal city of Manta had a positive effect on containing homicides.
* The General Command of the Syrian Army and Armed Forces issued an administrative order on Saturday to end the call-up of reserve officers and terminate the retention and call-up of non-commissioned officers and reserve personnel.
* Facing a web of complex crises, 32.8 million people in Africa's Sahel region, stretching from Senegal to Eritrea, need lifesaving assistance and protection, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
* The Malawian government said Friday that it is optimism about the upcoming cross-border market, set to be constructed at the Mchinji-Mwami border between Malawi and Zambia by December 2024.
* Mongolia's inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, dropped to 5.7 percent in May, the lowest level since April 2021, when inflation was 5.6 percent, data from the country's National Statistics Office showed Friday.
* Canada's unemployment rate increased 0.1 percentage points to 6.2 percent in May, Statistics Canada said Friday. The unemployment rate has trended up since April 2023, rising 1.1 percentage points over the period, the national statistical agency said.
* Sri Lanka's irrigation department withdrew on Saturday all flood warnings issued from June 1 near five major rivers of the country, according to a statement from it.
