* Denmark's King Frederik X on Wednesday asked caretaker Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to lead negotiations on forming a new government, after party representatives in the newly elected parliament submitted their recommendations, the Danish royal house said in a statement.
* Russia will respond harshly if Japanese authorities start supplying lethal weapons and military equipment to Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.
* Russia continues to maintain contact with the United States and hopes Washington will play a role in resolving the Ukraine issue, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
* Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Wednesday that his government will gradually halt gas supplies to Ukraine, citing what he described as a continued blockade of crude oil deliveries to Hungary via the Druzhba pipeline.
* U.S. President Donald Trump will "unleash hell" if Iran refuses to make a deal over the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday.
* There are no talks or negotiations between Iran and the United States, said Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei in an exclusive interview with India Today on Wednesday.
* Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said on Wednesday that different messages have been exchanged between Iran and the United States through intermediaries over the past few days, while Tehran has held no talks with Washington since the beginning of the U.S. and Israeli attacks on the country late last month.
* A missile fired from Iran on Wednesday evaded Israel's air defense systems and struck the city of Dimona, near which Israel's main nuclear facility and reactor are located, state-owned Kan TV reported.
* Iran has reviewed a U.S.-proposed 15-point plan on ending the Middle East war, and sees it as "excessive and disconnected from the realities on the battlefield," Iran's stat-run Press TV reported Wednesday.
* Iran could open another battlefront against the United States in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait if Washington seeks "stupid" actions on the ground to open the Strait of Hormuz, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Wednesday.
* Falling debris after the interception of a ballistic missile by air defense systems killed two people and injured three others in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), authorities said on Thursday.
* Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Israel is creating an expanded buffer zone in southern Lebanon. The goal is to push Hezbollah forces further from the border, Netanyahu said while speaking to heads of northern municipalities near the Lebanon border.
* Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) said its Navy's air defense on Wednesday struck a U.S. F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet in the country's southeastern airspace.
* Naim Qassem, secretary-general of Hezbollah, said on Wednesday that the group will continue what he described as a "defensive battle" against Israel, urging national unity and rejecting calls to disarm amid ongoing hostilities.
* Hezbollah announced on Wednesday that it had destroyed eight Israeli Merkava tanks in the village of Taybeh in southern Lebanon as its clashes with the Israeli forces continued along the border.
* As many as 290 U.S. troops have been injured since the United States and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran on Feb. 28, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said Wednesday.
* United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday appointed Jean Arnault of France as his personal envoy to lead the UN efforts on the conflict in the Middle East and its consequences.
* The United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Jordan issued a joint statement on Wednesday strongly condemning what they described as Iranian attacks targeting countries in the region.
* China urges all relevant parties to the raging Iran conflict to work in the same direction and create conditions for launching truly meaningful and sincere peace talks, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday.
* German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Wednesday urged efforts to end the war in Iran through diplomatic means to stabilize the energy markets.
* Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday reiterated his opposition to the war in Iran, which has spread across the Middle East, criticizing the military actions of the United States and Israel.
* The Australian government has moved to block the entry of temporary visa holders from Iran amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
* Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni conducted an official visit to Algeria on Wednesday, seeking to secure expanded energy partnerships, as Europe seeks stable gas supplies amid disruptions tied to the war in Iran and tensions in the Strait of Hormuz.
* Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos on Wednesday signed a law allowing the government to temporarily suspend or cut fuel excise taxes on petroleum when global oil prices reach a set threshold.
* Japan began releasing 30 days' worth of oil from state reserves on Thursday to cushion the impact of the Middle East conflict on its economy, as concerns over supply mount and oil prices soar, local media reported. The move came after the country started drawing down 15 days' worth of oil from private-sector stockpiles last Monday.
* Retail oil prices in Cambodia continued to rise further due to the escalation of the Middle East conflict, the Ministry of Commerce said in announcement at Wednesday midnight. In the announcement, the Ministry of Commerce said a liter of regular gasoline will cost 5,450 riels (1.36 USD) from Thursday until the next notice, slightly up 0.92 percent from 5,400 riels in the past seven days.
* Indonesia remains safe from an energy emergency despite escalating tensions in the Middle East, Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa said on Wednesday. He confirmed that there are no plans to revise the 2026 state budget or existing fuel subsidy policies.
* The government will take proactive interventions to ensure the country's economic resilience amid the conflict in the Middle East, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Wednesday.
* A Turkish crude oil tanker carrying 140,000 tons of oil from Russia was struck by a drone in the Black Sea off Istanbul's Bosphorus Strait on Thursday, local broadcaster NTV reported.
* British armed forces will be able to board "shadow fleet" vessels transiting its waters, the British government said on Wednesday.
* Russia views multilateral dialogue platforms like the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) as important mechanisms for deepening regional cooperation in the Asia-Pacific amid growing geopolitical tensions, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.
* Russia and Kazakhstan on Wednesday pledged to deepen bilateral cooperation across a range of sectors, Kazinform reported.
* Australia and Germany will increase cooperation on defense and space capabilities under agreements announced in Canberra on Thursday.
* Russia's air defense systems shot down 91 Ukrainian drones across 9 regions in seven hours on Wednesday, the Russian Ministry of Defense said. The ministry said that Russia's on-duty air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 91 Ukrainian drones from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. Moscow time on Wednesday.
* Brazil is advancing toward defense sovereignty with the unveiling of its first domestically built F-39E Gripen supersonic fighter jet, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Wednesday.
* Estonia and Latvia reported drone attacks on Wednesday, with authorities in both the Baltic countries saying the missiles had arrived from Russian airspace. However, Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina said on social media platform X that the drone in Latvia may have been Ukrainian.
* The number of police officers patrolling central Melbourne, Australia, will almost double under a public safety operation announced on Thursday.
* Sri Lanka will begin cargo clearance operations at Hambantota Port in May, as the Customs Department completes preparations to extend its services to the southern port.
* A total of 398 Afghan prisoners have been released from Pakistani prisons and returned to Afghanistan since the start of the Eid al-Fitr holidays, marking an increase compared to previous periods, local media Tolo news reported on Wednesday.
* Turkish authorities arrested 88 individuals suspected of links to the terrorist group Islamic State (IS) during coordinated raids across 24 provinces, the country's Interior Ministry announced Wednesday.
* The UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Wednesday adopted a draft resolution of "Declaration of the Trafficking of Enslaved Africans and Racialized Chattel Enslavement of Africans as the Gravest Crime against Humanity."
* France's central bank on Wednesday slightly lowered its economic growth forecast for 2026, warning that rising energy prices and mounting geopolitical tensions are expected to weigh on the outlook.
* The Bank of Portugal has revised down its economic growth forecast for 2026 from 2.3 percent estimated in December to 1.8 percent, according to the central bank's bulletin published on Wednesday.
* Britain's consumer price index (CPI) rose by 3 percent year on year in February, unchanged from that in January, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed on Wednesday. However, analysts expect further impact on the economy as a result of the Middle East tension.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree banning the export from Russia of refined gold in bars weighing more than 100 grams as of May 1, 2026, with a number of exceptions, TASS news agency reported Wednesday, citing a document published on the official legal information website.
* The Brazilian government on Wednesday announced a financing package of 15 billion reals (about 2.87 billion USD) to support key productive sectors and enhance export competitiveness.
* Authorities in New Zealand's Northland region declared a state of emergency on Thursday as heavy rainfall cut off several communities and closed key highways across the upper North Island.
* At least eighteen bodies were retrieved after a bus carrying dozens of passengers plunged into the Padma River from a pontoon at a terminal in Bangladesh's Rajbari district, some 125 km south of Dhaka, on Wednesday.
* Authorities in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh on Wednesday culled over 22,000 poultry birds following the outbreak of avian influenza (commonly called bird flu), officials said.
