* Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics has announced that he has entrusted Andris Kulbergs, a member of parliament from the opposition United List party, with the formation of a new government.
* Newly-inaugurated Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi pledged on Saturday to launch a comprehensive economic reform program and combat administrative and financial corruption as he officially assumed his duties.
* Elections for the two highest leadership bodies of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) began on Saturday. The elections for Fatah's Central Committee and the Revolutionary Council are taking place on the third day of Fatah's eighth general conference, which is being held in the West Bank, Gaza, Cairo, and Beirut.
* Felix Moloua has been reappointed as prime minister of the Central African Republic, according to a presidential decree issued on Friday.
* The Russian city of Ryazan has declared a state of emergency following a nighttime drone attack by Ukrainian forces, the city administration's press service said Friday.
* A total of 24 people, including three children, were killed on Thursday after a Russian strike hit a nine-story apartment building in Kiev during a massive drone and missile attack, the Ukrainian State Emergency Service said Friday.
* German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday held a phone conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump, during which the two sides agreed that "Iran must come to the negotiating table now."
* The Pentagon has scrapped plans to temporarily deploy more than 4,000 U.S.-based troops to Poland, multiple U.S. media outlets reported, citing U.S. officials.
* U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, second-in-command of ISIS globally, was eliminated by U.S. and Nigerian forces.
* Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said on Friday that the situation around the Strait of Hormuz was "very complicated," local media reported. Araghchi also blamed the United States for an "illegal blockade" and rising tensions in the vital waterway.
* The United States has rejected Iran's 14-point peace proposal to end the war and "has once again reiterated its coercive stance, particularly regarding the nuclear issue," Iranian daily newspaper Tehran Times reported on Friday.
* Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar said Friday that his country has successfully repatriated Pakistani and Iranian seafarers aboard vessels seized by the United States near Singaporean waters.
* France's Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier group has arrived in the Arabian Sea for a possible mission in the Strait of Hormuz, French Minister Delegate for the Armed Forces Alice Rufo announced on Friday.
* Iran will soon unveil a "professional mechanism" to manage traffic in the Strait of Hormuz along a designated route, a senior Iranian lawmaker said Saturday, without specifying the exact timing of the disclosure.
* Hamas confirmed on Saturday that Izz al-Din al-Haddad, commander-in-chief of its armed wing the al-Qassam Brigades, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Friday.
* Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 45-day extension of their ceasefire that took effect last month, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said Friday.
* Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned Friday that the Israel-Hamas ceasefire in Gaza remains "fragile" as casualties mount, territory shrinks, and humanitarian aid faces persistent obstruction.
* The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Friday it killed more than 220 Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon over the past week.
* The President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed their commitment to deepening bilateral strategic cooperation on Friday as Modi visited the UAE amid growing regional and global challenges.
* Russia's gross domestic product (GDP) declined by 0.2 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2026, according to a preliminary estimate released Friday by the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat).
* The German government warned on Friday that economic growth would slow sharply in the second quarter, as escalating tensions in the Middle East drive up energy costs, disrupt supply chains and erode confidence across Europe's largest economy.
* Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday reaffirmed the country's commitment to building peaceful, harmonious and united societies at both the national and international levels.
* Slovenia's economy expanded by 3 percent year-on-year to 17.2 billion euros (20 billion USD) in the first quarter of 2026, boosted by final consumption expenditure and investments, the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia said on Friday.
* Kyrgyzstan's gross domestic product (GDP) for January-April 2026 amounted to 602.8 billion soms (approximately 6.9 billion USD), and is expected to increase by 12.4 percent compared to January-April 2025, according to statistics released Friday by the country's National Statistical Committee.
* Kazakhstan-based oil producer Tengizchevroil's output dropped 83 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026 to 5.7 million metric tons, the Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency reported Friday.
* Iraq's oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz dropped sharply to 10 million barrels in April due to the regional war from the previous monthly level of around 93 million barrels, newly-inaugurated Oil Minister Basim Mohammed Khudhair said Saturday.
* The Dutch government announced on Friday that the hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius is expected to arrive at the Port of Rotterdam next Monday, with most crew members set to undergo a six-week quarantine in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
* NASA and SpaceX launched a new commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday. A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carrying about 6,500 pounds of cargo lifted off at 6:05 p.m. Eastern Time from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in the southeastern U.S. state of Florida.
* The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has announced the activation of immediate response measures following an Ebola virus disease outbreak in Ituri Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and confirmation of an imported case in Uganda.
* A train and a bus collided in Bangkok, Thailand, on Saturday afternoon, killing eight people, local media reported. At around 3:40 p.m., a train collided with a bus at a railway crossing in Ratchathewi District, triggering a fire accompanied by an explosion. Several other cars and motorcycles were also involved.
* At least 10 people were wounded in a massive fire that erupted Saturday at an engine oil production factory in Iran's northwestern East Azarbaijan province, state-run IRIB news agency reported.
