* The Scottish government on Wednesday survived a vote of no confidence, just days after First Minister Humza Yousaf announced his resignation.
* President Tayyip Erdogan held talks with the leader of Turkey's main opposition CHP party on Thursday, the first such meeting in nearly eight years, just one month after the CHP outperformed Erdogan's party in local elections.
* Venezuelan workers from across the country rallied in the capital Caracas on Wednesday to show their support for President Nicolas Maduro, condemning the sanctions imposed by the United States.
* The UN General Assembly will resume its 10th emergency special session (ESS) on May 10, after Palestine's UN membership bid was blocked by the United States at the Security Council in April.
* Colombia will sever diplomatic relations with Israel on Thursday, said President Gustavo Petro on Wednesday. Speaking to a crowd in the capital Bogota, the Colombian president referred to the Israeli government as "genocidal."
* The accusations of Russia using chemical weapons in Ukraine are unfounded, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday.
* Russia said on Thursday it saw no point in a conference being planned by Switzerland in mid-June to discuss how to end the Ukraine conflict and to which Moscow is not currently invited.
* Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba did not rule out negotiating with Russia following a high-level conference on peace slated for next month in Switzerland, a Ukrainian news website reported on Thursday.
* Kyrgyzstan's foreign ministry said on Thursday it was recommending its citizens to temporarily avoid travelling to Russia, becoming the second Central Asian nation to do so after Tajikistan issued similar advice last weekend.
* Top Israeli ministers will convene on Thursday to discuss a proposed Gaza truce to free some hostages held by Hamas, as well as prospects for an army sweep of the southern tip of the enclave packed with displaced Palestinians, a government source said.
* The Palestinian Embassy in Egypt is seeking temporary residency permits for tens of thousands of people who have arrived from Gaza during the war between Israel and Hamas, which it says would ease conditions for them until the conflict is over.
* Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh discussed the ongoing Gaza ceasefire talks in separate phone calls with Egypt's intelligence chief Abbas Kamel and Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
* Israel released on Thursday 64 Palestinians who were arrested during the military operations in the Gaza Strip, said the General Authority for Crossings and Borders in Gaza.
* The Palestinian death toll from the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to 34,596, the Gaza health authorities said in a press statement on Thursday.
* Uganda has asked Britain to stop meddling in the local politics of the East African country after London announced sanctions on three of Uganda's senior officials over allegations of corruption.
* Global rice supplies have stabilised after last year's rally, although the market remains vulnerable to risks from dry weather caused by the El Nino, a senior executive at commodity merchant Louis Dreyfus Co (LDC) said.
* Railway passenger trips in China hit a record high of over 20.69 million on Wednesday, the first day of the five-day May Day holiday, data from the national railway operator shows.
* The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits held steady at a low level last week, pointing to a still fairly tight labor market that should continue to underpin the economy in the second quarter.
* The European Union will extend subsidy allowances by six months until the end of 2024 to support the region's agricultural sector following protests from farmers seeking better pay and working conditions.
* Kremlin-owned gas giant Gazprom GAZP.MM said on Thursday it plunged to a net loss of 629 billion roubles ($6.9 billion) in 2023, its first annual loss in more than 20 years, amid dwindling gas trade with Europe, once its main sales market.
* Ukrainian exports of agricultural commodities wheat and corn are likely to fall by nearly a quarter in the upcoming 2024/25 July-June season following a smaller harvest as a result of war, the first deputy agriculture minister told Reuters on Thursday.
* India's palm oil imports jumped by 41% in April from the previous month to reach the highest level in three months, as easing prices prompted refiners to increase purchases, five dealers told Reuters.
* Britain will suffer some of the lowest rates of economic growth and highest inflation among Group of Seven countries this year and next, forecasts from the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development suggested on Thursday.
* Norway's government plans to raise its spending on defence in 2024 by an additional 7 billion Norwegian crowns ($633.06 million), Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told a press conference.
* The Philippines' debt reduced to 14.93 trillion pesos (roughly 259 billion USD) as of end-March, 1.67 percent lower than the country's outstanding debt recorded in end-February, the Philippines' Bureau of Treasury said on Thursday.
* The Uzbek economy has soared in recent years, with foreign investments nearly doubling last year, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said on Thursday.
* European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced Thursday a 1-billion-euro (about 1.07 billion USD) financial assistance package for Lebanon from 2024 to 2027.
* Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani on Wednesday said his government is committed to bolstering the industry, agriculture, trade, and tourism sectors, with the aim of reducing the country's reliance on oil and transitioning to a diversified economy.
* A total of 27,914 foreign citizens made inbound and outbound trips to or from Afghanistan from March 21, 2023 to March 19, 2024, during the Persian calendar year of 1402, the country's National Statistics and Information Authority reported Wednesday.
* At least 188 people have been killed by flooding and landslides caused by heavy rains in Kenya, the government said on Thursday.
* The death toll from heavy rains in Brazil's southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul rose to 13, local authorities said on Thursday, as the state government declared a state of public calamity to handle the dramatic situation.
