* Singapore's Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Wednesday announced the lineup of his new cabinet following the ruling People's Action Party (PAP)'s win in the May 3 general election.
* Myanmar hosted the 59th ASEAN Senior Transport Officials Meeting and the 4th ASEAN-United States Senior Transport Officials Meeting in Yangon on Wednesday, state-owned daily The Mirror reported on Thursday.
* Speaking to French President Emmanuel Macron over phone on Thursday, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged China and France to be reliable forces for maintaining international order, open forces for promoting global growth and progressive forces for guiding multilateral cooperation.
* Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov announced Wednesday that work on a memorandum for a potential Russia-Ukraine peace agreement is actively progressing.
* Technical-level talks involving Russia and Ukraine may take place as early as next week at the Vatican, Finnish President Alexander Stubb said Wednesday evening in an interview with national broadcaster Yle.
* Displaced residents of Russia's Kursk region will be able to return home safely despite ongoing challenges, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday during his visit to the region.
* Russia's air defenses shot down 105 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 35 over the Moscow region, the defense ministry said Thursday.
* Norway will allocate an additional 4.5 billion Norwegian kroner (440 million USD) to support Ukraine's energy sector in 2025.
* The British government on Tuesday announced a raft of 100 new sanctions targeting the Russian military, energy, financial sectors and those conducting information operations against Ukraine. Britain said it was also working to lower the 60 USD per barrel oil price cap, further restricting oil revenues for Russia.
* Pakistan on Thursday expelled a staff member of the Indian high commission in Islamabad, declaring the official persona non grata and directing him to leave the country within 24 hours. The Indian Charge d'Affaires was summoned to Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs to convey the decision.
* A "serious accident" occurred when the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) launched a newly-built 5,000-tonnage destroyer on Wednesday, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Thursday.
* Spanish National Police have launched an investigation into the fatal shooting of a 52-year-old Ukrainian man outside the American School of Madrid in the commuter town of Pozuelo de Alarcon on Wednesday morning.
* Two staff members from the Israeli Embassy in the United States were killed in a shooting Wednesday evening near the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., according to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.
* Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday expressed deep shock and outrage over the killing of two employees at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., in what he described as an "antisemitic attack."
* Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand said on Wednesday that she is summoning the Israeli ambassador over Israel Defense Forces' warning shots near a diplomatic tour in the West Bank.
* Uruguay summoned Israel's ambassador in Montevideo on Wednesday over warning shots at a diplomatic delegation in the West Bank that included the Uruguayan ambassador to Israel.
* The Czech Republic will end checks on transporters at the border with Slovakia from midnight on Thursday, the country's Ministry of Agriculture has announced. The checks were introduced about two months ago due to concerns over foot-and-mouth disease (FMD).
* The spokesman of the Afghan interim government Zabihullah Mujahid has strongly condemned the attack on a school bus in Pakistan on Wednesday, state-run Bakhtar news agency reported on Thursday.
* The two-day Russia-China Forum concluded in Khabarovsk on Tuesday, seeing the signing of 34 cooperation agreements worth over 100 billion rubles (about 1.24 billion USD), spanning economy, tourism, culture and ecology.
* Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum pledged Wednesday to continue pushing for lower tariffs on vehicles exported outside the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
* Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has said that the country is ready to become a major energy supplier for the world, given its vast untapped energy reserves and renewable potential.
* Lithuania will establish a national artificial intelligence (AI) center, dubbed the "AI Factory," to accelerate the development of AI infrastructure and innovation, the Ministry of Economy and Innovation said Wednesday. The government has approved the ministry's proposal to launch the 100 million euros (113.44 million USD) project.
* Egypt welcomed on Thursday what it described as a notable shift in the positions of major international actors regarding the crisis in the Gaza Strip, especially their full rejection of the ongoing Israeli violations and excessive use of military force against civilians.
* Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday ordered the return of the Israeli delegation from Doha, a senior Israeli official confirmed to Xinhua, describing it as "an impasse" in the negotiations with Hamas over a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal.
* Iran has agreed to Oman's proposal for holding the fifth round of indirect nuclear talks with the United States in Rome on Friday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Wednesday.
* Another 90 Venezuelan migrants deported by the United States arrived in the capital Caracas on Wednesday, the Interior Ministry announced.
* The Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has opposed Israel's request to withdraw arrest warrants issued for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, arguing there is "no legal basis" for doing so and urging judges to proceed with the investigation into alleged crimes committed in Gaza.
* UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen on Wednesday welcomed the lifting of sanctions by Western countries against Syria. In his briefing to the Security Council, Pedersen noted that U.S. President Donald Trump announced last week that he would order the cessation of sanctions on Syria.
* Syria and Turkey signed a cooperation agreement on Thursday to enhance energy collaboration, including electricity and gas transfers, Syrian state news agency SANA reported.
* Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed on Thursday to end the presence and operation of weapons held by Palestinian factions outside the control of the Lebanese state, including within Palestinian refugee camps.
* Israel's military announced that a missile launched from Yemen had been intercepted by the country's aerial defense system on Thursday, marking the second missile attack by Houthi forces on Israel within the same day.
* The United Nations said on Thursday that it has allocated 10 million USD to support life-saving humanitarian assistance for over 270,000 people in South Sudan.
* Net migration to Britain is estimated to drop by nearly 50 percent in 2024, mainly driven by a sharp decline in arrivals from non-EU countries and a rise in departures of international students following the relaxation of post-pandemic travel restrictions, said the British Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Thursday.
* The Lao economy is showing signs of stabilization, especially in the currency and monetary sectors, thanks to strong government efforts, said Phetsathaphone Keovongvichith, director general of the Banking Operations Department under the Lao central bank, the Bank of the Lao PDR.
* The Chinese mainland has become Singapore's third-largest services trade partner over the past decade, overtaking ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations), Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry said on Thursday.
* Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said on Thursday that the Sihanoukville Special Economy Zone (SSEZ) has not only boosted the kingdom's trade and economic growth, but also improved local livelihoods.
* Singapore's economy expanded 3.9 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, easing from 5.0 percent growth in the previous quarter, official data showed on Thursday.
* The New Zealand government released Budget 2025 on Thursday, calling it a responsible plan to boost economic recovery, tackle rising living costs, and strengthen essential services without raising taxes or borrowing more.
* Malaysia's inflation increased 1.4 percent in April with the index points stood at 134.3 as against 132.4 in the same month of the previous year, official data showed Thursday.
* Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday that the inflation in the country has dropped to the lowest level in more than three years, which proves the government's policies, as the Turkish central bank announced to keep its year-end inflation forecast unchanged at 24 percent.
* Britain's Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rose by 3.5 percent in April year-on-year, marking the highest rate since January 2024, according to data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Wednesday.
* Pakistan's seafood exports increased by over 8 percent in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year 2024-25, compared to the same period of the last fiscal year, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has said.
* The death toll from the landslides in southwest China's Guizhou Province on Thursday has risen to four while 17 people remain trapped, the provincial government said. Two separate landslides struck Changshi and Guowa townships in Dafang County under the city of Bijie on the same day, trapping two and 19, respectively.
* Seventy-six percent of the population in India is at a very high risk of extreme heat, a latest study conducted by New Delhi-based Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) said.
* As around 50,000 residents across New South Wales' (NSW) Mid North Coast and Hunter regions are urged to prepare to evacuate, experts are warning that entering floodwaters poses one of the most significant threats to life.
* Myanmar recorded more than 860 cases and four deaths from dengue fever between Jan. 1 and May 10, 2025, state-owned Myanmar Radio and Television reported on Thursday, citing figures from the country's Ministry of Health.
* An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.5 jolted Crete, Greece at 0319 GMT on Thursday, the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences said. The epicenter, with a depth of 102.8 km, was initially determined to be at 35.46 degrees north latitude and 25.82 degrees east longitude.
