* U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday in Helsingborg, Sweden, that talks with Iran had made "slight progress," while stressing that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) must be "good for everyone" involved.
* India and Cyprus on Friday signed several Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) in the fields of counter-terrorism, research and innovation, education, and culture, in New Delhi.
* By attacking the college in Starobelsk, Ukraine has assumed full responsibility for escalating the conflict and undermining political-diplomatic efforts to resolve it, said a statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday.
* The Hungarian government has decided to ban imports of agricultural products from Ukraine and withdraw its intention to leave the International Criminal Court (ICC), Prime Minister Peter Magyar said on Friday.
* The Trump administration is preparing for a fresh round of military strikes against Iran despite ongoing diplomatic efforts, U.S. media reported Friday, citing sources with direct knowledge of the planning.
* Poland has received three F-35 fighter jets from the United States, Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz announced on Friday. These are the first fifth-generation F-35 fighters deployed on NATO's eastern flank, Kosiniak-Kamysz said on social media platform X.
* Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Friday that peace negotiations between Iran and the United States are not close to an agreement.
* The Israeli military said Friday that its troops killed three Palestinian militants in separate incidents across the Gaza Strip, while Palestinian media reported two additional Palestinian deaths.
* Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon from late Thursday into Friday killed at least 11 people, including paramedics, rescuers, and a child, and wounded several others, according to Lebanese sources.
* Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye has terminated the functions of Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko and his government, according to a presidential statement read Friday evening on public broadcaster RTS by Oumar Samba Ba, minister and secretary-general of the presidency.
* Kazakhstan has earmarked 214.6 billion tenge (about 455 million USD) in investment subsidies for water-saving measures in 2026-2028, four times the amount allocated in the previous three-year period, the Kazinform news agency reported Friday.
* SpaceX launched the 12th flight test of its giant Starship rocket on Friday, marking the first flight test of its next-generation Starship system. Starship lifted off from SpaceX's Starbase facility in the U.S. state of Texas at 5:30 p.m. Central Time (2230 GMT).
* Millions of people across Nigeria are bracing for one of the worst lean seasons on record amid conflict, violence and insecurity, UN humanitarians said in a news release on Friday.
* The death toll from clashes between members of the Misak and Nasa Indigenous communities in southwestern Colombia has risen to six, Colombian Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said Friday. The minister said army troops had been deployed to restore order.
* Nearly 1,000 Afghan refugee families have returned to their homeland in a single day, the official Bakhtar News Agency said Saturday. According to the report, 961 families crossed back into Afghanistan from neighboring Iran and Pakistan.
* The People's Bank of China on Friday announced that it will carry out a 600-billion-yuan (about 87.7 billion USD) one-year medium-term lending facility (MLF) operation on May 25, aiming to maintain adequate liquidity in the country's banking system.
* Kevin Warsh was sworn in as chair of the Board of Governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve System during a White House ceremony on Friday, beginning a four-year term.
* Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Friday defended the principle of self-determination and voiced disagreement with the U.S. decision to bring criminal charges against former Cuban leader Raul Castro.
* The Pentagon on Friday released a second batch of files on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), commonly known as unidentified flying objects (UFOs).
* Indonesia is prioritizing the construction of dams and permanent bridges as part of post-disaster recovery efforts following flash floods in Sumatra, including Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra, Minister of Public Works Dody Hanggodo said on Friday.
* Three new cases of Ebola Virus Disease have been confirmed in Uganda, bringing the total number of confirmed infections to five in the country, said Uganda's Ministry of Health on Saturday. These are the first locally detected Ebola cases recorded in Uganda since an outbreak began in neighboring DR Congo.
* A Dutch national in quarantine has tested positive for the Andes virus, the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) confirmed on Friday. The patient has been admitted to hospital as a precaution and is currently in isolation, RIVM said in a statement.
* About 40,000 residents in Southern California, the US, were under evacuation orders on Friday after a leaking tank of volatile industrial chemical at an aerospace manufacturing facility sparked fears of a major explosion or toxic spill, according to local authorities.
* China has dispatched six national mine emergency rescue teams, totaling 345 personnel with equipment, to assist in rescue efforts following a coal mine gas explosion in Qinyuan County, north China's Shanxi Province, the Ministry of Emergency Management said on Saturday.
* The death toll has increased to 14 in two road traffic accidents involving garment worker-transporting trucks on Saturday morning in Cambodia, the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training's spokesperson Sun Mesa said.
* An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 jolted 12 km south of Honaunau-Napoopoo, Hawaii on Friday evening, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The epicenter, with a depth of 22.4 km, was initially determined to be at 19.34 degrees north latitude and 155.84 degrees west longitude.
