* UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday urged the international community to stand with Africa, calling for the continent to be adequately represented in the international financial system.
* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Chinese special envoy Li Hui discussed prospects for resolving the conflict in Ukraine at a meeting in Moscow on Friday, Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
* The 129th joint Mekong River patrol by China, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand concluded on Friday, said the public security department of southwest China's Yunnan Province.
* The Japanese government on Friday announced further sanctions on Russia, including a ban on exports, more asset freezes as well as payment restrictions on Russian individuals and entities.
* Sudan's warring sides are complying better with a ceasefire, monitors Saudi Arabia and the United States said on Friday, despite reports of sporadic fighting in Khartoum and elsewhere.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a phone call with his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, confirmed that Russia is open to dialogue over Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Friday. Lula earlier tweeted that he had reiterated Brazil's willingness to talk to both sides of the conflict in Ukraine.
* The United States is looking forward to seeing Turkey and Hungary ratify Sweden's NATO accession bid before a key summit of the alliance in July in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, the State Department's acting top diplomat for Europe said on Friday.
* Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos on Thursday pushed for resumption of negotiations for a Philippine-European Union (EU) free trade agreement (FTA), saying his country is ready to comply with "vital international obligations" as determined by the European bloc.
* Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Friday his government is about to reach agreements with China and South Korea aimed at curbing trafficking in synthetic opioid fentanyl.
* Kuwait has suspended all new visas for Philippine nationals indefinitely, the interior ministry confirmed this week, in an escalation of a row between the oil-rich Gulf state and Manila over worker protections and employer rights.
* The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman on Friday censured the U.S. and French governments, which he described as two major arms exporters to the Middle East, for expressing concern over Iran's test-launch of a new ballistic missile.
* Islamist al Shabaab militants attacked a military base housing Ugandan forces with the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia on Friday, and a Somali army captain said both sides suffered heavy casualties.
* The White House and congressional Republicans on Friday aim to put the final touches on a deal to raise the U.S. government's $31.4 trillion debt ceiling for two years while capping spending on many government programs, according to a U.S. official.
* Libya said on Thursday that it welcomes Turkish investment in its private sector as well as industrial and agricultural projects.
* The European Union will not vote on phasing out so-called forever chemicals before 2025, an EU official said, as the bloc moves to regulate the use of such chemicals, which are essential for industry but have long-term hazardous environmental impacts.
* Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made a phone call with his Iraqi counterpart Fouad Hussein, calling for expanding Iran-Iraq banking relations.
* Austria, France, Ireland and the Netherlands have called on the European Union to toughen laws to curb the impact of private jet travel on the climate, a document showed.
* Deep ocean currents around parts of Antarctica are slowing down decades earlier than expected as a result of climate change, an Australian research has revealed.
* India is likely to receive a normal amount of monsoon rain in 2023 despite the likely emergence of the El Nino weather phenomenon, the state-run weather office said on Friday, the fifth year of normal or above-normal summer rain.
* The World Bank on Friday approved 300 million USD in additional financing to the Emergency Crisis and COVID-19 Response Social Safety Net Project (ESSN) in Lebanon.
* The European Union and drugmakers Pfizer PFE.N and BioNTech 22UAy.DEsaid on Friday they had reached a deal to amend a COVID-19 vaccine contract, cutting the number the EU must buy and pushing the delivery deadline to 2026.
* Al Shabaab fighters attacked a military base housing Ugandan forces of the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia on Friday, with a Somali captain saying both sides suffered heavy casualties.
* Malaysia's inflation increased slower to 3.3 percent in April, with the index points recorded at 130 against 125.9 in the same month of the previous year, official data showed Friday.
* Sri Lanka is confident of meeting its September deadline on completing debt restructuring talks with creditors, a top official said on Friday, as the debt-laden country works to emerge from its worst financial crisis in decades.
* Mexican exports decreased in April amid slower U.S. economic growth and a greater likelihood of a U.S. recession, reports said on Thursday.
* Malta attracted more than 3.7 billion euros (3.9 billion USD) in investment last year, Prime Minister Robert Abela said on Friday.
