* Latvia's parliament (Saeima) on Thursday approved a new cabinet line-up, with Andris Kulbergs of the United List alliance becoming prime minister.
* At the invitation of General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Chinese President Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee and Lao President Thongloun Sisoulith will pay a state visit to China from June 2 to 6.
* China's State Council recently released an urban renewal plan, outlining key targets, major tasks and projects, as well as policy measures for the country's urban renewal efforts during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030).
* Indonesia's Ministry of Transportation is seeking to strengthen urban mass transportation networks as part of efforts to ease the country's annual fuel subsidy burden, an official said Thursday.
* The U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing is planning to potentially print a commemorative 250-USD bill with the image of President Donald Trump to mark the 250th anniversary of America, CNN reported Thursday.
* Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday witnessed the launch of cross-border autonomous freight trucks linking Astana and Moscow.
* The Ukrainian parliament on Thursday voted to ratify a loan agreement between Ukraine and the European Union, the country's Finance Ministry announced.
* Poland plans to sign agreements with the European Union (EU) by the end of May to finance military equipment purchases worth 100 billion Polish zlotys (about 27.49 billion USD), Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Thursday.
* Israel will "have no further contact" with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon said Thursday, after his country was blacklisted by the UN alongside Hamas and other armed groups.
* Ukrainian forces struck the Tuapse oil refinery in Russia's Krasnodar region overnight on Wednesday, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said Thursday.
* The United States, Mexico and Canada on Thursday announced aligned public health travel measures for individuals arriving from African regions at the highest risk from the Ebola virus.
* The UN secretary-general's door remains open to Israeli representatives, a UN spokesperson said on Thursday in response to the Israeli UN ambassador's comments.
* The Council of the European Union (EU) said on Thursday that the EU has adopted restrictive measures on Israeli extremist settler-linked entities and individuals over serious and systematic human rights abuses against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
* Swiss authorities said on Thursday a stabbing attack at Winterthur train station near Zurich that wounded three people was an "act of terrorism."
* The U.S. Central Command said that no U.S. aircraft were shot down by Iranian forces on Thursday, rejecting earlier media reports.
* U.S. and Iranian negotiators have reached an agreement on a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to extend the ceasefire by 60 days and launch talks on Iran's nuclear program, but U.S. President Donald Trump has yet to give his final approval, U.S. media Axios reported Thursday, citing U.S. officials and a regional source.
* A source close to Iran's negotiating team has denied that the text of a proposed memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Iran and the United States had been finalized, Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported Thursday, rejecting earlier claims in U.S. media.
* Iran has no plans to take highly enriched uranium outside the country, Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, told RIA Novosti on Friday.
* Iran's air defenses were activated Thursday night in the southern province of Bushehr, with an "invading" U.S. drone destroyed, Iran's media reported.
* Kuwait on Thursday strongly condemned what it described as Iranian missile and drone attacks targeting its territory, warning that the strikes threatened regional stability amid intensified diplomatic efforts to contain tensions.
* Three oil tankers were attacked by drones near Türkiye's northern Black Sea coast on Thursday, shipping agency Tribeca said, with no casualties reported.
* Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that he has issued a directive to increase the Israeli military's control over the Gaza Strip from 60 percent to 70 percent of the territory.
* About 2-3 million Israelis will receive cancellation notices for the summer due to U.S. military aircraft occupying space at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, Israel Airports Authority CEO Sharon Kedmi said Thursday.
* U.S. economic growth in the first quarter was significantly weaker than initially estimated, while consumer inflation remained elevated in April, official data showed Thursday. GDP expanded at an annual rate of just 1.6 percent in the first quarter, according to a revised reading from the Commerce Department.
* Tourism direct gross value added (TDGVA) accounted for 8.1 percent of the Philippine economy in 2025, according to the data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority on Thursday.
* Japan's population, including foreign residents, stood at 123.05 million in 2025, down by a record 3.1 million from 2020, underscoring the demographic pressures facing the rapidly aging society.
* Bulgarian customs officers have seized more than 1,000 shipments of narcotics in various forms, officials said on Thursday.
* Movement restrictions including border closures are affecting staff deployment and delivery of critical supplies, thus hampering the Ebola response efforts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), UN humanitarians said Thursday.
* Uganda has banned mass public gatherings in an effort to curb the spread of the Ebola virus disease in the East African country.
* American private space company Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket exploded on the launch pad during an engine hotfire test at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in the U.S. state of Florida on Thursday, U.S. media reported.
* At least two people were injured after a drone struck a residential apartment building in Galati, Romania, near the border with Ukraine, local media reported Friday.
* A major forest fire broke out Thursday in Miedzyles, northeast of Warsaw, burning more than 30 hectares of woodland and prompting the evacuation of nearby residents, according to local media outlet RMF24.
* Global average temperatures are likely to continue at or near record levels in the next five years, with Arctic temperature anomalies expected to continue to be higher than the global mean, said the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in a press release on Thursday.
* About 16 percent of Antarctic sea ice is affected by waves from the rough Southern Ocean, Australian-led research reveals, offering the first clear picture of a crucial but understudied region called the Marginal Ice Zone (MIZ).
