* The Serbian parliament elected the country's new government on Thursday, led by Prime Minister Milos Vucevic. Vucevic's government, with Finance Minister Sinisa Mali as the first deputy prime minister, was sworn into duty after it garnered 152 votes in the 250-member parliament.
* The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the wanted list, according to the ministry's database.
* Argentina on Thursday came one step closer to joining the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
* Russia is ready to consider "serious" proposals to settle the Ukraine conflict based on existing "realities" and Moscow's security concerns, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday.
* NATO's four-month long military exercises near Russia's borders, known as Steadfast Defender, are proof the alliance is preparing for a potential conflict with Russia, a spokeswoman for Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.
* U.S. President Joe Biden will have a private White House meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah next week, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said on Friday.
* The accusations of Russia using chemical weapons in Ukraine are unfounded, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday. On Wednesday, the United States accused Russia of allegedly using the toxic substance chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops, according to media reports.
* Police in Paris entered France's prestigious Sciences Po university on Friday and removed student activists who had occupied its buildings overnight in protest against Israel's conduct in its war against Hamas in Gaza.
* An Israeli incursion into the southern city of Rafah in Gaza could lead to a "slaughter" and worsen the humanitarian catastrophe in the region, the United Nations' (UN) humanitarian office and health agency warned Friday.
* At least 34,654 Palestinians have been killed and 77,908 wounded in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
* Yemen's Houthis will target ships heading to Israeli ports in any area that is within their range, military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a televised speech on Friday.
* Following a brief lull in March, militant attacks in Pakistan surged once again in April with at least 77 verifiable incidents resulting in 70 fatalities, an Islamabad-based think-tank said in a recent report.
* The UN General Assembly on Thursday adopted a resolution to declare 2026 as the International Year of the Woman Farmer.
* South Sudan has announced that United Nations agencies and diplomatic missions will be exempted from paying taxes on imported goods, but contracted companies remain obligated to do so.
* At least 1,000 Sudanese refugees have fled a camp run by the United Nations in northern Ethiopia following a series of shootings and robberies, three of the refugees and the United Nations said.
* U.S. job growth slowed more than expected in April and the increase in annual wages fell below 4.0% for the first time in nearly three years, but it is probably too early to expect that the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates before September as the labor market remains fairly tight.
* Russia's largest carmaker AvtoVAZ in April registered a 12-year high in record monthly sales of its Lada vehicles, the company said Thursday. According to a statement, sales of Lada commercial and passenger vehicles in Russia amounted to 45,551 units in April, up 64.8 percent year over year.
* Bolivia's economy grew 3.1% in 2023 compared to the year before, Planning Minister Sergio Cusicanqui said in a press conference on Friday. The economy is forecast to grow 3.71% this year.
* Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek on Saturday cited positive results of the government's economic programme in response to credit ratings agency S&P upgrading Turkey's ratings to "B+" from "B".
* Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on Friday outlined the country's priorities for attracting foreign investment, according to his press service.
* Ukraine's economic growth is projected to slow down to 3 percent this year from 5.3 percent in 2023, the government-run Ukrinform news agency reported Friday, citing a recent forecast.
* Donors and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have agreed to a replenishment of 5 billion USD for the ADB's Asian Development Fund (ADF) 14 and Technical Assistance Special Fund (TASF) 8, the ADB announced Friday.
* A record 16.1 million foreign tourists visited Spain in the first three months of 2024, marking a 17.7 percent increase over the same period in 2023, according to data published on Friday by the Spanish Statistical Office (INE).
* China on Friday launched an uncrewed spacecraft on a nearly two-month mission to retrieve rocks and soil from the far side of the moon, the first country to make such an ambitious attempt.
* Heavy rains battering Brazil's southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul have killed 39 people, local authorities said on Friday, and the death toll is expected to rise as dozens still have not been accounted for.
* The Indonesian government will permanently relocate almost 10,000 residents after a series of explosive eruptions of the Ruang volcano has raised concerns about the dangers of residing on the island in future, a minister said on Friday.
* At least 42 deaths have been recorded from a measles outbreak in just over a week in Nigeria's northeastern state of Adamawa, the state's health commissioner said on Friday.
