* Sri Lanka holds a snap election on Thursday which will determine if the South Asian island nation wants to empower its new, leftist President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to push his anti-poverty policies as it recovers from a financial meltdown.
* U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and President Joe Biden, longtime political rivals, discussed Ukraine and the Middle East on Wednesday in a cordial meeting designed to demonstrate a smooth transfer of power despite deep disagreements over policy.
* The 14th Seimas of Lithuania convened for its first sitting on Thursday, with a series of elections on the agenda, the Baltic News Service (BNS) reported.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed developments in the conflict in Ukraine when they spoke this week, the Kremlin said on Thursday, declining to provide further details.
* Turkey was offered partner country status by the BRICS group of nations, Trade Minister Omer Bolat said, as Ankara continues what it calls its efforts to balance its Eastern and Western ties.
* The European Commission on Thursday fined U.S. tech giant Meta 797.72 million euros (about 837.61 million USD) for breaching EU antitrust rules and abusing its dominant positions in the markets.
* Turkey and Qatar signed a series of agreements on Thursday ranging from trade facilitation to military and technical cooperation during Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani's visit to President Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.
* Iran is willing to resolve outstanding disputes over its nuclear programme but won't succumb to pressure, its foreign minister told the U.N. nuclear watchdog head on Thursday, as European countries push for diplomacy before Donald Trump's return to the White House.
* Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani arrived in Ankara on Thursday to chair a Turkey-Qatar High Strategic Committee meeting with President Tayyip Erdogan, after which the sides are expected to sign off on investment-related accords.
* Israel expects the incoming Trump administration to take a hard line against Iran and its nuclear ambitions, which will create an opportunity for more peace deals with Arab neighbors, a senior member of Israel's security cabinet said.
* Greece is in talks with Israel to develop a 2 billion euro ($2.11 billion) anti-aircraft and missile defence dome, part of a wider push to modernise its armed forces as it recovers from a protracted debt crisis, Greek officials said on Thursday.
* The UN Security Council issued a press statement on Wednesday condemning the recent attacks against peacekeepers in Lebanon.
* Fifteen people were killed in Israeli strikes on residential buildings in Damascus on Thursday, Syrian state media reported, and Israel said the attacks targeted military sites and the headquarters of the Islamic Jihad group.
* At least 43,736 Palestinians have been killed and 103,370 injured in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
* Russia's GDP rose by 4.2 percent in the first nine months of 2024 despite the ongoing sanctions pressure, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said Thursday.
* India's wholesale price index (WPI) inflation increased to 2.36 percent in October, official data showed on Thursday. The increase was primarily due to hike in prices of food items, machinery and equipment, motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers.
* The world's demand for oil will fall short of supply by more than 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2025 even if OPEC+ cuts remain in place, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its monthly oil market report on Thursday.
* Argentina's Rosario grains exchange on Wednesday trimmed its estimate for 2024/25 wheat production by 700,000 tons due to delayed rainfall in much of the country's main farming area.
* The number of gasoline-powered vehicles in the Philippines increased by 2.5 percent in 2023, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Thursday.
* More than 800 million adults have diabetes worldwide – almost twice as many as previous estimates have suggested – and more than half of those aged over 30 who have the condition are not receiving treatment, according to a new study.
* Mount Ibu, located in Indonesia's North Maluku province, erupted on Thursday, sending a column of ash up to 3 km high and prompting the second-highest aviation alert, according to the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center.
