* The Tokyo Metropolitan government on Thursday raised its COVID-19 alert to the second-highest level on its four-tier scale. The alert was set at the second-highest level for the first time since Oct. 6.
* Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe has instructed officials to implement the Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (FTA) immediately in order to boost exports, local media reported Thursday.
* Myanmar's State Administration Council granted amnesty to 5,774 prisoners on Thursday to mark its National Day, according to the state-run television channel MRTV.
* Republicans will take control of the US House of Representatives, according to media projections on Wednesday. CNN is projecting Republicans to have won 218 seats out of all 435 House races, reaching the majority threshold, versus 208 for Democrats while nine elections are still too close to call.
* Russia and Ukraine agreed on Thursday to prolong a deal on the export of grain and fertilizers from Black Sea ports, which expires on Friday, for 120 days.
*Jens Stoltenberg, secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, said in Brussels on Wednesday that the explosion at the Polish village of Przewodow near the border with Ukraine on Tuesday night was likely not an attack by Russia but was caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile.
* US Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Wednesday there's a possibility for "a political solution" to Russia-Ukraine conflict.
* The United States aims to only sell and produce zero-emissions medium- and heavy-duty vehicles like school buses and tractor trailers by 2040, the US energy secretary agreed at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt on Thursday.
* Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday said that the bilateral ties between Türkiye and Israel have entered a new era "thanks to the strong will of both sides."
* The Arab region needs more than 570 billion USD by 2030 to reinforce its adaptation to climate change, said a UN press release on Thursday.
* Nearly half of the world's population, or 3.5 billion people, suffer from oral diseases, the majority of them in low- and middle-income countries, the World Health Organization said on Thursday.
* Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Chinese mainland, in actual use, expanded 14.4 percent year on year to nearly 1.09 trillion yuan in the first 10 months of 2022, the Ministry of Commerce said Thursday.
* The Republic of Korea's real household income, adjusted for inflation, recorded the first fall in five quarters in the third quarter amid surging inflation, statistical office data showed Thursday.
* Malaysia's exports rose by 15 percent year on year to 131.63 billion ringgit (28.94 billion USD) in October, official data showed Thursday.
* New Zealand's producer output and input prices have increased in the September 2022 quarter, the country's statistics department Stats NZ said on Thursday.
* Latin American development bank CAF said on Thursday it was placing a $800 mln bond aiming to boost economic development in Latin America and the Caribbean.
* High energy prices have continued to drive up Austria's inflation to 11 percent in October, Statistics Austria said on Thursday.
* Finland needs over 50,000 immigrants a year for the next 28 years to fill job vacancies arising due to an ageing population, said Technology Finland on Wednesday.
* Bangladesh Bank (BB) has worked out a 50 billion taka (about 500 million USD) refinance scheme to ensure food security in the country as the banking regulator anticipates a possible global food crisis in the near future, said a BB circular issued here on Thursday.
* Intense battles erupted between Yemen's government forces and the Houthi rebels in various areas of the southwestern province of Taiz on Thursday, a military official told Xinhua.
* At least 21 people were killed and several others injured when a fire broke out in a building where residents attended a party in the Gaza Strip, health and civil emergency officials said on Thursday.
