* The European Union (EU) and the Philippines have formalized a new cooperation agreement for the EU-Philippines Digital Economy Package, the Philippine Department of Finance (DOF) said Thursday.
* A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson reconfirmed on Thursday that Chinese Premier Li Qiang will not meet with the Japanese leader during the upcoming Group of 20 Leaders' Summit.
* The conditions for holding the trilateral culture ministers' meeting among China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) are currently not in place, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Thursday. According to reports, the trilateral meeting among China, Japan and the ROK, originally scheduled for this month, will be postponed.
* Moscow and Washington keep in touch, but there are no consultations on Ukraine, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday. Peskov said Russia remains open to the Ukraine settlement, but it must lead to the "elimination of the root causes of this conflict."
* U.S. President Donald Trump has approved a 28-point plan for peace between Russia and Ukraine that U.S. officials developed in consultation with Russian and Ukrainian officials, NBC News reported on Wednesday.
* Romania has taken another significant step toward joining the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) with the promulgation of a new law aimed at strengthening integrity rules across public institutions, President Nicusor Dan said on Thursday.
* Ukraine brought home 1,000 bodies, which, according to the Russian side, belonged to fallen Ukrainian soldiers, a government agency reported on Thursday.
* Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday emphasized Türkiye's commitment to advancing diplomatic efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict, during talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Ankara.
* German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Wednesday that Germany is actively working to provide the Ukrainian army with long-range weapon systems.
* The Lithuanian government decided on Wednesday to reopen the border with Belarus earlier than planned, the Baltic News Service(BNS) reported. The Salcininkai-Benyakoni and Medininkai-Kamenny Log border checkpoints have been temporarily closed for more than two weeks.
* Poland will close Russia's consulate in Gdansk, the last Russian consulate in the country, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Wednesday at a press conference.
* Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov expressed regret on Wednesday over Poland's decision to shut down the last remaining Russian consulate, saying bilateral relations have "completely degraded."
* Romania has taken another significant step toward joining the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) with the promulgation of a new law aimed at strengthening integrity rules across public institutions, President Nicusor Dan said on Thursday.
* The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a 330-million USD loan to Pakistan to expand the national transmission network, the ADB said in a statement Thursday.
* Türkiye has detained 687 irregular migrants and arrested 29 suspected migrant smugglers in a nationwide sweep across all 81 provinces, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Thursday.
* Russia's State Duma, or lower house of parliament, approved the federal budget for 2026-2028, Russian media RIA Novosti reported on Thursday.
* Israel's Defense Ministry said on Thursday that it signed a "multi-billion-dollar contract" with the state-owned arms manufacturer Rafael to ramp up production of Iron Dome interceptors.
* Indigenous land cover in New Zealand has declined steadily from 1996 to 2023, while urban land continued to expand, Stats NZ reported Thursday. Since records began in 1996, New Zealand's indigenous land cover has decreased by 96,522 hectares, an area roughly the size of the Chatham Islands, the statistics showed.
* Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei on Wednesday rejected a recent claim by the U.S. president that Tehran and Washington were holding nuclear talks.
* Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday toured the buffer zone on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, the prime minister's office said, amid reports of contacts aimed at reaching a new security arrangement in the area.
* The Hamas-run media office on Thursday accused the Israeli military of a "blatant violation" of the cease-fire agreement, claiming Israel expanded the Yellow Line boundary that restricts its operations east of Gaza City.
* Iran will not accept any agreement that would lead to zero uranium enrichment in the country as it is considered a "betrayal," Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi has said.
