* Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announced Thursday that he is withdrawing from the presidential race, even if a court-ordered recount proves he was disadvantaged in the first round of the election.
* Voters are taking to the polls in the Irish general election on Friday, with the incumbent coalition neck-and-neck with opposition party Sinn Fein. Polls opened at 0700 GMT and will close at 2200 GMT as Ireland's 3.8 million voters choose new members of the 174-seat lower chamber of parliament, the Dail, in Dublin.
* Georgia's new government led by Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze won a vote of confidence in the parliament on Thursday. The government will have three new ministers: Maka Bochorishvili as the minister of foreign affairs, Anri Okhanashvili as the minister of justice, and Davit Songuashvili as the minister of environment and agriculture.
* Tanzania's ruling party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), won a landslide victory by securing 99.01 percent of village chairperson positions in local government elections held on Wednesday, an official announced late Thursday.
* Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Thursday urged U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to rethink his country's trade embargo against Cuba and sanctions policy against Venezuela, arguing that the punitive measures have a direct impact on citizens and fuel mass migration.
* European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde has called on European leaders to engage with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump over potential tariffs and increase purchases of U.S.-made goods, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Thursday.
* Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and visiting Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk signed on Thursday in Harpsund, Sweden, a new strategic partnership between the two countries.
* Deliveries of piped natural gas from Norway to continental Europe and Britain should hit record levels this winter and remain strong throughout 2025, with few maintenance outages scheduled, system operator Gassco said on Friday.
* Israeli military strikes killed at least 40 Palestinians overnight and on Friday in the Gaza Strip, many of them in the Nuseirat refugee camp at the centre of the enclave, medics said, after Israeli tanks pulled back from parts of the camp.
* Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, on Friday claimed responsibility for a shooting attack at a bus of Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank that injured nine people.
* The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Friday warned residents of 63 villages in southern Lebanon not to return to their homes until further notice.
* Senior diplomats from Iran and the EU on Thursday held widely anticipated talks on Iran's nuclear issue, with both sides describing the discussions as "frank."
* Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Thursday urged pressure on Israel to stop its violations of the ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah, according to a statement by the Council of Ministers, Lebanon's cabinet.
* The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced Thursday evening the immediate lifting of gathering restrictions in central Israel, including Tel Aviv and its suburbs.
* Chad has formally ended a security and defense cooperation accord with France, said Foreign Minister Abderaman Koulamallah on Thursday night.
* Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky and his Israeli counterpart Gideon Sa'ar met on Thursday to discuss the Middle East situation and bilateral cooperation.
* Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye said on Thursday that the presence of French military bases on Senegalese territory is "not compatible" with the sovereignty his administration upholds.
* The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has lifted its bar on Pakistan International Airlines PIAa.PSX from operating in the bloc, it said on Friday.
* China's central bank announced on Friday that it conducted open market government bond transactions in November, resulting in a net purchase of bonds with a face value of 200 billion yuan (about 27.8 billion USD).
* The Japanese government on Friday approved a 13.9 trillion yen (about 92.6 billion USD) supplementary budget for the fiscal year through March to fund a new economic package aimed at easing the financial burden on households amid rising prices.
* Laos' Ministry of Finance has announced substantial revenue growth for the first 10 months of 2024, with total revenue reaching more than 46 trillion kip (over 2 billion USD), equivalent to 92 percent of the annual target, marking a 40 percent increase compared to the same period in 2023.
* Thailand's economy improved in October compared to the previous month, thanks to a steady rise in tourism revenue and improvements in private consumption, manufacturing production and government spending, the central bank said on Friday.
* Canada's economy grew at an annualized rate of just 1% in the third quarter, less than what the Bank of Canada had predicted, prompting currency markets to boost bets for a jumbo rate cut next month.
* Myanmar earned over 2.7 billion USD from agricultural exports from April 1 to Oct. 25 in the current fiscal year 2024-2025, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported on Friday.
* Uzbekistan's food exports have exceeded 2 billion USD this year, the press service of the President of Uzbekistan said in a statement on Thursday.
* Worsening floods have displaced 98,129 people and killed three across several states in Malaysia as of 8 p.m. local time on Friday. The worst affected areas are the east coast states of Kelantan and Terengganu, with 72,475 and 19,294 people evacuated respectively, according to the country's social welfare department.
* Over 463,000 people have been affected by rain-related disasters in Sri Lanka starting from Nov. 22, according to the country's Disaster Management Center (DMC) on Friday.
