* China's top diplomat Wang Yi met with a delegation led by Kim Song Nam, a member of the Political Bureau, secretary and international department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), in Beijing on Thursday.
* U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said on Wednesday that "we are going to end the war" with Iran, and that there will be support from some Senate Republicans.
* The Missile Administration of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Wednesday test-fired what it called a "newly-designed advanced air-defense missile system," the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Thursday.
* The European Commission on Wednesday presented accession roadmaps for Ukraine and three other leading European Union (EU) membership candidates, urging Kyiv to accelerate reforms to meet its goal of concluding negotiations by the end of 2028.
* Ukraine's nuclear power plants have been forced to reduce their power generating capacity due to large-scale Russian attacks on the country's energy infrastructure, Ukraine's Energy Ministry said on Wednesday.
* The European Commission on Wednesday unveiled its 2027 work programme, outlining plans to boost competitiveness by deepening the European Union (EU) single market, lowering energy costs and cutting red tape, while strengthening defence and security, improving the social model, tackling climate change and expanding global partnerships.
* German and Lithuanian defence ministers on Wednesday pledged to deepen bilateral defence ties and advance the stationing of a permanent German combat brigade on NATO's eastern flank.
* The presidential summit of the Visegrad Group (V4) opened on Wednesday in Trencin in western Slovakia. The meeting of the group, comprising Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, aims to revitalize cooperation among the four countries and strengthen their collective voice in European affairs, according to the News Agency of the Slovak Republic (TASR).
* On Wednesday, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet met with Najat Maalla M'jid, the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Representative on Violence against Children, in Phnom Penh to discuss progress and future strategies for child protection.
* Kazakhstan plans to commission approximately 200 new industrial enterprises with a total investment of around 1.7 trillion tenge (3.76 billion USD) by the end of 2026, the Kazinform news agency reported Wednesday, citing First Deputy Prime Minister Nurlybek Nalibayev.
* Indonesia will push for greater international climate finance and a just energy transition for developing countries at the upcoming UN climate conference in Türkiye, Environment Minister Mohammad Jumhur Hidayat said Wednesday at a press briefing.
* Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye on Wednesday signed a decree calling voters to participate in the presidential election scheduled for May 3, 2027.
* Singapore has set a minimum threshold of 40 percent for lifecycle emissions reductions for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) procured using proceeds from its SAF levy, as the country prepares to launch its first tender by mid-December 2026, regulators said on Thursday.
* About 40,000 high school students across Denmark walked out of classes Wednesday to protest government plans to cut student grants, organizers said. The Danish student organization DGS said students at 57 high schools suspended classes, according to Danish news agency Ritzau.
* Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has effectively lost another year in making tangible progress toward European integration and could face further cuts in European Union (EU) funding if it fails to meet the conditions for implementing the Western Balkans Growth Plan by the end of this year, the head of the EU Delegation to BiH and EU Special Representative Luigi Soreca said Wednesday.
* Afghan authorities on Thursday confirmed the release and repatriation of 416 Afghan inmates from Pakistani prisons over the past week, according to a statement from the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation.
* Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Wednesday warned that neither partisan changes in the United States nor concessions to Washington would end U.S. hostility toward the Iranian nation.
* Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Thursday that three vessels, including two supertankers, caught fire in two separate incidents the previous night while crossing the Strait of Hormuz through an "illegal and unauthorized" route south of the waterway.
* Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud discussed bilateral relations and regional developments with visiting Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh on Wednesday, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
* Israel's military and Shin Bet security agency said Wednesday that they had killed a senior Hamas intelligence official in an airstrike in Gaza City on Sunday.
* Czech police said on Thursday that they were working with Prague Airport to prepare for the landing of four aircraft bound for the Czech capital after receiving bomb threats, alleging that explosive devices had been planted onboard. Police assessed the credibility of the threat as low.
* An Airbus A320 passenger plane traveling from Dublin to Rome was diverted to Evreux airbase in northern France on Thursday morning following a bomb alert, French media reported. The situation is being monitored in real time by French authorities, according to French television channel TF1.
* The Israel National Cyber Directorate announced Wednesday the launch of a national cyber portal, offering free cybersecurity services and practical protection tools for businesses, individuals and organizations.
* Namibia on Wednesday launched a petroleum storage and regional pipeline project in Walvis Bay on the country's west coast, with an estimated investment of 2.5 billion USD, seeking to strengthen fuel security and improve supplies to neighboring countries.
* Four people died, one was seriously injured and two went missing after the SUV they were travelling in fell into a 300-meter-deep gorge and eventually landed in a river in India's northern state of Uttarakhand in the early hours of Thursday, a local police officer confirmed.
* An Indonesian military helicopter crashed during a forest and land firefighting mission in Central Kalimantan province on Wednesday, killing one of its eight crew members, the Indonesian army said.
* At least 11 rescue personnel went missing on Wednesday evening after two rescue boats carrying them capsized in a swollen lake in the southern Indian state of Telangana, officials said.
