* The U.S. Senate on Wednesday failed to approve a short-term spending bill, as the federal government entered its first shutdown in nearly seven years. The Senate voted on the same two bills that it failed to pass Tuesday night -- one from Democrats and the other from Republicans.
* Russia supports reforms of the global governance system and will work actively with China and other countries to refine and implement the Global Governance Initiative, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at the 22nd annual meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club in Sochi on Tuesday.
* European Union (EU) leaders held an informal summit in Copenhagen on Wednesday, discussing issues including the advancement of an EU-wide "drone wall" and continued support for Ukraine, according to remarks made at a late-evening press conference.
* Ukraine on Wednesday received 4 billion euros (about 4.7 billion USD) in a European Union loan sourced from frozen Russian assets, according to the country's Ministry of Finance. The funds were transferred to Ukraine's state budget under the Group of Seven's Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration for Ukraine initiative, the ministry said.
* Croatia is ready to increase the production of FPV drones, Croatian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Ivan Anusic said on Wednesday. Currently, the country produces about 200,000 drones per year.
* Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power plant experienced power fluctuations early Wednesday due to a technical problem, according to the UN nuclear watchdog. The plant lost connection to the 330 kV line of its Slavutych substation.
* Lithuania's transmission system operator Litgrid plans to raise the capacity for electricity trade with Poland, a move expected to create better conditions for the growth of renewable energy in Lithuania, the Baltic News Service reported.
* China expresses its deep disappointment and regret over Washington's earlier veto of a UN Security Council draft resolution aiming to alleviate Gaza's humanitarian crisis, said Fu Cong, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, on Wednesday.
* Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is tightening the siege around Gaza City "on the way to defeating Hamas."
* Five rockets were launched Wednesday evening from the northern Gaza Strip toward Ashdod, a coastal city in southern Israel, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. According to the Israeli army, four of the rockets were successfully intercepted by its air defense system, and one fell in open terrain, causing no casualties.
* Several vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) have been stopped in the Mediterranean Sea as they approached Gaza shores, and their passengers are being transferred to an Israeli port, according to a statement issued by the Israeli Foreign Ministry on Wednesday night.
* European countries on Wednesday urged Israel to ensure the safety of their citizens on Gaza-bound aid ships, following its interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla earlier that day. The flotilla, some 50 vessels with over 500 volunteers from more than 40 countries, aims to challenge Israel's naval blockade and deliver food and medical aid to Palestinians.
* The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement on Wednesday that, due to the intensification of military operations in Gaza City in northern Gaza Strip, it has temporarily closed its local office and relocated staff to other offices in the southern Gaza Strip to ensure their safety.
* Tens of thousands of workers across Greece staged a 24-hour nationwide strike on Wednesday, disrupting transport and public services in protest against a draft labor bill.
* Iran's government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said on Wednesday that the United States had rejected Iran's recent proposal for direct talks during the 80th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
* The Indian government on Wednesday approved a budget of 9.5 billion USD to support minimum support prices (MSP) for the upcoming winter season crops, known locally as Rabi crops.
* Thailand's business sentiment edged up in September due to improvements in both the manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors, data from the central bank showed on Wednesday. According to the Bank of Thailand, the Southeast Asian country's business sentiment index (BSI) was recorded at 48.0 last month, edging up from 47.5 in August, as most components increased.
* Indonesia booked a trade surplus of 29.14 billion USD in the January-August period this year, up from 18.85 billion dollars in the same period of 2024, Statistics Indonesia said on Wednesday.
* Croatia's annual inflation rate rose to 4.2 percent in September, making it the Eurozone country with the second-highest price growth, according to the Croatian Bureau of Statistics and Eurostat data.
* Cote d'Ivoire's crude oil production rose 50 percent year-on-year in 2024 to 16.1 million barrels, the Council of Ministers said Wednesday. The country produced around 44,000 barrels of crude oil per day on average in 2024, it said.
* The death toll from the magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck Cebu province in the central Philippines Tuesday night rose to 72, the Philippines' disaster management agency said Thursday. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported that at least 294 people were injured in the quake that hit Cebu province at 9:59 p.m. local time on Tuesday.
* Rescuers have so far detected no further signs of life under the rubble of a collapsed school building in Indonesia's East Java province, the National Disaster Management Agency said on Thursday. Abdul Muhari, spokesperson for the agency, said in a statement on Thursday that 59 people are still unaccounted for. Search and rescue operations remain underway.
* The death toll from a wooden scaffolding collapse in Ethiopia's Amhara Region has risen to 36, local officials said on Wednesday. Police said the death toll could rise further as more than 200 people sustained serious and minor injuries.
* Switzerland's glaciers have lost a quarter of their volume in the last ten years, with over 1,000 small glaciers having already disappeared, GLAMOS, the glacier monitoring network in Switzerland, and the Swiss Commission for Cryosphere observation (SCC) of the Swiss Academy of Sciences jointly said Wednesday.
* Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki volcano in Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara province erupted on Wednesday, spewing a column of ash up to 5 km high and prompting the highest aviation alert, the country's Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center said.
