* Guinea Bissau's President Umaro Cissoko Embalo said on Thursday he would not run for a second term in elections in November. Embalo, 51, was elected in January 2020 to succeed outgoing president Jose Mario Vaz. He defeated runner-up Domingos Simoes Pereira with 54% of the vote and would have been eligible for another term in office.
* Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Wednesday celebrated the Senate's approval of his administration's judicial reform package.
* Moscow is prepared to find a peaceful settlement to the Ukraine crisis while the West is not ready for sincere diplomatic dialogues, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday.
* The foreign ministers of several Muslim and European countries will meet in Madrid on Friday to discuss how to implement a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Spanish and Norwegian governments said.
* Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra on Thursday outlined her government's policy agenda to parliament, headlined by plans to give away 450 billion baht ($13.4 billion) in handouts to jumpstart Southeast Asia's second-largest economy.
* Bangladeshi interim government's Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus has taken action to protect the rule of law and bolster the crisis-ridden economy since he took office.
* Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Thursday that a German plan to impose tighter checks at its land borders amounted to unilaterally scrapping Europe's open-border Schengen zone and would burden frontline states such as Greece.
* The European Central Bank cut interest rates again on Thursday as inflation slows and economic growth in the euro zone falters, but gave few clues to its next step, even as investors bet on steady policy easing in the months ahead.
* Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly praised the "positive results" of his recent visit to China during a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, according to a statement from the Egyptian cabinet.
* Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and his visiting German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier discussed on Wednesday how to deepen bilateral cooperation and address regional tensions.
* Iran's foreign ministry summoned the heads of the British, French, German and Dutch embassies on Thursday, the Iranian judiciary's Mizan news agency reported, following accusations of missile transfers to Russia and the imposition of new sanctions.
* Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda authorized the country's Defense Minister Laurynas Kasciunas and Vice Foreign Minister Jonas Survila on Thursday to sign an agreement with Berlin on the rights of German troops stationed in Lithuania.
* Latvia's parliament has adopted amendments to the Road Traffic Law, imposing a ban on the operation of vehicles registered in Belarus within Latvian territory.
* Latvia's third military aid package to Ukraine this year, valued at around 40 million euros (44 million USD), has been confirmed, according to a statement on the State Chancellery's website on Wednesday.
* European Union (EU) members have to step up their efforts to meet the EU 2030 energy consumption reduction target, the European Commission said on Wednesday when it published its annual Energy Union Report.
* The World Health Organisation said on Thursday it had carried out a rare evacuation of 97 people, around half of them children, from Gaza to the United Arab Emirates for medical treatment, and urged the resumption of regular such transfers.
* More than 41,118 Palestinians have been killed and 95,125 injured in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
* Tunisian coast guards recovered the bodies of five African women migrants and a baby in waters off the town of Monastir, a judge said on Thursday.
* Russia's Gazprom said it would send 42.4 million cubic metres of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Thursday, a volume in line with recent days.
* The Bolivian government declared a national emergency on Saturday due to wildfires that have destroyed more than 3.8 million hectares of forests and grasslands nationwide.
* Cambodia on Thursday inaugurated a 37.5-million-USD additional container terminal at the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port (PAS) here after a 17-month construction.
* Gaza's economy has shrunk to less than a sixth of its size when the Israel-Hamas war began nearly a year ago, while unemployment in the occupied West Bank has nearly tripled, a U.N. report said on Thursday, underscoring the challenges of reconstruction.
* Malaysia's retail industry recorded a weaker-than-expected growth rate of 0.6 percent in retail sales, as compared to the same period in 2023, amid rising prices, according to the Retail Group Malaysia (RGM).
* Pakistan's central bank cut its key policy rate by a bigger than expected 200 basis points to 17.5% on Thursday, the third straight reduction since June as the country looks to spur growth as inflation eases.
