* Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng has called for efforts to efficiently coordinate COVID-19 prevention and control with economic and social development, stabilize the broader economy, and propel high-quality growth.
* Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio urged on Thursday for the Bank of Japan to work toward achieving its 2% inflation target "sustainably and stably".
* The World Bank has approved 169 million USD in new financing for Cambodia to improve the disaster and climate resilience of the flood-damaged rural roads, according to a statement on Thursday.
* The Central Bank of Myanmar (CBM) Wednesday banned foreign currency for local payments to stabilize the foreign exchange rate in the country.
* The Republic of Korea's central bank on Thursday revised up its 2022 inflation outlook to the mid-4 percent level after delivering back-to-back interest rate hikes.
* Financial stability conditions in the eurozone have worsened as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine pushes prices higher and increases risks to inflation and economic growth, the European Central Bank (ECB) said on Wednesday.
* New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Wednesday the United States should return to a regional trade pact it quit in 2017 if it wanted to engage economically with the Indo-Pacific region.
* The World Economic Forum said on Thursday it will revert to January for its 2023 annual meeting in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.
* It is important for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) to strengthen cooperation and make full use of their strengths amid profound global changes, SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming said on Thursday.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Wednesday to simplify the procedure for residents in the Zaporizhzhya and Kherson regions in southern Ukraine to apply for Russian citizenship.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday that the end of the conflict in Ukraine depends on the West's position on aid to Kiev and Russia's desire to sit down at the negotiating table, the government-run Ukrinform news agency reported.
* Turkey is in negotiations with Russia and Ukraine to open a corridor via the Bosphorus for grain exports from Ukraine, a senior Turkish official told Reuters on Thursday.
* The British government will introduce a temporary levy on energy companies' profits at the rate of 25%, finance minister Rishi Sunak said on Thursday.
* Africa risks sliding into stagflation - a cycle of slow growth and high inflation - as it battles the lingering effects of the pandemic and rising fuel and food prices caused by the Ukraine conflict, the African Development Bank (AfDB) said.
* Pakistan and the IMF have worked out the outlines for the release of over $900 million in funds that would come through once Pakistan removes its fuel subsidies, a Pakistani source directly involved in talks in Qatar said, requesting anonymity.
* The Group of Seven countries can spearhead the fight against climate change and accelerate a pivot away from fossil fuels by agreeing to phase out coal power generation, Germany's economy minister Robert Habeck said on Thursday.
* Senegal's President Macky Sall said on Wednesday that 11 newborn babies died in a fire at the neonatal section of a regional hospital in the town of Tivaouane, around 120 km (74.56 miles) east of the capital Dakar.
* Spanish health authorities reported 25 new cases of monkeypox on Thursday, bringing the total tally of infections in one of the main hotspots of the recent outbreak to 84.
* The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) on Wednesday confirmed 16 cases of monkeypox in Canada.
* The acting director of Africa's top public health agency said that he hoped the vaccine hoarding episode seen during the COVID-19 pandemic will not be repeated with the current monkeypox outbreak.
* China reported 545 new coronavirus cases on May 25, of which 130 were symptomatic and 415 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Thursday.
* Millions more Australians are eligible for a fourth coronavirus vaccine dose after the country's peak immunization body expanded access.
