Thursday

South Korea’s central bank cuts its key interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 2.5%, marking its fourth cut since October, and sharply lowered its 2025 growth forecast to 0.8%, nearly halving the previous projection of 1.5% announced in February after a monetary policy meeting. Share prices rise following the report, with the Kospi gaining 1.7%. (AP)

Four people are killed when a South Korean Navy Lockheed P3-C Orion aircraft crashes into a hill in Pohang, Gyeongsang, South Korea. (Euronews)

The health ministry of Khartoum State in Sudan reports a cholera outbreak in the state, with 2,119 cases and 242 deaths in the past week and this week, including 70 in the last two days. (News Central TV)

Israel announces 22 new Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian West Bank, the biggest expansion in decades. (BBC News)

Slovakia’s central bank chief, Peter Kažimír, a member of the European Central Bank committee, is convicted of bribery and fined 200,000 euros. The verdict was issued by Judge Milan Cisarik at the Special Criminal Court in Pezinok. (AP)

A court in Germany rejects a lawsuit filed by a Peruvian farmer against German energy firm RWE. Saúl Luciano Lliuya alleged that the firm's global emissions contributed to the melting of glaciers in Peru, threatening his hometown of Huaraz with flooding. (BBC News)

Former Philippine lawmaker Arnolfo Teves Jr. is deported back to the Philippines from Timor-Leste following his arrest yesterday. (ABS-CBN News)

Tens of thousands of people demonstrate in Kathmandu, Nepal, asking for the restoration of the country's monarchy and for Hinduism to be declared the state religion. Nepal abolished its monarchy in 2008. (AP)

Portugal’s right-wing Chega party becomes the lead parliamentary opposition with the second-most seats in parliament. (AP)

Early voting begins in South Korea, from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm KST on today and tomorrow, with a record early voting turnout rate being observed. (The Straits Times)