* China's cabinet announced a package of 33 measures covering fiscal, financial, investment and industrial policies on Tuesday to revive its pandemic-ravaged economy, adding it will inspect how provincial governments implement them.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation in Ukraine during a telephone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that he had talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with both sides agreeing on the need to restore peace in Ukraine.
* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will come to Turkey with a military delegation on June 8 to discuss creating a potential sea corridor for Ukrainian agricultural exports, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday met with visiting French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna to discuss support for Kiev, the presidential press service said.
* EU leaders agreed on Monday night to ban "more than two thirds" of Russian oil import to the bloc, President of the European Council Charles Michel tweeted, referring to the move as a maximum pressure on Russia to end the conflict.
* A chief adviser to Turkey's president told his US counterpart that Turkey wanted "concrete steps" on the existence of what it calls "terrorist organisations" in Finland and Sweden before it would consider their NATO bids, the Turkish presidency said.
* Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday that Ankara and Riyadh were in agreement for a visit by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Turkey in the coming period, but no date had been set yet.
* France's foreign ministry on Thursday urged Iran to answer questions immediately from the International Atomic Energy Agency about its past nuclear activities.
* China's commerce ministry said on Tuesday that talks with Switzerland to upgrade a free trade agreement between both countries are not "frozen".
* Japan's unemployment rate dropped to 2.5 percent in April, marking the third straight month of decline, the government said in a report on Tuesday.
* Israel and the United Arab Emirates signed a free trade agreement on Tuesday, Israel's ambassador to the UAE, Amir Hayek, said on Twitter.
* The Sri Lankan government announced on Tuesday that it has decided to amend five taxation acts in order to hike tax rates to bring the government revenue back to 2019 levels.
* France's GDP decreased by 0.2 percent in the first quarter (Q1) of 2022, the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) said on Tuesday.
* Inflation in Germany hit 7.9 percent in May, the highest level since the first oil crisis in the winter of 1973/1974, according to preliminary figures published by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on Monday.
* Soaring food and petrol prices pushed up inflation to 8.7 percent in Spain in May, according to preliminary data published by the country's Statistical Institute (INE) on Monday.
* Russia's energy company Gazprom is set to halt its gas supply to the Netherlands from Tuesday after the latter refused to pay in roubles, Dutch gas company GasTerra said Monday.
* The World Bank will disburse approximately 700 million USD to Sri Lanka within the next few months, Sri Lanka's foreign minister announced on Monday.
* The World Health Organization's governing board agreed on Monday to form a new committee to help speed up its response to health emergencies like COVID-19.
* The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea reported 96,020 more people showing fever symptoms and no additional deaths amid the country's first confirmed coronavirus outbreak, state media KCNA said.
* Use of Pfizer Inc's PFE.N COVID-19 antiviral Paxlovid spiked last week, but some doctors are reconsidering the pills for lower-risk patients after a US public health agency warned that symptoms can recur after people complete a course of the drug, and that they should then isolate a second time.
* Health authorities in Britain issued new guidance to control the spread of the monkeypox virus in the country.
* India is likely to see normal monsoon rains in 2022, the state-run weather office said on Tuesday, the fourth straight year of normal or above normal summer rains that spur farm and overall economic growth in Asia's third-biggest economy.
