* Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) oversaw a simulated nuclear counterattack drill on Monday, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Tuesday.
* South Korean and Romanian leaders pledged on Tuesday to boost defence industry cooperation as Seoul pushes to establish itself as the world's fourth-largest arms exporter amid reports of huge additional contracts in the works.
* U.S. and South Korean officials will meet in Hawaii this week for talks on sharing the cost of keeping American troops in South Korea, with the U.S. seeking "a fair and equitable outcome" that will strengthen the alliance, the U.S. State Department said on Monday.
* European Union ministers said on Monday they were looking urgently at how to provide more air defences to Ukraine but they stopped short of concrete pledges of the Patriot systems that Kyiv values most.
* Slovenian President Natasa Pirc Musar called for open borders at a Monday meeting of regional leaders, which celebrated 20 years of Slovenia's accession to the European Union.
* Russia will retaliate if its frozen assets are confiscated, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday.
* Russia will take necessary measures to ensure its security if Poland deploys nuclear weapons, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that he has discussed the allocation of a new aid package for Ukraine in a phone conversation with U.S. President Joe Biden.
* Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has urged the nation's men and boys to take responsibility for ending a crisis of violence against women.
* Colombia's government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas announced in Caracas on Monday their decision to hold a new round of peace talks in May.
* Pakistan and Iran on Monday decided in principle to ban terrorist organizations in their respective countries, the Pakistani Interior Ministry said.
* Iraq and Turkey on Monday struck more than 20 deals in various fields during a rare visit by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Iraq.
* India expects no major impact on its exports from the conflict between Israel and Iran, an Indian commerce ministry official said on Tuesday, adding that the government is monitoring the situation in the region and is in touch with exporters.
* Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani on Monday warned that his country will make a "harsher and more decisive" response should Israel make another mistake.
* The Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army on Monday dispatched a humanitarian aid convoy to the Gaza Strip in coordination with the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization.
* The war between Israel and Hamas that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza and resulted in a severe humanitarian crisis has had "a significant negative impact" on the human rights situation in the country, the U.S. State Department said in its annual report on Monday.
* French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated France's call for an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Gaza during his phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.
* European Union sanctions announced following Iran's attack against Israel are "regrettable" because the country was acting in self-defence, Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian posted on X on Tuesday.
* At least 34,183 Palestinians have been killed and 77,143 injured in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
* Panama recalled its ambassador to Nicaragua on Monday for consultations, citing the government's "energetic protest" against what it called the illegal protection afforded to a former Panamanian president at its embassy in Panama City.
* Lebanese armed group Hezbollah launched about 35 rockets toward northern Israel on Monday evening while Israel carried out airstrikes in southern Lebanon, the Israeli military said in a statement.
* Haiti's capital is almost completely cut off by air, sea and land blockades as gang violence intensifies, stopping aid from getting to 58,000 children with the most life-threatening form of malnutrition, the head of the U.N. children's agency warned on Monday.
* The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is stepping up its fight against human trafficking and migrant smuggling, it announced on Monday.
* Lithuania on Monday kicked off one of the largest national military exercises, the three-week Thunder Strike.
* Two Malaysian navy helicopters collided in mid-air during a rehearsal for a naval parade on Tuesday, killing all 10 crew members aboard, the navy said in a statement. The incident occurred at the Lumut naval base in the western state of Perak at 9.32 a.m. on Tuesday morning (0132 GMT).
* China created 3.03 million new urban jobs in the first quarter, an official from the human resources ministry said on Tuesday, adding the overall employment situation remains stable. China in March set a goal of creating more than 12 million new urban jobs in 2024.
* The European Commission expects gas prices to fall as the global suppply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) increases, creating space for investments in renewable energy, the commission's President Ursula von der Leyen said in a speech on Tuesday.
* India's sugar consumption this year is poised to hit a record high as demand during the peak summer season gets a boost from heat waves and the mobilisation of millions for elections in the scorching temperatures.
* Pakistan is hoping to reach a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund by June or early July, its finance minister said on Tuesday.
* Singapore's core inflation, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), eased to 3.1 percent year-on-year in March from 3.6 percent in February, official data showed Tuesday.
* Myanmar earned over 14.61 billion USD from its exports in the 2023-24 fiscal year through March, according to Myanmar's Ministry of Commerce on Monday.
* Paraguay's central bank on Monday decided to hold its benchmark interest rate at 6%, pausing a monthly rate-cutting cycle that had been in place since August amid uncertainties over U.S. monetary policy and tensions in the Middle East.
* Spain's public debt exceeded 1.6 trillion euros (1.7 trillion USD) in February, according to data published by the Bank of Spain on Monday. The Bank confirmed an increase of 1.2 percent in January's debt, marking a 5.4-percent increase over the 12 months.
* Uzbekistan's permanent population has exceeded 37 million, the country's statistics agency reported on Monday. Males account for 18.6 million people and females 18.3 million.
* In a stern warning on International Mother Earth Day, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres emphasized on Monday the urgent need for global cooperation to restore environmental harmony.
* The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday announced new heat and health initiative to protect Americans from heat exposure.
* For the first time since November, NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft is returning usable data about the health and status of its onboard engineering systems, NASA said on Monday. The probe and its twin, Voyager 2, are the only spacecraft to ever fly in interstellar space.
