* India will become the world's most populous country in April, according to UN projections. By the end of April, India's population is expected to amount to 1,425,775,850, becoming the most populous country in the world, said the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) on Monday in a press release.
* U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday formally announced that he is running for re-election for the presidency in 2024, seeking another four years in the White House, according to an online campaign video.
* UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and they discussed the Ukraine crisis, as well as the situation in Afghanistan and Syria.
* The Japanese government said Monday it will limit foreign investment in nine more sectors deemed critical to national security, including semiconductors and storage batteries, starting on May 24, local media reported.
* Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday blasted the West for ignoring Russia's security concerns and refusing an equal partnership for years.
* Circumstances are not yet in favor of extending the Black Sea grain export deal, the Kremlin said Tuesday after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the issue.
* The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) is making plans for hundreds of thousands of people spilling over Sudan's borders to escape violence, officials said on Tuesday, many of them forced to places they have already fled from.
* The U.N. humanitarian office said on Tuesday that supply shortages around the Sudanese capital were worsening and prices for basic goods were skyrocketing.
* Germany will conduct its last evacuation flight from Sudan to Jordan on Tuesday evening, with no further flights planned from the region for the time being, the foreign and defence ministries said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
* Sweden is expelling five Russian diplomats for carrying out activities incompatible with their diplomatic status, Sweden's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday. Russia's embassy in Sweden declined to comment on the development.
* Russia's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said it was expelling a Moldovan diplomat in what it cast as retaliation for the expulsion last week of a Russian diplomat in Moldova.
* The European Commission on Tuesday said it would allow Spain and Portugal to extend measures to cap electricity prices for consumers until the end of the year.
* Hungary and other east European countries want to maintain an import ban on Ukrainian grain put in place last week until the end of 2023, Farm Minister Istvan Nagy said on Facebook on Tuesday.
* Denmark has signed a 5-year agreement with Ukraine to help the war-torn country rebuild destroyed wind capacity and strengthen its independence from Russia on energy, the Danish Climate Ministry said on Tuesday.
* Talks between the Ethiopian government and rebels from the Oromiya region have started in Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous region of Tanzania, a spokesman for regional Africa group IGAD said on Tuesday.
* The long-delayed forum for European Union and British financial regulators won't reopen the door for London's financial centre to the bloc, EU lawmakers were told on Tuesday.
* As the March 23 Movement (M23) rebels have been withdrawing from occupied villages and towns in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Jeff Nyagah, commander of the Regional Force formed by the East African Community (EAC), says he is pleased with the positive progress in the withdrawal process.
* The death toll among followers of a Kenyan cult who believed they would go to heaven if they starved themselves has risen to 89, Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki said on Tuesday, calling for the group's leader to spend the rest of his life in prison.
* Tunisian coast guards have retrieved 58 bodies of immigrants and rescued 1,242 survivors in the past 48 hours off the country's coasts, Tunisian National Guard said Tuesday.
* Italy has rescued 47 boats carrying around 1,600 migrants in the central Mediterranean sea in the last two days and brought them ashore to the island of Lampedusa.
* Spain is bracing for a week of temperatures as high as 40C that are forecast to shatter records for April, as officials weighed opening public swimming pools early and adapting school schedules and meteorologists warned of the risk of wildfires.
* China will expand imports and exports of key products, and support exports of automobiles, the State Council said on Tuesday. China will also further facilitate visas for overseas business people, while increasing inbound and outbound flights, the State Council added.
* The Japanese government maintained its view of the economy for April, saying that it is "picking up moderately," according to a Cabinet Office report released Tuesday.
* Cambodia's General Department of Taxation (GDT) made e-commerce value-added tax (VAT) income of 20.9 million USD from the operations of electronic goods and services in the first quarter of 2023, a GDT report said on Monday.
* The Philippine government's economic team on Monday retained the gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast at 6 to 7 percent this year, but hiked the inflation target to between 5 and 7 percent.
* The Republic of Korea's gross domestic product (GDP) grew in the first quarter this year on rebound in private consumption, central bank data showed on Tuesday.
* Turkey imposed a 130% import tariff of some grain imports including wheat and corn, according to a presidential decision published on Tuesday in the Official Gazette.
* Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is keen to attract foreign investment in new business ventures, especially in the field of renewable energy, reports reaching in Rio De Janeiro said Monday.
* Portuguese defense aerospace companies and Brazilian aviation company Embraer signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Monday to produce military aircraft in Europe.
* Nine European countries have signed a declaration aimed at transforming the North Sea into a green power plant.
* A 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck off Indonesia's western province of West Sumatra earlier Tuesday and was potential to trigger a tsunami, forcing thousands of residents to flee the coastal areas, the weather agency and officials said.
* Leaks in gas pipelines in parts of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on Monday night left a strong odour, creating panics among city residents.
