* French President Emmanuel Macron has arrived in Beijing to kick off his state visit to China from April 5 to 7.
* Japan on Wednesday said it plans to offer countries financial assistance to help them bolster their defences, marking its first unambiguous departure from rules that forbid the use of international aid for military purposes.
* China has urged the World Trade Organization to scrutinise US-led technology export restrictions aimed at curbing its ability to make advanced chips, state television said on Wednesday.
* Russian ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia on Monday stressed the need to "de-dollarize" the world economy after the West's sanctions against Russia caused concerns about the reliability of the dollar-based international payment system.
* US President Joe Biden will visit Ireland and Northern Ireland from April 11-14 to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday peace accord on one side of the Irish border and visit his ancestral home on the other, the White House said on Wednesday.
* India and Bhutan should expand their collaboration on fin-tech, start-ups and emerging technology fronts so as to better utilize the energy and potential of youths of both countries, Indian President Droupadi Murmu said on Tuesday.
* Spain will take an initiative to restart the stalled Cyprus peace negotiations when it takes up the rotating six-month Presidency of the Council of the European Union(EU) on July 1, the country's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said during his working visit in Nicosia on Tuesday.
* Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela stressed on Tuesday that his country looked forward to working with Spain during its Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) on important laws such as access to medicines.
* Ukraine will discuss the prospects of joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) at the NATO-Ukraine Commission meeting in Brussels, Belgium, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Tuesday.
* Greek Defense Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos and Migration and Asylum Minister Notis Mitarachi visited Türkiye's quake-hit Hatay province on Tuesday amid mutual efforts to ease tensions between the two NATO members.
* Iran appointed its envoy to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after eight years of having no ambassador in the country, the official news agency IRNA reported on Tuesday.
* Israeli police entered Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque in force before dawn on Wednesday and clashed with worshippers, drawing condemnation from Arab countries and a furious reaction in the occupied West Bank and crossborder strikes in Gaza.
* A total of 440 migrants have been rescued from an overcrowded fishing boat in international waters off Malta, after a complex 11-hour operation in stormy seas, the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity said on Wednesday.
* Turkish coast guards were searcing for nine missing crew members of a Ukraine-bound commercial ship that sank close to Turkey's southern province of Antalya.
* UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday called for global action on mines on the occasion of the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, which falls on April 4.
* The International Committee of the Red Cross said it would cut some 1,5000 jobs and roll back operations in some locations as budgets for humanitarian aid are expected to decrease.
* Landmines and unexploded ordinances are still posing a threat to security in South Sudan, and more efforts and funding are needed to help the east African country meet its mine clearance target, local and United Nations officials have said.
* The United Nations told some 3,300 Afghan staff not to come to work in Afghanistan for the next two days after the Taliban authorities signaled on Tuesday that they would enforce a ban on Afghan women working for the world body.
* Year-on-year inflation in the Philippines slowed further to 7.6 percent in March from 8.6 percent in February due to the reduction of food and transportation costs, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Wednesday.
* The World Bank has forecasted that Mongolia's economic growth will accelerate in 2023, driven by exports and a recovery of mining and tourism sectors, the bank's office in Mongolia said Wednesday.
* Bangladesh made a rapid recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic supported by prudent macroeconomic policies, but its economy faces challenges of global economic uncertainty, inflationary pressure, energy shortages, a balance-of-payments deficit, and a revenue shortfall, the World Bank has said in a report.
* Greece is close to regaining an investment grade credit rating after 12 years in junk status, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in Athen on Tuesday.
* Sri Lankan economy is projected to contract by 4.3 percent in 2023 as demand continues to be subdued, job and income losses intensify, and supply-side constraints adversely affect production, the World Bank announced on Tuesday.
* The South African government has decided to revoke the "National State of Disaster" declared in February to manage the electricity crisis, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) minister Thembi Nkadimeng said on Wednesday.
* A magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck off the Pacific coast of Panama on Tuesday, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said, though local authorities said there were no immediate reports of damage.
