* Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping will hold talks to discuss the events of 2022 in late December, the Russian business daily Vedomosti reported on Tuesday.
* Peru's new president offered lawmakers a plan to bring elections forward by two years on Monday, after the ouster of her predecessor last week sparked protests that have left at least seven dead.
* Slovakia's minority government was at risk of falling as another independent lawmaker announced her intention to vote against it in a confidence vote on Tuesday.
* Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu pledged on Tuesday to balance religious and secular interests as he tries to form a new government with nationalist and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties.
* Countries from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) plan to hold a joint "counter-terrorism exercise" in Russia's Chelyabinsk region, the state-run TASS news agency said on Tuesday.
* The European Union must do more to protect its borders and to halt the departure of migrant boats from north Africa, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Tuesday.
* Kosovo will apply to join the European Union this week, Prime Minister Albin Kurti said on Tuesday, a process that is expected to take years if not decades and is dependent on its normalising relations with Serbia.
* European Union energy ministers are meeting in Brussels on Tuesday to try to agree a bloc-wide cap on gas prices after months of deadlocked talks over whether the measure will ease Europe's energy crisis.
* Hungary hopes to sign funding agreements with the European Union within days to unlock billions of euros worth of recovery money and development funds, its EU negotiator Tibor Navracsics told a news conference on Tuesday.
* Political group leaders of the European Parliament decided unanimously that Eva Kaili should be stripped of her roles as vice president after she and others faced criminal charges over allegations they receive cash and gifts from Qatar.
* Russia's Gazprom GAZP.MM said it plans to ship 42.4 million cubic metres of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Tuesday, a volume largely in line with recent days.
* The United States will commit $55 billion to Africa over the next three years as President Joe Biden prepares to host the U.S.-Africa summit this week and discuss 2023 elections and democracy in the continent with a small group of leaders.
* Future generations of New Zealanders will be banned from purchasing tobacco as part of a package of new anti-smoking laws that passed parliament on Tuesday and are among the most strict in the world.
* The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Monday condemned the escalation of violence in South Sudan's northeastern state of Upper Nile, which has forced thousands of people, mostly women and children, to flee for their lives.
* Global public and private debt saw its biggest drop in 70 years in 2021 after reaching record highs because of the impacts of COVID-19, but overall remained well above pre-pandemic levels, the International Monetary Fund said on Monday.
* Cuba's GDP is projected to expand 2 percent in 2022, lower than the 4 percent initially forecast, Minister of Economy and Planning Alejandro Gil said Monday.
* Wall Street's major averages rallied on Monday as investors awaited a key U.S. inflation report and the Federal Reserve's policy meeting.
* The United Kingdom's (UK) economy is estimated to have grown by 0.5 percent between September and October, statistics showed on Monday, but a lengthy recession is still expected in the country.
* The Philippines' total external trade in goods rose by 12.3 percent in October to 18.70 billion USD, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Tuesday.
* Finnish tourism revenue this year would be about 2 billion euros (2 billion USD) less than the pre-pandemic level in 2019, said the Association of Service Sector Employers (Palta) on Monday.
* The European Union (EU) could face a shortfall of nearly 30 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas in 2023, Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said on Monday.
* Shipment in the Republic of Korea's mining and manufacturing industry logged the fastest growth in 11 years last year due to brisk export, statistical office data showed Tuesday.
*The World Bank Group approved 100 million USD for the extension of Ghana's poverty alleviation programs, an official said on Monday.
* Chilean financial analysts raised their economic growth forecast for 2022 to 2.5 percent, but expect gross domestic product (GDP) to expand just 1.5 percent the following year, Chile's central bank said Monday.
* Brazil's financial market lowered its inflation forecast for 2022 from 5.92 percent to 5.79 percent, the Central Bank of Brazil said Monday.
* Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye on Monday defended the establishment of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), in response to an Israeli official's anti-PNA remarks.
* The extremist militant group Islamic State (IS) has claimed a deadly attack on Monday on a hotel in Kabul.
* Haiti has received more than 1 million doses of oral cholera vaccines as it battles a worsening cholera outbreak that has been particularly deadly for children, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.
* Up to 1,587 forest fires have razed more than 13,000 hectares of land in Chile this spring-summer season, Agriculture Minister Esteban Valenzuela said Monday.
* Heavy rain battered the Portuguese capital on Tuesday, flooding tunnels, sweeping away cars and forcing authorities to suspend bus and tram services and close some main roads.
