* Thailand's cabinet has approved a further revision of Thailand's visa-exemption measures and visa privileges to prevent misuse of visa privileges, a government spokesperson said on Tuesday.
* Ukraine's parliament on Tuesday approved the resignation of Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, its press service reported. The move passed with 258 lawmakers voting in favor, surpassing the required majority of 226.
* Routine border checks at the Spain-Gibraltar land crossing were lifted in the early hours of Wednesday, in line with new border arrangements under the post-Brexit agreement between the European Union and Britain.
* U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States would expand its strikes on Iran next week to target power plants and bridges unless Tehran agrees to negotiate.
* U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said Tuesday that it had completed a seven-hour wave of strikes against Iran, "hitting dozens of military targets near the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian coastal areas," hours after resuming a naval blockade in the strait.
* Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said Monday since Azerbaijan and China established a comprehensive strategic partnership, cooperation between the two countries has intensified significantly in political, economic, transport and other fields, with more Chinese companies operating in Azerbaijan.
* China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 4.7 percent year on year in the first half of 2026, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Wednesday.
* U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh on Tuesday pledged to make high inflation "a thing of the past" in his first monetary policy testimony to Congress.
* Thailand's cabinet has approved a further revision of Thailand's visa-exemption measures and visa privileges to prevent misuse of visa privileges, a government spokesperson said on Tuesday.
* Cambodia deported more than 16,000 foreign online scam suspects in the first half of 2026 as crackdowns on cybercrime remained ongoing, a senior immigration official has said.
* Singapore's economic outlook for 2026 has brightened after stronger-than-expected first-half growth prompted economists to upgrade their forecasts, with artificial intelligence (AI)-driven demand, a robust electronics cycle and resilient services activity expected to support expansion through the rest of the year.
* Indonesia's external debt rose to 444.4 billion USD at the end of May 2026, up 2.1 percent year on year from the previous month, Bank Indonesia said Wednesday.
* The U.S. military on Wednesday morning completed its latest wave of strikes against Iran, U.S. Central Command said in a statement.
* Iran's government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said Wednesday that more than 30 civilians were killed in recent U.S. strikes on southern Iran.
* The Iranian army said early Wednesday that it had launched drone strikes on a U.S. military base and strategic centers in Jordan.
* Indonesia and Singapore reaffirmed their defense partnership during a meeting between their defense ministers in Jakarta on Tuesday and launched a new alumni forum to further strengthen military-to-military ties.
* Afghanistan is set to deploy six diplomats to its embassies in several European countries in the coming days after the country's administration and a number of European states reached an understanding on the appointments, the local media Tolo news said on Wednesday.
* Russian state-owned technology corporation Rostec on Wednesday unveiled the Pautina system designed to protect industrial infrastructure from drone attacks.
* Russia will introduce a new mechanism limiting purchases of gasoline on the commodity exchange to end-users or authorized buyers acting on their behalf, beginning on July 21, the Saint Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange has announced.
* Israel and Lebanon concluded a new round of U.S.-mediated talks in Rome on Wednesday, moving closer to launching a pilot project, under which control of parts of southern Lebanon would be transferred from Israeli forces to the Lebanese army, according to Italian media.
* India on Tuesday strongly condemned the attacks on two vessels during their transit through the Strait of Hormuz. The two vessels, MT Al Bahiyah and MT Mombasa, were carrying a total of 30 Indian seafarers, and the attacks killed at least one Indian national and seriously injured two.
* More than 180 Iranian lawmakers in the 290-member parliament issued a joint statement on Tuesday, urging decisive stance towards what they called the U.S. move to end a recently signed peace memorandum of understanding (MoU).
* The U.S. military on Tuesday announced the resumption of the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.
* The General Command of the Bahrain Defence Force said its air defence systems intercepted several Iranian projectiles on Wednesday morning.
* Sri Lanka's cabinet approved loan and grant agreements for an 80.5 million-U.S.-dollar project on Tuesday, aiming at expanding rooftop solar generation, introducing virtual net metering and modernizing electricity distribution networks.
* Malaysia can handle higher fuel costs and ensure sufficient supplies even as the conflict in the Middle East has reignited, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Tuesday.
* Global rating agency Moody's has lowered its forecast for Israel's economic growth in 2026 to 3.7 percent on Tuesday night, down from the January projection of 5 percent.
* The Colombian military on Tuesday rescued 39 people who had been kidnapped earlier in the day by the country's National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla group, authorities said.
* Turkish security forces on Tuesday detained 57 suspects in coordinated operations against migrant smuggling networks across 26 provinces, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
*The death toll from the two powerful earthquakes that recently struck Venezuela has risen to 4,734, with 16,740 people injured, Venezuelan National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez said Tuesday on social media.
* China's top economic planner said Wednesday that it has allocated 30 million yuan (about 4.42 million USD) from the central budget to support post-disaster recovery in northeast China's Jilin Province, which was hit by heavy rainfall and flooding brought by Typhoon Bavi.
* Confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have surpassed 2,000 as the World Health Organization (WHO) warned the true scale of the outbreak could be "at least two to four times" the reported caseload.
* New Zealand has confirmed its first detection of the highly pathogenic H5 bird flu strain, after a brown skua tested positive on Petone Beach in the capital Wellington, a senior official said Wednesday.
* An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.2 jolted 34 km WSW of Sarangani, Philippines at 15:49:41 GMT on Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The epicenter, with a depth of 67.9 km, was initially determined to be at 5.33 degrees north latitude and 125.17 degrees east longitude.
