* President Vladimir Putin told Asian leaders on Tuesday that the Russian people were more united than ever, in his first appearance at an international forum since a short-lived mutiny last month.
* NATO decided on Tuesday to extend Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s contract by a further year. Stoltenberg, a former prime minister of Norway, has been the transatlantic security alliance’s leader since 2014 and his tenure had already been extended three previous times.
* European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell is to visit Beijing next week to meet his Chinese counterpart and discuss "strategic issues", the EU's ambassador to Beijing said.
* Israel is close to completing its Jenin operation, a senior aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday after the fiercest fighting in the flashpoint West Bank town in more than two decades killed 10 Palestinians and forced thousands to flee.
* U.N. aid agencies on Tuesday voiced alarm at the scale of the ongoing operation in the West Bank town of Jenin, where ten Palestinians have been killed, and said there were restrictions on medical access.
* Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev called on Tuesday for closer energy cooperation within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation which includes Russia, China and India and is preparing to admit Iran.
* New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins will travel to Brussels on Friday to witness the signing of the New Zealand-European Union Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
* Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday stressed that the return of overseas Syrian refugees is a national priority, the state news agency SANA reported.
* Jordan on Monday warned of the catastrophic consequences of the Israeli raid on the West Bank city of Jenin, calling for the international community's intervention to stop Israel's military operations.
* The chief of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is in contact with officials in Lebanon and Israel over two tents set up by Lebanon's Hezbollah in a disputed area, the deputy director of UNIFIL Media Office said Monday.
* The trade agreement between the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) and the EU needs updating, Argentine Foreign Affairs Minister Santiago Cafiero said in Puerto Iguazu on Monday.
* German defence export approvals in the first half of 2023 were valued at around 5.22 billion euros ($5.69 billion), up around 25% on the same period last year, when they were valued at 4.16 billion euros, the economy ministry said on Tuesday.
* Russia intends to raise minimum wage by 18.5 percent next year, according to a bill submitted for public discussion on Monday at the portal of draft regulations of Russia.
* Foreign direct investment (FDI) in South Korea hit a new record high in the first half owing to higher investment in the manufacturing industry, government data showed on Tuesday.
* Australia's central bank on Tuesday held interest rates steady saying it wanted more time to assess the impact of past hikes, but reiterated its warning that further tightening might be needed to bring inflation to heel.
* India's June palm oil imports jumped 49% from the previous month to their highest in three months as buyers took advantage of a dip in prices to their lowest in 28 months to increase purchases, six dealers told Reuters.
* Electricity in Sweden could become exceptionally expensive for another winter, the Swedish Energy Agency said on Monday.
* The power supply in South Africa improved in June with the time of rolling blackouts in the month becoming much shorter than in the previous months of the year.
* Turkey's trade deficit recorded 61.4 billion USD in the first half of 2023, up 19.1 percent from the same period last year, the trade ministry said Monday.
* China registered higher temperatures and less rainfall than usual in June this year, the China Meteorological Administration said on Tuesday.
* The erupting Mayon volcano, approximately 500 km southeast of the Philippine capital, has increased seismic activities, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology warned on Tuesday.
