* UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was saddened by Monday's plane crash that killed Malawi's vice president and nine other people, said his deputy spokesman on Tuesday.
* Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis hinted at a cabinet reshuffle on Tuesday, saying "corrective measures" were required after his party performed less well than expected in the European Parliament election.
* Austria's next general election will be held on Sept. 29, at the end of the current five-year parliament, Chancellor Karl Nehammer said on Tuesday, deferring a showdown with an emboldened far-right for as long as possible.
* Haiti's administration picked new ministers on Tuesday, rounding out the new prime minister's cabinet, in a stark departure from the previous government as the country battles a deep humanitarian crisis fueled by armed gangs.
* Russia's non-strategic nuclear exercises involving the Leningrad military district and the navy make use of Iskander missiles, its defence ministry said on Wednesday.
* A detachment of Russian warships will arrive in Cuba on Wednesday for tasks within the framework of cooperation between the two countries, said the Russian navy Tuesday.
* Russian and Belarusian armed forces have begun the second phase of tactical nuclear weapon exercises, the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday.
* The U.S. will announce new sanctions and export controls against Russia during the G7 summit in southern Italy later this week, White House spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday.
* Hungary will not block NATO decisions on providing support for Ukraine, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Wednesday, during a visit to the capital Budapest by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
* Mexico's President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum spoke on Tuesday with U.S. officials about her strategies for security, migration and trade, just over a week after the leftist leader won a landslide election victory.
* Tunisia foiled the attempts of about 30,281 undocumented migrants to reach Italy via the Mediterranean in the first five months of 2024, the Tunisian National Guard said Tuesday.
* Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides cut short his visit to Jordan on Tuesday, where he was attending an international conference on Gaza, as uncontrolled wildfires rage in the western Paphos district.
* Ukraine plans to import its largest amount of power on Wednesday after Russian missile strikes significantly damaged energy infrastructure, the Ukrainian energy ministry said.
* Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi urged Israel to abide by the United Nations Security Council resolution for a plan to end the war in Gaza.
* An Israeli official said on Tuesday that Israel had received Hamas's response to the U.S.-drafted proposal for a ceasefire-hostage release deal and the movement had rejected it, Israel's state-owned Kan TV news reported.
* Egypt and Qatar said they had received Hamas' response to a proposal for the eight-month-old war in the Gaza Strip outlined by U.S. President Joe Biden on May 31 but did not disclose the contents.
* The UN chief, leaders of regional states, and top U.S. diplomat gathered Tuesday in Jordan, stressing the need to accelerate humanitarian aid delivery to the conflict-ridden Gaza Strip.
* The Australian government has committed additional funding for humanitarian aid in Gaza. The federal government on Wednesday announced an extra 10 million Australian dollars (6.6 million USD) to help the World Food Programme address urgent needs in Gaza amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
* About 160 rockets were fired from Lebanon at northern Israel on Wednesday morning, said the Israeli army, after Israeli airstrikes killed four Hezbollah officials, including a senior commander.
* Iraqi security forces have killed a senior member of the Islamic State group in Syria who was responsible for carrying out attacks against Iraqi government forces, the Iraqi National Security Service said on Tuesday.
* At least 49 migrants died and 140 others were missing after their boat capsized off the coast of Yemen, the U.N. migration agency said on Tuesday.
* Mexico's legislature could approve a bill to reform the judicial system in September, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Tuesday, downplaying market "jitters" over the controversial initiative that sparked a depreciation in the Mexican peso.
* Nearly 400 million children under 5 globally, or 60 percent within that age group, regularly endure psychological aggression or physical punishment at home, according to new estimates released by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday.
* The World Bank on Tuesday said the U.S. economy's stronger-than-expected performance has prompted it to lift its 2024 global growth outlook slightly but warned that overall output would remain well below pre-pandemic levels through 2026.
* Cambodian Minister of Economy and Finance Aun Pornmoniroth said on Wednesday that the country's economy is predicted to achieve a rate of 6 percent in 2024, up from 5 percent in 2023.
* The World Bank has cut its economic growth forecast for Japan for 2024 to 0.7 percent from 0.9 percent, while lifting the global growth outlook for the year to 2.6 percent from 2.4 percent, local media reported.
* The Spanish government will seek to extend a cut on value-added tax (VAT) on basic food beyond June 30, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Wednesday in a TV interview.
* Foreign investment into the Ukrainian economy reached $4.25 billion in 2023 despite the conflict with Russia, Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on Tuesday.
* Chilean market analysts have forecast an economic growth of 2.6 percent for the country in 2024, slightly less than the government's projection of 2.7 percent, Chile's Central Bank said Tuesday.
* U.S. authorities have completely reopened the primary shipping route to the Port of Baltimore on Monday following an extensive cleanup endeavor, a few months after the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which killed six workers.
* At least 35 people were killed in a building fire in the city of Mangaf in southern Kuwait, the country's state media reported on Wednesday.
* The World Health Organization on Tuesday said a case of human infection with bird flucaused by the H9N2 virus was detected in a four-year-old child in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal.
* Temperatures are hitting record highs in parts of north and central China this week while a severe drought in the east is also threatening crops, as countries across Asia brace themselves for another summer of extreme weather.
