* India's Election Commission said on Monday that 642 million of the 968 million registered voters cast their ballots in the general election that concluded on June 1. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led alliance is projected to win a big majority, TV exit polls said on Saturday, ahead of the counting on Tuesday.
* South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday there was no place for threats of violence or instability after last week's election cost his African National Congress (ANC) party its majority for the first time.
* China believes that all efforts should be recognised by all in supporting peace measures around the Russia-Ukraine war, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry said on Monday.
* Russia's foreign ministry warned the United States on Monday against "mistakes that may have fatal consequences" with regards to allowing Ukraine to strike targets on Russian soil, the Interfax news agency reported.
* Ukraine plans record electricity imports from European countries on Monday after reporting significant energy infrastructure damage from Russian strikes this weekend, the energy ministry said.
* South Korea decided Monday to suspend the Sept. 19 military agreement with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), according to the presidential office.
* Ukraine will open an embassy in Manila this year, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday in a bilateral meeting with Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
* China calls on Iran and the United Arab Emirates to resolve their differences peacefully through dialogue and consultation, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry said on Monday.
* Africa's rich mineral resources and its potential as a vast export market are at the top of South Korea's agenda as it hosts a summit with the leaders of 48 nations this week with plans for aid on industrial infrastructure and digital transformation.
* Indonesian President Joko Widodo met on Sunday with Norway's Climate and Environment Minister Andreas Bjelland Eriksen on conservation cooperation, according to Indonesian Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar.
* The Maldivian government has decided to amend its laws to ban Israeli nationals from entering the country, local media cited Minister of Homeland Security and Technology Ali Ihusan as reporting.
* U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held separate phone calls with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Benny Gantz, a centrist minister who joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an emergency coalition, to discuss the proposed ceasefire deal in Gaza, the State Department said on Sunday.
* Israel has conveyed to Hamas through Qatar its consent to most of the terms of an outline formulated by Hamas for the release of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip, Israel's state-owned Kan TV news reported on Sunday.
* Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) on Sunday expressed its hope that the ceasefire deal recently proposed by the United States will end the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, Egypt's state-linked Al-Qahera News TV channel quoted a Fatah spokesman as saying.
* Egypt stressed on Sunday the need for Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing to resume its operation, Egypt's Al-Qahera News TV channel reported.
* Forced displacement has pushed over a million people away from the Gazan city of Rafah, the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) said on Monday.
* Israel's military said it used the Arrow ballistic interceptor on Monday to shoot down a surface-to-surface missile launched in the Red Sea area, after sounding sirens in the port city of Eilat to send residents to shelters.
* Nigeria's main labour unions on Monday shut down the country's national grid to begin an indefinite strike over failure by the government to agree a new minimum wage, the Transmission Company of Nigeria said.
* Sudan's Transitional Sovereign Council Chairman Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan on Sunday held talks with South Sudan's Presidential Advisor on National Security Tut Gatluak on the resumption of South Sudan's oil transportation through Sudanese territories.
* Two aircraft collided Sunday afternoon at the Beja Air Show, killing one and injuring another, according to an official report by the Portuguese Air Force.
* Moody's raised China's growth forecast for 2024 to 4.5% from 4.0%, it said in a statement released on Monday, noting that China's post-pandemic manufacturing and export-focused growth strategy is taking shape.
* Australia's independent wage-setting body on Monday raised the national minimum wage by 3.75%, largely in line with inflation, as families tackle soaring living costs.
* Global airlines on Monday raised their profit forecast for 2024 and projected industry wide revenues just shy of $1 trillion as a record number of travellers board flights.
* India saw nearly 25,000 cases of suspected heat stroke and 56 people lost their lives after several heat wave days across the country from March-May, local media reported, citing government data.
* Sri Lanka's State Minister of Defense Premitha Bandara Tennakoon said Monday that 12 people have been killed and over 87,000 people affected by the recent floods in the South Asian country.
* Mount Ibu on Halmahera Island in Indonesia's North Maluku province erupted on Sunday, throwing thick black volcanic ash over its peak as high as 7,000 meters, according to the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation.
