* UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called for the immediate and unconditional release of UN staff detained by the Houthis in Yemen.
* UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk on Tuesday condemned the deadly attacks on civilians in Gaza as they attempted to access food assistance, describing the assaults as "unconscionable."
* Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang on Tuesday called for strengthening financial cooperation among member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to give strong impetus to the development of regional countries.
* Laos has officially launched its first shipment of 90 tons of fresh mangoes to China, marking a significant milestone in the country's agricultural trade ambitions.
* The Science Academies of the G7 on Monday issued a joint declaration emphasizing the importance of academic freedom and reminding G7 political leaders of the importance of collaborations across borders.
* A meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is unlikely to take place anytime soon, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday met with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on the sidelines of the Bucharest Nine and the Nordic Countries Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.
* Russia's draft memorandum presented during the recent talks in Istanbul includes provisions for Ukraine to adopt a neutral and non-nuclear status, a document handed over to Russian media said Monday.
* Russia and Ukraine have agreed to another major prisoner exchange in their latest round of direct talks in Istanbul, head of the Russian Delegation Vladimir Medinsky said on Monday.
* Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum met with her economic team on Monday to discuss the latest tariff hikes proposed by her U.S. counterpart Donald Trump, who plans to double steel and aluminum tariffs to 50 percent starting Wednesday.
* Global GDP growth is projected to slow from 3.3 percent in 2024 to 2.9 percent this year and the next year, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said on Tuesday.
* The average price of rice in Japan in the week through May 25 fell for the first time in three weeks following the release of government stockpiles, according to the agriculture ministry.
* Indonesia currently needs an investment of 2,967 trillion rupiahs (around 182 billion USD) to boost its electricity production until 2034, according to the state-owned electricity company PT PLN.
* Malaysia Madani Artificial Intelligence (MMAI Technologies SDN. BHD.), a wholly owned entity of the Malaysian government, and Presight, a UAE-based global artificial intelligence (AI) and big data analytics company, announced Monday an agreement set to accelerate Malaysia's digital transformation.
* Iran and Germany have expressed readiness to continue talks on Tehran's nuclear program and the removal of sanctions.
* Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers on Monday called for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, backed Syrian sovereignty, and addressed regional security concerns, including Iran's nuclear program.
* At least 24 Palestinians were killed and dozens injured early Tuesday by Israeli army fire while waiting for humanitarian aid in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, Gaza-based health authorities said.
* Lebanon is looking to strengthen its state-to-state relationship with Iran, President Joseph Aoun told visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi during a meeting on Tuesday.
* Sudan's warring sides traded accusations on Tuesday after a United Nations aid convoy came under attack in North Darfur, killing five humanitarian workers and injuring several more.
* Israel launched its first national energy institute on Tuesday, aiming to drive innovation in renewable energy and energy storage and support the country's shift toward a cleaner economy, according to a statement issued by the Israeli Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure.
* Sri Lanka's Cabinet of Ministers has authorized Sri Lanka Thriposha Limited Company to import 18,000 metric tons of maize to produce a nutritional supplement given to children, pregnant women, and lactating mothers, cabinet spokesman Nalinda Jayatissa announced at a press briefing on Tuesday.
* European Energy has closed a 145 million euro (165 million USD) long-term loan agreement with SEB Lithuania and Swedbank Lithuania for renewable energy, the Baltic News Service (BNS) reported on Tuesday.
* The Philippines' debt increased to 16.75 trillion pesos (roughly 300.88 billion USD) as of April 2025, 0.41 percent higher than the debt incurred in March, the Philippines' Bureau of Treasury said Tuesday.
* Indonesia's imports rose significantly by 21.84 percent in April year on year, driven primarily by shipments of capital goods and raw materials, while exports increased by 5.76 percent, according to data released by the Central Statistics Agency on Monday.
* The Eurozone's annual inflation rate for May stood at 1.9 percent, down from 2.2 percent in April, bringing inflation back below the European Central Bank's (ECB) target of 2 percent, according to a flash estimate published Tuesday by Eurostat.
* Canada's exports of crude oil to the United States by pipelines were down 9.5 percent in March, Statistics Canada said on Monday.
* Croatia's annual inflation rate stood at 3.5 percent in May, the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (CBS) announced in a statement on Tuesday.
* The Bangladeshi government has unveiled a 7.90 trillion-taka (nearly 65 billion USD) national budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year starting in July.
* The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday approved an 800 million USD program to strengthen fiscal sustainability and improve public financial management in Pakistan.
* The number of foreign tourist arrivals in Bali resort island, the center of Indonesia's tourism industry, from January to April expanded by 10.55 percent to 2.04 million people year-on-year, a senior official said on Tuesday.
* The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday recommended declaring human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) a national public health emergency amid the 500 percent surge in HIV cases among the country's youth.
* Mongolia's National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) on Tuesday confirmed 259 new cases of measles infection, raising the national tally to 5,075.
* The ongoing floods in India's northeastern state of Assam have affected over half a million people, officials said Tuesday. The floods have affected 22 districts in the state, and the situation remains grim.
