* The African National Congress is leaning towards trying to form a South African government of national unity with a wide range of parties, it said on Wednesday, citing the results of last week's election in which it lost its governing majority.
* The Slovenian Parliament on Tuesday voted to approve the proposal of recognizing the statehood of Palestine, a move the legislator body said would hopefully help stop the violence in Gaza.
* Russia welcomes Turkey's interest in joining BRICS, Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday. Earlier in the day, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that Turkey would like to become a member of BRICS and will monitor the developments in the organization, according to media reports.
* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Moscow will dispatch additional military supplies and instructors to Burkina Faso to help the west African country boost its defence capabilities, Russian state media reported.
* The United States will maintain its policy of not sending military advisors to Ukraine, a top U.S. national security official said Tuesday.
* U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order Tuesday that would immediately turn down requests for entry into the United States by asylum-seekers crossing the southern border illegally, in the event that officials deem the border is overwhelmed.
* The 27th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) opened in St. Petersburg on Wednesday with the participation of delegates from 139 countries and regions. The forum, with the theme of "The Formation of New Areas of Growth as the Cornerstone of a Multipolar World" will focus on key economic issues facing Russia, emerging markets, and the world.
* Command and staff military exercises will be held in Kiev and in the Kiev region on June 5-13, the Ukrainian Land Forces said Tuesday in a post on Telegram. According to the post, land, river, anti-aircraft and anti-sabotage units will participate in the drills.
* The International Energy Agency (IEA) published a report on Tuesday, calling on countries to draw up clear plans for the promotion of renewable energies.
* Cambodia-China trade has continued strong growth in the first five months of 2024, thanks to regional and bilateral free trade agreements, officials said.
* Hungary will buy a stake in Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas field, one of the largest in the world, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told a briefing on Wednesday in Baku.
* Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday said Sri Lanka remains dedicated to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2040 as the government prioritizes environmental sustainability, the President's Media Division (PMD) said.
* A group of 10 West African countries has weighed into a debate over whether companies around the world should be allowed to use carbon offsets to cut emissions, arguing they are critical to attracting financing for climate and conservation efforts.
* Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said on Wednesday his party would "disrupt" the ruling coalition until Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discloses details of the prospective Gaza deal amid renewed truce efforts.
* Thousands of Israeli police deployed in the streets of Jerusalem on Wednesday ahead of the annual Flag Day procession that marks Israel's capture of East Jerusalem in 1967 and has in the past led to clashes between marchers and Palestinians.
* Israeli fighter jets targeted Hamas positions in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, with ground forces simultaneously operating in the area based on intelligence, Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on Tuesday.
* Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf held a phone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday to discuss the recent ceasefire initiative announced by U.S. President Joe Biden, aimed at ending the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
* More than 36,586 Palestinians have been killed and 83,074 have been injured in Israeli military offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
* Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toured the country's northern border with Lebanon on Wednesday and said that Israel was prepared for strong action in the north.
* Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Tuesday rejected media reports of him receiving warnings from Israel about its intention to wage a large-scale attack on Lebanon.
* Deputy Secretary-General of Hezbollah Sheikh Naim Qassem said on Tuesday that the Lebanese armed group is ready to face a comprehensive war with Israel should the latter expand its attacks against Lebanon, local news website Elnashra reported.
* Iraq on Tuesday sent a convoy of trucks carrying food and medical aid to the Gaza Strip to help the besieged Palestinians.
* Migrant arrivals in Italy are down by 60 percent so far this year compared to the same period in 2023, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Tuesday. This trend was due to Italy's deals with North African states, the prime minister told her cabinet of ministers.
* Bank Indonesia sees that the archipelagic nation's economy will grow in the range of 4.8 percent to 5.6 percent in 2025, with an inflation target of 1.5 percent to 3.5 percent in the same year.
* Australia's economy grew by 0.1 percent in the first three months of 2024, official figures have revealed.
* Egypt's petroleum ministry said on Wednesday that gas supplies will gradually resume flowing as of Thursday to fertilizer factories after their temporary closure.
* Italy set an all-time record for tourist arrivals last year, with numbers surpassing pre-pandemic levels for the first time, the government's statistics entity reported Tuesday.
* With a resolution above 3.2 gigapixels, a nearly three-ton weight and the ambitious task of carrying out an unprecedented decade-long exploration, the largest digital camera ever built for optical astronomy is ready to be installed under the clear skies of northern Chile.
