* China's President Xi Jinping met with American business leaders at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Wednesday, as the government tries to woo foreign investors back into the country and international firms seek reassurance over new regulations.
* Russia is open to talks with the United States, but favors a comprehensive discussion of all issues, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, commenting on possible contacts between the two countries.
* Russia sees no chance of Switzerland leading efforts to secure peace in Ukraine, a senior Russian diplomat said on Tuesday, after Bern said it planned to host a high-level Ukraine peace conference in the coming months.
* The Ukrainian forces said on Tuesday they have hit two more ships operated by the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
* The Islamic State branch known as ISIS-Khorasan, which U.S. intelligence says appears responsible for the mass shooting attack near Moscow, poses the greatest Islamist threat to security in Germany, its interior minister said on Tuesday.
* Germany is set to boost border controls during the UEFA European Championship 2024, in the wake of the terrorist attack that killed over 130 people in Russia last weekend.
* Kyrgyzstan's foreign ministry has urged citizens of the Central Asian nation to put off unnecessary travel to Russia after a deadly shooting that was blamed on migrants from the region.
* Australia's Northern Territory on Wednesday imposed a two-week youth curfew in the tourist town of Alice Springs, a day after a mass brawl involving 150 people, many of them armed with weapons.
* A World Trade Organization (WTO) panel has found that duties imposed by Australia in a steel products dispute with China were flawed - a ruling that Canberra said it accepted.
* France and Poland pressed on Tuesday for greater curbs on imports of food products from Ukraine to prevent what they called the destabilisation of EU agricultural markets and further upset for angry farmers.
* Brazil and France on Tuesday launched an investment program to protect the Brazilian and Guyanese Amazon rainforest involving 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) in private and public funds over the next four years.
* Canada will require foreign companies to warn the government in advance before making investments or acquisitions in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and space technology, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing an interview with Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne.
* A United Nations expert told the global body's Human Rights Council on Tuesday that she believed that Israel's military campaign in Gaza since Oct. 7 amounted to genocide and called on countries to immediately impose sanctions and an arms embargo.
* Israel has recalled its negotiators from Doha after deeming mediated talks on a Gaza truce "at a dead end" due to demands by Hamas, a senior Israeli official said on Tuesday.
* White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan held a second day of talks on Tuesday with Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant, the White House said on Tuesday.
* Foreign ministers of five Central European countries met in Slovenia on Tuesday and welcomed the United Nations (UN) Security Council's resolution on Gaza adopted on Monday.
* Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry on Tuesday held phone talks with his Irish counterpart Micheal Martin on efforts to implement an immediate ceasefire in the conflict-torn Gaza Strip.
* Israel confirmed Tuesday that Marwan Issa, the deputy military leader of Hamas, was killed in its airstrike on a tunnel in the Gaza Strip earlier in March.
* The Palestinian death toll in the Gaza Strip from ongoing Israeli attacks has risen to 32,414, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said in a press statement on Tuesday.
* The Jordanian Armed Forces, along with three other countries, jointly conducted five airdrops of aid into northern Gaza on Tuesday.
* Lebanon's Hezbollah said it launched dozens of rockets at Kiryet Shmona, an Israeli town over the border, early on Wednesday in response to deadly Israeli strikes on the village of Hebbariyeh in southern Lebanon a day earlier.
* The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday that it has reached a staff-level agreement with Serbia on the third review of the country's two-year stand-by arrangement, which would make 400 mln euros available to Belgrade if approved by the IMF Executive Board.
* Tunisia's maritime guards on Tuesday rescued 41 undocumented immigrants from sinking boats and retrieved one body off the country's eastern coast, said the Tunisian National Guard.
* The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) on Tuesday joined the United Nations coordination system to counter terrorism.
* A Dutch diver died and 17 other tourists were rescued when they got into difficulty while swimming in rough seas off Malta on Tuesday, police said.
* Thailand's Senate on Tuesday approved a delayed budget bill worth 3.48 trillion baht (96 billion USD) for the 2024 fiscal year.
* The Republic of Korea's export volume rose for the sixth successive month due to strong demand for locally-made tech products, the country's central bank data showed Wednesday.
* Foreign sales of Argentina's famed steaks and other cuts of beef soared last month to reach their highest level in more than five decades, according to official data published on Tuesday, in a rare bright spot for the South American country's ailing economy.
* The New Zealand government plans to reduce debt and government spending as a proportion of the overall economy, and get back to surplus as part of its budget priorities announced on Wednesday.
* Australia's rate of inflation remained steady for the third consecutive month in February, official data has revealed.
* Nigeria's central bank raised its monetary policy rate by 200 basis points to 24.75% from 22.75%, governor Olayemi Cardoso said on Tuesday, as the bank continued a tightening to head off soaring inflation.
* Spain's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 2.5 percent in 2023, after an increase of 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter, the National Institute of Statistics (INE) said on Tuesday.
* Albania experienced a notable surge in foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2023, reaching a record 1.49 billion euros (approximately 1.62 billion USD), the central bank said on Monday.
* Saudi Arabia announced Tuesday a decline in the share of oil exports in total exports from 77.6 percent in January 2023 to 74.8 percent in January 2024.
* Latvian pharmaceutical companies sold 90 percent of their products in foreign countries, LETA news agency reported on Tuesday, citing data from the country's State Agency of Medicines.
* Zimbabwe plans to grow 120,000 hectares of wheat during the 2024 winter crop production season, up from 90,912 hectares in 2023, a cabinet minister said on Tuesday.
* Climate change and efforts to keep up with advances in artificial intelligence top the agenda for a Commonwealth meeting set for the small Pacific Islands nation of Samoa in October, the grouping's secretary general said.
* The Philippines will continue to implement measures to lessen the impact of the El Nino weather phenomenon, as it braces for the opposite La Nina weather pattern, Philippine Science and Technology Secretary Renato Solidum said Tuesday.
* China's National Meteorological Center on Wednesday renewed a blue alert for rainstorms as heavy downpours are expected to lash parts of the country.
