* China and Japan's defence ministers held their first phone call via a direct telephone line under the maritime-air liaison mechanism on Tuesday, China's defence ministry said.
* Kazakhstan and Russia have established the route for a future gas pipeline to support shipments between the two countries and to China, Kazakhstan's energy minister said on Tuesday.
* Albania's ruling Socialist Party (SP) led by Prime Minister Edi Rama will lead 53 of the country's 61 municipalities in the next four years following the local elections held on Sunday.
* Ludovit Odor took office on Monday as Slovakia's new caretaker prime minister, pledging to bring calm and professionalism to his country.
* Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday warned that a US default on government debt would leave millions of Americans without income payments, potentially triggering a recession that destroys many American jobs and businesses.
* European Union countries are set to finalise targets for airlines to increase their use of sustainable fuels as an initial step towards curbing CO2 emissions from aviation, a final version of the law showed.
* Italy's transport minister said on Tuesday that Italy and its allies in the European Union can block the Euro 7 regulation which tightens vehicle emission limits for pollutants including nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide from 2025.
* A Russian fighter jet was scrambled on Monday to accompany a German and a French military aircraft over the Baltic Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
* Libya's eastern-based parliament voted on Tuesday to replace Fathi Bashagha as prime minister, its spokesperson said, after he failed to take office in Tripoli where the incumbent Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah has refused to cede power.
* Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani issued on Tuesday a royal decree to reorganise the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the Emiri Diwan said in a statement.
* Iran and Saudi Arabia have discussed ways to facilitate the Hajj pilgrimage for Iranians and boost economic cooperation, Iranian Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Ehsan Khandouzi said on Monday.
* Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told Reuters in an interview that he had learned to be bold on economic reform as he seeks re-election in a country that was once the euro zone's problem child.
* At least 20 people, mostly women and children, were killed and several houses burned by armed attackers in a village in Nigeria's central Plateau state, residents and a state official said on Tuesday, in the latest communal violence in the region.
* The United States could default on its debt obligations as early as June 1, reaffirmed US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in a letter to congressional leaders on Monday.
* India's goods exports shrank to 34.66 billion USD in April from 39.70 billion dollars in the same month last year due to decline in demand in major markets, showed the latest data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
* The Japanese government on Tuesday endorsed seven major power companies' plans to raise household electricity prices from June.
* The Philippines' total approved foreign investments in the first quarter of 2023 reached 172.70 billion pesos (3 billion USD), higher than the 8.98 billion pesos (159.9 million dollars) recorded in the same quarter in 2022, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Tuesday.
* The credit rating agency Fitch Ratings has affirmed Mongolia's long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating at "B" with a stable outlook, local media reported on Tuesday, citing the agency's report.
* Italy's public debt climbed above 3 trillion USD in the latest reporting period, according to data released Monday. The Bank of Italy said that the government's debt was 2.790 trillion euros (3.022 trillion dollars) in March, up from 2.762 trillion euros (2.992 trillion dollars) in the previous month.
* Bangladesh's trade deficit in the first three quarters of the current 2022-23 fiscal year from July 2022 to June 2023 dipped by 41.62 percent to 14.61 billion USD year on year, the latest central bank data showed.
* Food prices in Finland went down significantly in April, although they remained 14 percent higher than in the same month of 2022, Statistics Finland said on Monday.
* Iraqi Oil Minister Hayan Abdul Ghani on Monday invited international energy companies to develop the country's 13 oil and gas fields and exploration blocks.
* The Argentine central bank on Monday again raised the benchmark interest rate, this time by 600 basis points, pushing the rate from 91 percent to 97 percent annually.
* Tinder-dry weather and shifting winds in Western Canada on Tuesday elevated the risk of spreading wildfires in the Canadian oil-producing province of Alberta where thousands have already been forced from their homes.
