* Thailand's opposition parties, which defeated their rivals in this week's election, met for coalition talks on Wednesday as the liberal Move Forward Party, which won the most votes, looked to form a government.
* China wants to further deepen relations with Kazakhstan in times of both "prosperity and adversity", President Xi Jinping told his visiting Kazakh counterpart on Wednesday.
* India on Tuesday described the US report on international religious freedom as one "based on misinformation and flawed understanding."
* Japan's National Police Agency (NPA) said Tuesday that up to around 24,000 security personnel will be deployed for the upcoming Group of Seven (G7) summit in the western city of Hiroshima.
* Russia and Belarus on Wednesday reaffirmed their commitment to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty in joint statement, the TASS news agency reported.
* Venezuela has made progress in social inclusion policies despite the US blockade, said the Venezuelan ambassador to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Tuesday.
* The Ukraine Black Sea grain deal has been extended for two more months, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday, one day before Russia could have quit the pact over obstacles to its grain and fertilizer exports.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that the situation on the global oil market was, on the whole, "absolutely stable" as Russia maintains output cuts to support prices.
* India on Wednesday unveiled an expanded incentive scheme to attract big-ticket investments in IT hardware manufacturing, doubling the amount to 2 billion USD as it aims to spur domestic production of laptops and tablets.
* Northern Ireland holds elections to local councils on Thursday that the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is pitching as an opportunity to bolster its call for further concessions from Britain on a revised post-Brexit trade deal.
* Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso dissolved the National Assembly in a decree on Wednesday, bringing forward legislative and presidential elections, a day after he presented his defense in an impeachment process against him.
* Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit welcomed Syria back into the bloc on Wednesday, as Arab foreign ministers gathered for a preparatory meeting ahead of the full summit.
* The Republic of Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed on Wednesday to enhance cooperation on critical minerals and continue joint efforts to fend off the nuclear and missile threats in the Korean Peninsular.
* Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, has formally denounced the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), according to a statement published on its website Tuesday.
* The European Commission proposes to simplify customs procedures for goods entering the European Union (EU) and to modernize the Customs Union, Paolo Gentiloni, European commissioner for trade, said here on Wednesday.
* Arab foreign ministers met on Wednesday in the Saudi city of Jeddah ahead of the annual Arab League Summit, the Al Arabiya news channel reported.
* Iran and Russia signed on Wednesday a contract to build a railway inside Iran to complete an international transport route linking South Asia to Northern Europe, the Iranian president's office said.
* Iran's nuclear chief said on Wednesday that cooperation between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is continuing on the basis of a joint statement issued by the two sides in March, official news agency IRNA reported.
* Turkey summoned the German ambassador in Ankara on Wednesday to express condemnation and protest over the detention in Germany of two journalists from a pro-government Turkish newspaper, the Foreign Ministry said.
* The European Union and the United States have launched a new joint health task force to cooperate on cancer, global health threats and related supply chains and infrastructure, officials told a press conference on Wednesday.
* The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on Tuesday to designate Nov. 26 every year as World Sustainable Transport Day.
* Yemen's internationally-recognized government on Tuesday reiterated its unwavering commitment to achieving peace in the war-torn country and ending people's suffering.
* The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Wednesday it has reached a staff-level agreement with Jordan that will bring the fund's total disbursements since the start of a 2020 program to around 1.75 billion USD.
* Britain has had productive discussions with the European Union about changing trading arrangements for car manufacturing, a junior minister said, following warnings from auto companies that factories could close without change.
* The Lebanese energy minister said on Tuesday that Iraq agreed to increase the volume of heavy fuel oil exported annually to Lebanon by 50 percent to 1.5 million metric tons.
* Temperatures across Japan on Wednesday are expected to be the highest of the year so far, the weather agency said, calling on people to take precautions against heatstroke.
* Heavy rainfall from last Friday has caused widespread floods in Croatia, triggering the declaration of a state of emergency in the country's central and southeastern areas of Karlovac and Kostajnica. Meanwhile, heavy rainfall has also triggered flood warnings or caused flooding and damages across Central Europe.
* Nigerian police on Wednesday confirmed 30 local people were killed in recent deadly attacks on two neighboring villages in the country's central Plateau state.
* The death toll in the recent hooch tragedy in India's southern state of Tamil Nadu has risen to 20, confirmed an official on Wednesday. The deaths were reported in the state's two districts of Villupuram, with 13 and Chengalpattu, with 7.
