* Secretary-General of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization Hussein Al-Sheikh considered the recognition of a Palestinian state by Spain, Norway and Ireland as a step of "historic moment”.
* The Palestinian presidency on Wednesday welcomed the recognition of a Palestinian state by Spain, Norway and Ireland. Before the announcement, eight European Union member states had recognized the State of Palestine, including Bulgaria, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Cyprus, and Sweden.
* The Israeli foreign ministry said on Wednesday it had ordered an immediate recall of its ambassadors to Ireland and Norway in response to those nations' decisions to recognise a Palestinian state.
* Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Wednesday welcomed a decision made by Norway, Ireland and Spain to recognize the Palestinian state, calling it "an important step."
* A German foreign ministry spokesperson stressed Berlin's support for a two-state solution on Wednesday, responding to a reporter's question on the decision by some European countries to recognise the state of Palestine.
* U.S. President Joe Biden believes a Palestinian state should be achieved through negotiations, not unilateral recognition, the White House said on Wednesday after Ireland, Spain and Norway said they would recognize a Palestinian state this month.
* France said on Wednesday conditions were not right to officially recognise a Palestinian state and that such a decision must be more than just symbolic or political posturing.
* Russian military has begun the first stage of military exercises involving tactical nuclear weapons, the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday.
* Russia has not violated international law in any way, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday, commenting on U.S. allegations that Moscow had launched an anti-satellite weapon into space.
* Turkey has launched a passport-free policy for Romanian citizens, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday.
* Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares has announced the definitive withdrawal of the country's ambassador to Argentina, local media reported on Tuesday.
* Chad's prime minister and opposition leader Succes Masra has tendered his resignation after interim President Mahamat Idriss Deby was confirmed as a winner of the May 6 presidential election, Masra said on Wednesday.
* The Swedish government has agreed on additional military support to Ukraine totalling 75 billion crowns ($7.01 billion) over three years, it said on Wednesday.
* The Israeli army on Wednesday continued its operation against Jenin city and its camp in northern West Bank for the second day as the death toll rose to eight.
* A new humanitarian aid convoy, comprising 92 trucks, has crossed into the Gaza Strip, the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization (JHCO) said in a statement on Wednesday.
* At least 35,709 Palestinians have been killed and 79,990 injured in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since Oct.7, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
* People in Tehran on Tuesday attended, in large numbers, a farewell ceremony held for Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi, late Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and others after their bodies were transferred from the northwestern city of Tabriz to the capital city.
* The U.S. and Saudi Arabia have reached a "near final set of arrangements" for a defense pact that includes a civil nuclear component but obstacles remain for a broader regional deal that would normalize relations between Israel and Riyadh, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday.
* New Zealand’s government will cut military spending by 6.6%, according to the defence minister's office.
* The Finnish government on Tuesday submitted to parliament a controversial bill that would authorize pushing back asylum seekers at the eastern border and would also allow for the use of force.
* More Australians will be evacuated from New Caledonia on Wednesday, the federal government confirmed Wednesday.
* UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday called for taking urgent measures to halt environmental decline.
* The International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Tuesday said that 80,000 illegal migrants have been voluntarily deported from Libya to their countries of origin since 2015 under IOM's Voluntary Humanitarian Return (VHR) program.
* At least 40 people were killed and many others wounded in an attack by gunmen on Zurak village in Nigeria's north-central Plateau state, where clashes between herders and farmers are rife, the police and residents said on Tuesday.
* Japan recorded a trade deficit of 462.5 billion yen (about 3 billion USD) in April as the weak yen boosted the value of imports, offsetting gains from robust export growth, government data showed Wednesday.
* The number of healthcare workers shortage in the Philippines has risen to 190,000 even as the Southeast Asian country continues to export health workers, Philippine Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said on Wednesday.
* South Korea's wage worker growth continued to slow for the seventh consecutive quarter, statistical office data showed Wednesday. The number of wage and salary worker jobs was 20,749,000 in the October-December quarter of 2023, up 293,000 from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea.
* The European Chips Act is on track to help attract more than 100 billion euros ($108.41 billion) worth of private investment to the European semiconductor industry by 2030, a European Commission official said on Wednesday.
* British consumer prices rose by 2.3% in annual terms in April, slowing from a 3.2% increase in March, the Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday.
* At least 12 people were murdered in the span of a few hours in the latest spate of violence in Mexico's Pacific coast resort of Acapulco, local media reported Tuesday.
* Ghana will receive 150 million USD in financing from the World Bank Group this year for flood mitigation and solid waste management, the country's Finance Ministry announced in a statement late Tuesday.
* Heavy rains and flash floods have affected an estimated 1.6 million people in eastern Africa, the United Nations relief agency said on Wednesday.
* The discovery of four more bodies in the last few hours in south Brazil's weather-battered Rio Grande do Sul state has pushed the death toll to 161, the Civil Defense agency said Tuesday.
* A red alert was issued for many states of India as heat wave conditions are most likely to prevail in the next five days, according to Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday.
