* Venezuela's ruling Great Patriotic Pole coalition secured over 83 percent of the votes in Sunday's regional and parliamentary elections, the National Electoral Council (CNE) said Tuesday.
* Samoa will go into an early election after the Legislative Assembly voted against the national budget 2025-2026 on Tuesday, local media reported.
* Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto on Wednesday hosted French President Emmanuel Macron in Jakarta for high-level talks covering key sectors such as defense, energy, economy, investment, education, and transportation.
* Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said on Wednesday that the Thai army chief has instructed troops to exercise restraint and avoid escalation of tensions on the Thai-Cambodian border.
* Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday approved the execution model to develop the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), the country's planned fifth-generation fighter jet, officials said.
* The nine-day 78th World Health Assembly concluded on Tuesday, during which member states adopted the much-anticipated global pandemic agreement and approved the base program budget of over 4 billion USD for 2026-2027.
* The 18th Balkan Countries Chiefs of General Staff Conference was held in Istanbul on Wednesday, with a focus on enhancing regional cooperation and solidarity among member states.
* The European Commission has asked industry representatives to disclose their prospective spending plans in the United States as the European Union (EU) pushes forward with transatlantic trade negotiations with Washington, according to recent media reports.
* U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that he is "playing with fire" as the Russia-Ukraine conflict shows no immediate signs of ending.
* Moscow and Washington are coordinating the details of a previously agreed prisoner exchange, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday.
* Republic of Korea's police banned former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, and Choi Sang-mok, former deputy prime minister for economic affairs, for alleged insurrection charges, multiple media outlets said on Tuesday. Han and Choi have been under investigation as suspects of insurrection and prevented from leaving the country in the middle of this month.
* Norway on Tuesday signed an agreement with Estonia under the European Economic Area (EEA) and Norway Grants scheme, the Norwegian government said in a press release.
* Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrived Monday for a two-day visit to Canada amid U.S. President Donald Trump's threats to make it the 51st U.S. state.
* Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday reiterated her pledge to defend the country's independence and sovereignty from interference by the United States.
* The U.S. government has ordered U.S. embassies and consular sections worldwide to pause scheduling new interviews for student-visa applicants as it is considering requiring all foreign students applying to study in the United States to undergo social media vetting, local media cited a cable dated Tuesday and signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
* The Japanese government has called on the country's universities to consider accepting affected Harvard students after the U.S. federal government's policy banning Harvard from enrolling international students.
* The Council of the European Union (EU) on Tuesday adopted an amendment to ease its regulation on carbon dioxide emission standards for new cars and vans, granting manufacturers greater flexibility in meeting their 2025 targets.
* Fiji's maritime security forces are strengthening their role in supporting the government in achieving its marine conservation goals.
* Latvia is pushing for a revision of European Union (EU) migration rules as it faces continued pressure from irregular border crossings, Prime Minister Evika Silina said on Tuesday.
* Visiting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz expressed deep concern over the scale and intensity of Israel's recent airstrikes in Gaza on Tuesday, arguing that the operations have gone beyond what is necessary in the so-called fight against terrorism, especially given their severe humanitarian consequences.
* Ministers from the European Union (EU) countries on Tuesday approved the creation of a 150-billion-euro (about 170.22 billion USD) arms fund, the bloc's first large-scale defence investment program at EU level, the Council of the EU said in a press release.
* Air France on Tuesday resumed flights to Israel, the company said, with a service departing Paris Charles de Gaulle and landing at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv in the evening. The move comes as other international carriers continue to adjust their schedules to the region.
* Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday committed expanded financial assistance for regions affected by flooding on the east coast as authorities confirmed almost 800 homes and businesses have been destroyed.
* New Zealand and Sri Lanka have committed to strengthening cooperation across key sectors, following a visit by New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters to Colombo, Sri Lanka's capital.
* Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday confirmed that Mohammed Sinwar, Hamas leader in Gaza and brother of late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, was killed in an Israeli airstrike earlier this month.
* Iran has executed an individual convicted of espionage against the country on behalf of Israel, the Mizan news agency of the Iranian judiciary reported on Wednesday.
* Iran and Pakistan on Tuesday agreed to enhance cooperation and fight terrorism along their common border, Iran's official news agency IRNA reported.
* A total of 1,066 Afghan refugee families have given end to refugee status and returned to their homeland Afghanistan in a single day on Tuesday, reported the state-run Bakhtar news agency on Wednesday.
* Inflation in Laos dropped to 8.3 percent in May, down from 11.1 percent in April, according to the latest report from the Lao Statistics Bureau. The highest price rise was recorded in housing, water, electricity and gas category, which stood at 21.6 percent, according to the report on Tuesday.
* Indonesia's National Narcotics Agency (BNN) aims to significantly reduce the country's narcotics prevalence rate to 1.6 percent by 2029, said BNN head Marthinus Hukom on Tuesday. The target is lower than the 1.73 percent and 1.7 percent goals set for 2024 and 2025, respectively, Hukom noted.
* Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Kanda Masato has reaffirmed the bank's strong commitment to advancing regional cooperation and integration to hurdle the challenges confronting Southeast Asia, the multilateral lender said Wednesday.
* India's index of industrial production (IIP) registered a growth of 2.7 percent during April 2025 compared to the same month last year, according to the official data released by the federal Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation on Wednesday.
* The Indonesian government has allocated a budget of 217 trillion rupiah (around 13.24 billion USD) for the free meal program, targeting 82.9 million beneficiaries next year, the National Nutrition Agency said on Tuesday.
* Singapore citizens and permanent residents saw their real wages grow by 3.2 percent in 2024, the Ministry of Manpower said on Wednesday, while cautioning that geopolitical tensions and global trade uncertainties could moderate nominal wage growth in 2025.
* Australia's annual rate of inflation remained steady at 2.4 percent for the third consecutive month in April, according to official figures. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed on Wednesday that the consumer price index rose by 2.4 percent in the 12 months to April, matching the rate of inflation in the 12-month periods to February and March.
* The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday revised Britain's 2025 economic growth to 1.2 percent, up slightly from the 1.1 percent forecast in April.
* New Zealand's red meat sector is experiencing record-breaking export returns, delivering a major boost to the rural economy, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay said on Wednesday.
* The Board of the National Bank of Kyrgyzstan has decided to keep the key rate at 9 percent, the bank said in its statement on Tuesday.
* The post-war Afghanistan exported 25 tons of pickles from the western Herat province to European countries on Monday, reported the state-run Bakhtar news agency on Tuesday.
* Life expectancy at birth for Singaporean residents increased by 0.9 years over the past decade, reaching 83.5 years in 2024, up from 82.6 years in 2014, according to the Singapore Department of Statistics on Tuesday.
* Myanmar has planned to release more than 38 million fish fingerlings across the country during the 2025-26 fiscal year to boost fish resources, state-owned Myanmar Radio and Television reported on Wednesday, citing the Department of Fisheries.
* New Zealand's red meat sector is experiencing record-breaking export returns, delivering a major boost to the rural economy, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay said on Wednesday.
* As of Tuesday, Myanmar has recorded 180 aftershocks ranging from magnitudes of 2.8 to 7.5, according to the country's Department of Meteorology and Hydrology. The aftershocks followed a devastating 7.9-magnitude earthquake that struck the country on March 28.
* China's flood control authorities on Tuesday activated Level-IV emergency response measures in Jiangxi and Guizhou provinces, as well as the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, in response to heavy rainfall affecting the country's southern regions.
* A vast dust storm moving across Australia has shrouded Sydney in a dense haze, sparking health alerts and underscoring the growing impact of climate extremes nationwide.
* SpaceX successfully launched 24 Starlink satellites into polar orbit Tuesday morning, marking the company's first such mission configuration since 2023.
* An 11-year-old boy from western Cambodia's Kampong Speu province had died of H5N1 human avian influenza, becoming the fourth human death from the virus so far this year, the Ministry of Health said in a press statement released on Wednesday.
