* The Lao government will continue to tackle challenges in the development and management of minerals to implement a strategic plan for mineral development, local media reported.
* As the world goes through transformation and turbulence not seen in a century, China and France should uphold independence and jointly prevent a "new Cold War" or bloc confrontation, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Monday during talks with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, at Elysee Palace.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday the new government should continue fulfilling current plans. Putin met with the current iteration of the government for the last time before his inauguration, scheduled for Tuesday, following a landslide victory in Russia's presidential election in March.
* Beijing supports a peace conference on the Ukraine war that would see equal participation of all parties, Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui said in an interview with Russia's RIA state news agency in remarks published on Tuesday.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with Cuban leader Miguel Diaz-Canel in Moscow on May 9, Putin aide Yury Ushakov said on Monday.
* European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday that it is important that the European Union (EU) maintains good relations with China, and this will determine whether global challenges such as climate change and the Ukraine crisis can be better addressed.
* The Russian foreign ministry summoned French Ambassador to Russia Pierre Levy on Monday over provocative statements regarding the Ukrainian conflict, it said in a statement.
* Russia warned on Monday that it could target British military facilities and equipment in Ukraine and beyond, in response to Ukrainian strikes using British weapons on Russian territory.
* The German ambassador to Russia has been recalled for consultations after Berlin accused Moscow of cyberattacks.
* Togo's ruling party has won a majority in the West African country's regional elections, the electoral commission said on Monday. According to the provisional results, the Union for the Republic won 137 of the 179 regional councilor seats, while the remaining 42 seats were divided among opposition parties and independents.
* Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Tuesday that his country's national security doctrine should be amended and its relations with Iran and Georgia should be deepened, the Russian state-run news agency TASS reported.
* Israel's military said on Tuesday that it had started "a precise counterterrorism operation" in Rafah city in the south of the Gaza Strip and assumed "operational control" over the Rafah crossing in Gaza.
* Hamas on Monday agreed to a Gaza ceasefire proposal from mediators, but Israel said the terms did not meet its demands and pressed ahead with strikes in Rafah while planning to continue negotiations on a deal.
* Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed on Monday the efforts of Egypt and Qatar to mediate a ceasefire agreement for the Gaza Strip.
* The Israeli operation in Gaza's Rafah city a day after Hamas accepted a ceasefire deal marks another war crime by Israel, Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said on Tuesday.
* United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk on Monday condemned Israel's directives ordering civilians to evacuate Rafah, warning that this action will lead to further deaths, suffering, and increased destruction in an already dire situation.
* Israel's offensive on Rafah will likely kill more civilians and is being carried out despite explicit warnings against it from European Union member states and the United States, the EU's top diplomat said on Tuesday.
* Jordan's King Abdullah told U.S. President Joe Biden in a private meeting on Monday that an Israeli offensive in Rafah would lead to a "new massacre" of Palestinian civilians and urged the international community to take urgent action.
* At least 20 people were killed in Israel's continuous attacks on the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip since Tuesday morning, Palestinian official news agency Wafa reported.
* At least 34,789 Palestinians were killed and 78,204 injured in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since Oct.7, Gaza's health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
* Hezbollah said on Monday it carried out a drone attack on an Israeli military position near the northern Israeli town of Metula. The Israeli military later confirmed two soldiers were killed in the attack.
* Talks between Iran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog have been positive and productive, Iran's nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami said on Tuesday in a joint press conference with the IAEA chief Rafael Grossi.
* An International Monetary Fund mission is likely to visit Pakistan within the next 10 days to discuss a new bailout programme, the country's finance minister said on Tuesday.
* UN humanitarians said on Monday nearly 750,000 people were affected by flooding in eastern Africa, with 234,000 displaced and more than 236 killed - more than 229 in Kenya alone.
* A high-level delegation from the African Union Commission has wrapped up their assessment visit to Somalia by vowing to preserve the hard-won stabilization gains achieved so far, ahead of the exit of the AU peacekeeping troops.
* New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement, a statement of the New Zealand government said on Tuesday.
* The Sri Lanka government on Monday decided to maintain the existing 50 USD fee for a 30-day single entry visa for foreigners visiting the country, the President's Media Division (PMD) said.
* Defense Services Asia 2024, a biennial defense and weaponry show, opened in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur on Monday. The four-day exhibition brings together government officials, professionals, and executives within the defense and security sectors, and enforcement agencies, with over 1,000 companies from 60 countries, its official website showed.
* Amazon.com AMZN.O plans to spend S$12 billion ($8.88 billion) over the next four years to expand its cloud computing infrastructure in Singapore, Amazon Web Services (AWS) said on Tuesday.
* Cambodia attracted fixed-asset investment of 309 million USD in April, the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) said in a news release on Tuesday.
* Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced half a billion Australian dollars in funding to help farmers and regional communities better prepare for future droughts.
* Russian energy producer Gazprom said it would send 42.3 million cubic metres (mcm) of natural gas to Europe via Ukraine on Tuesday, compared with 42.1 mcm sent on Monday.
* The Afghan caretaker government had exported commercial goods worth 145 million USD via air corridors during the Persian calendar year of 1402 (March 21, 2023 to March 19, 2024), the country's Ministry of Commerce and Industry reported.
* Pakistan on Monday launched a tree plantation campaign in various districts in efforts to increase the forest area and counter pollution in the South Asian country.
* NASA and Boeing postponed the launch of the first crewed mission of Starliner spacecraft on Monday due to technical issues.
* A total of 64 protesters were arrested early Monday morning when police moved in to dismantle a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), in the U.S. state of California.
* A total of 73 people have been killed in lightning strikes across Myanmar in the 2023-24 fiscal year (FY), the official television channel MRTV citing the country's Department of Disaster Management reported on Tuesday.
* Rescuers searched through the debris of a multi-storey building collapse in the South African city of George early on Tuesday that has left at least five people dead and dozens still trapped.
