* A ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese group Hezbollah came into effect on Wednesday after both sides accepted an agreement brokered by the U.S. and France, a rare victory for diplomacy in a region traumatised by two devastating wars for over a year.
* The Sri Lankan government will call for nominations for its long-delayed local government elections in January next year, a spokesman said on Tuesday.
* A diplomatic resolution to the Ukraine crisis remains a distant prospect as the battlefield situation continues to escalate, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview on Tuesday.
* The European Commission on Tuesday presented its autumn package designed to guide the European Union (EU) members towards achieving macroeconomic stability and growth, as well as fiscal sustainability.
* Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday that Poland will not support a proposed trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and the South American trade bloc Mercosur.
* The Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday banned 30 British citizens from entering Russia's territory "in response to the hostile actions of the British side."
* Russia launched 188 combat drones at Ukraine in an overnight attack, marking the highest number of drones fired in an attack since the conflict began, the Ukrainian Air Force said on Tuesday.
* Israeli forces on Wednesday fired at several vehicles with suspects to prevent them from reaching a no-go zone in Lebanese territory and the suspects moved away, the Israeli military said in a statement, hours after a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah came into effect at 0200 GMT.
* Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) countries called on Israel to comply with its obligations under international law at a meeting concluded on Tuesday.
* Iran welcomes the ceasefire in Lebanon, the country's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said in a statement on Wednesday, after a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese group Hezbollah took effect on Wednesday morning.
* Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday that the pressing task for the Palestinian question is to comprehensively and effectively implement the relevant UN Security Council resolutions to end the war as soon as possible.
* U.S. President Joe Biden said on Tuesday his administration was pushing for an elusive ceasefire in Gaza and that it is possible that Saudi Arabia and Israel could normalize relations.
* Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday that the only way to end the ongoing escalation in the region is to solve the Palestinian issue.
* Russian gas exports via Ukraine to Europe as well as nominations, or requests, for supply to Austria from Slovakia were stable on Wednesday, data from Gazprom and transmission system operator Eustream showed.
* The Philippine Senate on Tuesday approved the 6.352-trillion-peso (107.69 billion USD) national budget for 2025. With a vote of 18-0, the senators approved the 2025 General Appropriations Bill on the third and final reading. One abstained.
* Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Tuesday said Brazil's economy, the largest in Latin America, will exceed expectations with more than 3 percent growth in 2024, amid controlled inflation and rising wages.
* The combined profit of major industrial enterprises in China exceeded 5.86 trillion yuan (about 814 billion USD) in the January-October period this year, down 4.3 percent year on year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Wednesday.
* U.S. Federal Reserve officials expressed confidence that inflation is easing, and are expected to gradually lower interest rates going forward, according to minutes from the Nov. 6-7 meeting released Tuesday.
* Moody's Analytics on Tuesday lowered its economic growth forecasts for Mexico for 2025 and 2026, in light of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's proposed tariffs on Mexican exports.
* Myanmar's foreign trade has exceeded over 15.4 billion USD from April 1 to October 25 in the current fiscal year 2024-25, the state-run newspaper Global New Light of Myanmar reported on Wednesday.
* The Reserve Bank of New Zealand's Monetary Policy Committee on Wednesday cut the official cash rate (OCR) by 50 basis points to 4.25 percent, the lowest since November 2022, as inflation returns to the target band.
* Turkey has scrapped an 8% customs tax on imports of oil sunflower seeds within its set quota, according to a presidential decree published in the Official Gazette on Wednesday.
* Over 82,000 people have been affected and one person has died due to inclement weather conditions in Sri Lanka, an official said on Wednesday.
