* Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Wednesday that First Deputy Prime Minister Carlos Cuerpo would take charge of the transport portfolio following Oscar Puente's resignation.
* Swedish Moderate Party leader and outgoing Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson was formally tasked on Tuesday with exploring the possibility of forming a new government after parliament rejected another prime ministerial candidate earlier in the day.
* Israel's Central Elections Committee officially announced the results of last week's parliamentary election on Wednesday, confirming that opposition parties won 67 seats in the 120-member parliament, against 53 for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling bloc.
* Bulgaria's incumbent President Iliana Iotova has won Sunday's presidential runoff, securing a new mandate, according to official results announced by the country's Central Electoral Commission on Tuesday. Iotova and her running mate, Kiril Valchev, received 57.58 percent of the vote, defeating their rivals, former caretaker Prime Minister Andrey Gurov and his running mate, Georgi Kandev, who secured 39.47 percent.
* Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics on Wednesday formally nominated incumbent Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs to form the Baltic country's next government. Kulbergs' United List party won Latvia's parliamentary election by a wide margin in October but fell short of an outright majority, making coalition negotiations necessary to secure enough support to form a government.
* The Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) on Tuesday confirmed the results of the Oct. 4 general election. In addition to the three members of the BiH Presidency, state and entity-level parliamentarians, the president and vice presidents of Republika Srpska (RS), and members of 10 cantonal assemblies, were also elected in the election.
* South Africa's local government elections kicked off on Wednesday as voting officially opened at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT), with more than 29 million registered voters expected to cast their ballots at nearly 23,700 polling stations across the country.
* China and the Philippines agreed on Tuesday that both sides should responsibly manage their differences, stabilize the situation and seek to expand their shared interests. The two sides reached the agreement during phone talks between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro.
* Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday that Russia has never closed its door to the West and remains ready to cooperate with Western countries that abandon hostile thinking towards it. Meanwhile, Lavrov stressed that Russia does not want or plan to wage war with Europe, but is prepared if Europe decides to initiate conflict.
* A senior official of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said Wednesday that the United States had continued to send "hostile signals," prompting her country to "reconsider the U.S. entity in various aspects."
* The European Commission said Tuesday it was closely monitoring reported bomb threats affecting aviation in Europe, but cautioned that it was too early to determine whether the incidents were linked.
* Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio on Tuesday accused the U.S. administration of deporting dozens of Cuban migrants to third countries and detaining others indefinitely without specific charges.
* The foreign ministers of China, Cambodia and Thailand had constructive exchanges over tea on strengthening cooperation and safeguarding regional stability on the sidelines of the 11th Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Beijing on Wednesday.
* Russia on Tuesday lodged a strong protest with Norway over the continued seizure of Russian movable and immovable property in the country, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
* German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday pledged additional winter assistance to Ukraine during a joint press conference with visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Berlin.
* U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that U.S. military assistance to Israel would be discontinued at the end of this year, arguing that Israel no longer needs the aid and is capable of purchasing its own weapons.
* Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul on Wednesday unveiled his "Reinvent Thailand" vision, outlining plans to strengthen the country's domestic foundations through energy security, economic transformation and human capital development, while promoting a more open and constructive political culture.
* Malaysia will modernize its airport security following drug smuggling incidents that have revealed gaps in its capabilities to stop increasingly sophisticated drug-smuggling methods, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Tuesday.
* Singapore said Wednesday it will strengthen its Transboundary Haze Pollution Act, including raising the maximum fine for the main offense tenfold to 20 million Singapore dollars (about 15.64 million USD), as it steps up efforts to hold companies and individuals responsible for haze pollution accountable.
* The number of babies born to Japanese nationals in Japan rose 0.4 percent year on year to 320,458 in the first half of 2026, marking the first increase for the January-June period in 11 years, government data showed Wednesday.
* Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Wednesday that four "violating" oil tankers that sought to cross the Strait of Hormuz via the "forbidden" route south of the waterway exploded after hitting naval mines.
* Qatar said Tuesday that the United States and Iran are reviewing proposals aimed at ending their conflict, but differences between the two sides remain unresolved despite continued diplomatic engagement.
* Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Tuesday urged the United States and Iran to show maximum flexibility and seek a political settlement to avoid renewed military operations.
* Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and his Iranian counterpart Seyed Abbas Araghchi made a phone call on Tuesday evening and discussed regional efforts to de-escalate tensions and reach a comprehensive deal addressing all parties' concerns, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said.
* Israeli authorities on Tuesday turned back travelers seeking to cross the Rafah border crossing and halted the entry of humanitarian aid and commercial trucks from Egypt into the Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian and Israeli sources.
* The closure of all roads into Yemen's Taiz city affects all aspects of daily life and is preventing the delivery of urgently needed aid, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
* Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Fahmy has appointed Zaid al-Sabban as his personal envoy for Sudanese affairs to bolster efforts to end the conflict in the country, the Cairo-based organization said Tuesday.
* At least two people were killed in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh after severe cyclonic storm Murasu battered the coastal area, officials said Wednesday.
