* Pakistani security forces exchanged fire with Afghan militants and the banned terrorist organization Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) late Tuesday night along the border in Pakistan's northwest Kurram district, Pakistani security sources told Xinhua on Wednesday.
* French Prime Minister (PM) Sebastien Lecornu on Tuesday announced the suspension of controversial pension reforms until the presidential election. Lecornu also said that the next budget would impose exceptional contributions from the wealthiest French citizens, confirming the government's decision not to invoke Article 49.3.
* Apple CEO Tim Cook pledged on Wednesday that the company will continue to increase its investment in China and enhance cooperation to achieve mutually-beneficial and win-win development. Cook made the remarks during a meeting with China's Minister of Industry and Information Technology Li Lecheng in Beijing.
* The Russian government intends to significantly increase funding for the national "Family" project to 3.24 trillion rubles (about 42 billion USD) to ensure the country's poverty rate does not exceed 7 percent by 2030, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced on Tuesday.
* More than 5.7 million people in Italy were living in absolute poverty in 2024, with the overall rate remaining broadly unchanged from the previous year, the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) reported Tuesday. The figure corresponds to about 2.2 million households, or 8.4 percent of Italy's population of roughly 59 million, according to the report.
* The U.S. military struck a vessel conducting narcotrafficking in international waters just off the coast of Venezuela on Tuesday, killing six men aboard, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Truth Social.
* Greece was paralyzed by a 24-hour general strike on Tuesday as workers protested against a draft bill that would extend working hours. It was the second nationwide walkout in two weeks organized by the country's two main labor unions, ADEDY and GSEE, ahead of a parliamentary vote scheduled for Thursday.
* Four more bodies of hostages were in the custody of Israeli forces in Gaza after Hamas handed them over to the International Committee of the Red Cross on Tuesday night, the Israeli military and the Shin Bet security agency said in a joint statement.
* Red Cross vehicles were on their way to a designated meeting point in Gaza late on Tuesday to collect additional bodies of Israeli hostages to be handed over by Hamas, the Israeli military and Shin Bet security agency said in a statement.
* Türkiye on Tuesday dispatched a humanitarian aid vessel to Gaza, with Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announcing the departure of the ship "Akdeniz" from the southern Port of Mersin.
* U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated on Tuesday that there is no risk-free path for interest rate policy amid the tension between employment and inflation goals.
* As of Tuesday, China-Europe freight trains transiting through Erenhot Port -- the largest land port between China and Mongolia -- had cumulatively transported over 20 million tonnes of cargo since their launch in 2013, with nearly 21,000 train trips recorded to date.
* Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Republic of Korea fell 18 percent year-on-year in the first nine months of this year due to uncertainties at home and abroad, government data showed Wednesday. The reported FDI totaled 20.65 billion USD in the January-September period, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
* The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Wednesday that it has approved a 500-million-U.S.-dollar policy-based loan to further strengthen Indonesia's competitiveness, promote green growth, and accelerate trade through the third subprogram of the Competitiveness, Industrial Modernization, and Trade Acceleration Program (CITA).
* The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Wednesday that it has approved a 500-million-U.S.-dollar policy-based loan to support Uzbekistan in strengthening public sector efficiency, advancing economic governance, and accelerating the country's integration into the global economy.
* Kazakhstan's national oil and gas company KazMunayGas (KMG) and Russian energy corporation Lukoil have begun implementing the Kalamkas-Sea and Khazar Fields joint development project on the Caspian Shelf, the Kazinform news agency reported Tuesday, citing Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
* The Mexican government aims to secure the most favorable trade conditions possible as the United States implements new tariff measures, Mexican Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Tuesday.
* Lithuania plans to allocate 5.38 percent of its gross domestic product to defense next year, Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene said on Wednesday.
* The cargo volume of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) reached approximately 37.9 million tonnes in 2024, with a projected growth of around 20 percent in 2025, Alexei Likhachev, director general of Russia's State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom, said Tuesday.
* Russia's Minister of Industry and Trade Anton Alikhanov said on Tuesday that new car sales in the Russian market are expected to total 350,000 units in the fourth quarter of 2025, with full-year sales estimated to reach 1.3 million to 1.4 million units.
* The Finnish economy is showing signs of renewed recovery after slowing earlier this year, with gross domestic product (GDP) expected to grow by 2 percent in 2026, according to OP Financial Group's latest forecast released on Tuesday.
* The IMF has lowered its forecast for Argentina's economic growth in 2025 to 4.5 percent, according to the latest World Economic Outlook report released Tuesday. The new projection marks a downward revision from the 5.5 percent GDP growth forecast issued in April and reaffirmed in July.
* The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has downgraded Latvia's gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecasts for this year and next, according to the IMF's latest World Economic Outlook, published on Tuesday. In the report, the IMF forecasts Latvia's economy to grow by 1 percent this year and by 2.2 percent next year, instead of its April forecasts of 2 percent this year and 2.5 percent in 2026.
* More than 517,000 people received COVID-19 booster vaccinations during the first three weeks of Portugal's special vaccination campaign, the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) reported Tuesday.
* New research reveals a warming trend in New Zealand's ocean waters alongside an increase in marine heatwaves, potentially impacting fisheries and marine ecosystems.
* Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki in Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara province erupted on Wednesday, sending a column of ash up to 10 kilometers into the sky and prompting authorities to issue the highest-level aviation alert, the country's volcanology agency said.
* At least 20 people were killed Tuesday after a private bus carrying them caught fire in the western Indian state of Rajasthan, officials said. The moving bus caught fire on the road near Thaiyat village in Jaisalmer district, about 548 km west of Jaipur, the capital city of Rajasthan.
