* Lithuania on Tuesday started early voting for a runoff in 63 single-seat constituencies, as part of the country's parliamentary elections. The Central Electoral Commission said that polling stations would be open each day from 7:00 a.m. (0400 GMT) Tuesday until Thursday for early voters in all 60 municipalities. Early voting at other facilities or at home would start successively from Wednesday to Saturday.
* At least 31,282,331 Tanzanians, equivalent to 94.83 percent of eligible voters, have registered to vote in civic elections slated for Nov. 27, a government official announced on Monday night.
* China's President Xi Jinping on Wednesday urged BRICS countries to deepen financial and economic cooperation, saying the need for reform of the international financial architecture is becoming more urgent.
* Indonesia's newly-inaugurated President Prabowo Subianto aims to strengthen the country's manufacturing sector as part of efforts to achieve an 8 percent economic growth target over the next five years, a minister said on Tuesday.
* China has issued a list of projects worth 200 billion yuan (about 28 billion USD) that are in next year's investment plans, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) told Xinhua Tuesday.
* Stricter anti-air pollution measures were put in place in New Delhi in a bid to tackle the rising air pollution levels in the Indian capital city, even as air quality deteriorated to "Very Poor" category.
* The top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has inspected strategic missile bases, calling for the country's strategic missile force to keep counteraction posture in response to the ever-increasing threat by the United States, state media reported on Wednesday.
* Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday urged the BRICS countries to uphold the three principles of no expansion of the battlefield, no escalation of fighting and no provocation by any party, to work for de-escalation of the Ukraine crisis as soon as possible.
* Russia and Belarus are deepening defence cooperation to maintain their sovereignty, the RIA news agency cited Belarusian Defence Minister Viktor Khrenin as saying on Wednesday.
* Turkey's NATO membership is no obstacle to the country joining BRICS, if Ankara decides to do so, the TASS news agency cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on Wednesday.
* The Moroccan navy rescued 38 sub-Saharan migrants off the Atlantic coast on Tuesday, according to a statement by the Moroccan Royal Armed Forces.
* Israeli strikes across Gaza killed 16 people on Wednesday as Israeli forces stepped up pressure on northern areas of the Palestinian enclave, besieged hospital and refugee shelters, and ordered residents to head south, medics and residents said.
* U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pushed on Wednesday for a halt to fighting between Israel and militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah, but heavy Israeli air strikes on a large historic Lebanese port city demonstrated that there was no respite.
* A polio vaccination campaign in north Gaza has been postponed due to Israeli bombardments, mass displacement and lack of access, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.
* The Norwegian government has updated its advice to the country's companies, urging them not to engage in trade and business cooperation that serves to perpetuate Israel's illegal presence in the occupied Palestinian territory.
* China's embassy in Lebanon suspended passport, visa and other services from Wednesday, is said in a notice. It would continue to process travel permits for Chinese nationals in Lebanon, it added, but gave no date for the resumption of the other services.
* German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Qatar's Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, stressed the importance of a two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and called for intensified diplomatic efforts to achieve a lasting peace in the region during talks in Germany on Tuesday, a government spokesperson said.
* Israel's plan to forcibly displace hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, particularly from the northern Gaza Strip, will cause more human suffering and constitutes an aggression against Arab national security, the Arab League Council said Tuesday.
* Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said on Tuesday that neighboring countries have assured Iran they will not allow the use of their territories in any potential attacks against the country.
* The Israeli military confirmed on Tuesday that Hashem Safieddine, the head of Hezbollah's Executive Council, was killed in an airstrike on Beirut three weeks ago.
* German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arrived in Beirut for talks on Wednesday and said the task was to find a viable diplomatic solution between Israel and Lebanon after Israel succeeded in weakening Hezbollah.
* More than 42,792 Palestinians have been killed and 100,412 injured in Israel's military offensive in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
* Russia's Gazprom GAZP.MM said it would send 42.4 million cubic metres (mcm) of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Wednesday, the same volume as on the previous day.
* The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday maintained its global growth forecast in 2024 at 3.2 percent, consistent with its projection in July, according to its newly released World Economic Outlook (WEO).
* The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has lowered its growth forecast for Hungary, projecting a 1.5 percent GDP rise for 2024, down from its earlier estimate of 2.2 percent, according to its latest World Economic Outlook published Tuesday.
* The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday lowered Israel's 2024 growth forecast by more than half to 0.7 percent, compared to the previous projection of 1.6 percent given in April.
* Cambodia attracted 4.8 million foreign visitors in the first nine months of 2024, up 22 percent from 3.92 million over the same period last year, said a Ministry of Tourism's report released on Wednesday.
* Singapore's core inflation, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), edged up to 2.8 percent year-on-year in September from 2.7 percent in August, official data showed Wednesday.
* While retaining its second place in garment exports to the European Union (EU) market, Bangladesh saw the apparel shipments dropped 3.53 percent from January to August to 12.90 billion USD due in large part to domestic political turmoil and labor unrest, local media report said Wednesday, citing Eurostat data.
* Greece is to implement a series of measures to contain the spread of the sheep and goat pox after an outbreak of the disease in several parts of the country, the Greek Agricultural Development and Food Ministry announced on Tuesday.
* Germany has detected its first case of the new Clade Ib variant of the mpox virus, with no related deaths reported, the country's leading public health authority, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), announced Tuesday.
* The death toll from last week's gasoline tanker explosion in Nigeria's northern state of Jigawa has exceeded 181, said the state governor Umar Namadi on Tuesday.
* At least 14 people were killed in the Philippines as Tropical Storm Trami flooded villages, inundated rivers and forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes as it approached the eastern coast.
* Authorities cancelled trains, warned fishermen not to venture out to sea and prepared to evacuate people in vulnerable locations on Wednesday, a day before a severe cyclonic storm was set to barrel into the eastern coast of India and Bangladesh.
