* Russia’s President Putin Wednesday signed a law formally annexing the accession of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson to Russia, reports Reuters citing Russian news agency TASS.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree to put into effect the decision of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC), which rules out holding any negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Zelensky's press service reported Tuesday.
* China's meteorological authority on Tuesday renewed its blue alert for a cold wave, forecasting big temperature drops and gales across large areas of the country.
* Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau said on Tuesday that the reparations for World War II Germany owes to Poland "limit and hinder the possibilities for further development and deepening of Polish-German relations."
* The World Bank said on Tuesday that countries in eastern Europe and Central Asia will return to weak growth in 2023, but warned that a cut-off of Russian energy to the European Union would tip them into recession next year.
* The Republic of Korea's military apologised on Wednesday for causing residents to worry about a failed missile launch during its joint drill with the United States in response to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea's launch of a ballistic missile over Japan a day earlier.
* The ministers of finance and economic affairs of the European Union (EU) member states, meeting in Luxembourg on Tuesday, agreed to include energy self-sufficiency in their national recovery and resilience plans.
* Denmark's governing Social Democrats took out full-page ads in major newspapers on Wednesday that fuelled expectations that Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen will call a national election later in the day.
* Iran's foreign ministry summoned the British ambassador in Tehran in reaction to "interventionist comments" from the British foreign ministry, the semi-official news agency Tasnim reported on Wednesday.
* Colombia's government and left-wing National Liberation Army (ELN) rebel group will reestablish peace talks next month, both parties said on Tuesday.
* The Ethiopian government on Wednesday accepted an invitation by the African Union to hold peace talks in South Africa this weekend with rival Tigray forces, the national security adviser said.
* Burkina Faso's new military leaders met with representatives of West Africa's main political and economic bloc ECOWAS on Tuesday to discuss plans for a democratic transition after the country's second coup this year, the interim presidency said.
* Yemen's warring parties should revive efforts for a broader deal to end its devastating seven-year conflict, the country's top United Nations envoy said on Tuesday after failed efforts to renew a truce deal on Sunday.
* The US national debt has surpassed 31 trillion USD for the first time amid higher interest rates, raising concerns about fiscal sustainability.
* A steepening drop in euro zone business activity last month will likely put paid to any hopes the currency union avoids recession, just as elevated inflation puts pressure on the European Central Bank to act, a survey showed.
* Cambodia collected 4.7 billion USD from all sources of taxes in the first nine months of 2022, up 23 percent from 3.81 billion USD in the same period last year, officials said on Wednesday.
* Singapore's retail sales grew by 13 percent year-on-year in August, compared to 13.9 percent in the previous month, the Department of Statistics (DOS) said on Wednesday.
* Year-on-year inflation in the Philippines accelerated to 6.9 percent in September from 6.3 percent in August, the highest since October 2018, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Wednesday.
* Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Republic of Korea hit a record high for the first nine months of this year due to larger investment in advanced sectors such as semiconductors and batteries, government data showed Wednesday.
* Russian energy giant Gazprom GAZP.MM said on Wednesday it is set to resume gas exports via Austria, mainly to Italy following suspension of flows over the weekend amid regulatory challenges.
* The OPEC+ meeting set to take place on Wednesday is an important one and "will take the right decision", United Arab Emirates energy minister Suhail al- Mazrouei said.
* European Union countries need to step up protection of their critical infrastructure, by conducting stress tests and using satellite surveillance to detect potential threats, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday.
* The European Union can learn from Spain and Portugal's mechanism to cap the price of gas used in power generation, although the scheme is not suitable to immediately roll out across Europe, the EU's head of energy policy said on Tuesday.
* A price cap for Russian oil proposed as part of the European Union's eighth round of sanctions against Russia will not apply to pipeline shipments, Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in a statement late on Tuesday.
* British finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng said on Tuesday he believed that setting tax rates was an important mark of sovereignty when asked about OECD moves towards global minimum tax rates or G7 standards.
* Ukraine shipped 77,400 tons of foodstuffs through its seaports on Monday, bringing the total exports under a key grain deal signed in July to 5.9 million tons, the country's Infrastructure Ministry said.
* The objection by Greece and the European Union (EU) to new economic and maritime deals between Türkiye and Libya is of "no significance or value" to Ankara, the Turkish foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
* African countries will use the COP27 climate talks in Egypt next month to advocate for a common energy position that sees fossil fuels as necessary to expanding economies and electricity access, the continent's top energy official said on Tuesday.
* The Indonesian police confirmed on Wednesday that a total of 131 people have died in a stampede last weekend after a football match in the country's province of East Java.
* More than 20 people were killed and 20 others injured after a bus fell into a gorge in India's northern hilly state of Uttarakhand late Tuesday, local police said on Wednesday.
* Large swathes of Bangladesh were left without electricity on Tuesday after a grid failure, a government official said, adding that authorities were working to gradually restore power supply in the country of 168 million people.
* Nigerian health authorities said Tuesday that they are aware of the ongoing outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Uganda as declared in September.
* The World Health Organization is setting up tents to treat cholera in Haiti and will also request a supply of oral vaccines against the disease that has unexpectedly returned to a country paralysed by a gang blockade, a WHO spokesperson said.
* Cholera has spread to 22 of Malawi's 28 districts, killing 110 people and infecting 3,891 people since March when the first case was reported, the health minister said on Tuesday.
