* The leader of Sweden's Moderate party asked the speaker of parliament on Wednesday for two more weeks to try and form a coalition and thrash out a policy agenda, after his right-wing bloc narrowly won a parliamentary election this month.
* A Chinese envoy on Tuesday called for efforts to open the door for a political settlement of the conflict in Ukraine.
* The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) fired two short-range ballistic missiles into its eastern waters, the Republic of Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Wednesday.
* Thousands of Czechs protested in Prague on Wednesday against the government's handling of soaring energy prices which have cut into pocketbooks as winter approaches.
* NATO and the European Union on Wednesday stressed the need to protect critical infrastructure after what they called acts of "sabotage" on the Nord Stream pipelines, and Brussels warned of a "robust and united response" should there be more attacks.
* The Indian government decided on Wednesday to extend a free ration scheme for the country's needy people for three more months.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday met with visiting French Foreign Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna to discuss support for Ukraine, the presidential press service reported.
* The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will set up a project office in Ukraine, the Ukrainian government press service reported on Tuesday.
* Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has called for a "realistic" approach from the United States amid the international efforts for the revival of the Iranian 2015 nuclear deal, Iran's Foreign Ministry website reported on Wednesday.
* The European Union's (EU) chief diplomat Josep Borrell on Wednesday expressed his concerns over three gas pipeline leaks detected in the Baltic Sea on Russian natural gas pipelines, adding that they were most probably the result of sabotage.
* The director of the Danish Energy Agency (DEA) Kristoffer Bottzauw said on Wednesday that the gas leaks from the Nord Stream pipelines will continue until the end of the week.
* European Union countries were at odds on Wednesday over whether to cap gas prices in the bloc, with France, Belgium and 13 other states stepping up their call for the move opposed by Germany and others.
* Millions of Americans are struggling to cope with rising electricity and natural gas prices as sky-high inflation continues to dent their finances, reported CBS News on Monday.
* Greece will not follow Türkiye down the path of "fiery words," but calls on the neighboring country to choose "constructive actions and substantial dialogue," Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
* Israeli forces killed four Palestinian gunmen in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, pursuing a half-year-long campaign of raids triggered by a series of lethal street attacks in Israel.
* Norway on Wednesday was beefing up security throughout its oil and gas sector to protect against possible sabotage after several countries said two Russian pipelines to Europe spewing gas into the Baltic had been attacked.
* The US S&P 500 closed at its lowest point this year on Tuesday, as US Federal Reserve officials indicated they might continue to raise interest rates -- even to the point of triggering a downturn.
* The European Central Bank may need to raise interest rates by another 75 basis points at its October meeting and move again in December to a level that no longer stimulates the economy, policymakers said on Wednesday.
* Global credit rating company Fitch on Wednesday reaffirmed the Republic of Korea’s sovereign rating at AA-minus with a stable outlook.
* Thailand's central bank on Wednesday raised its key policy rate for a second straight meeting, by 0.25 percentage point, in an effort to curb the rising inflation and support economic recovery.
* France's household confidence index dropped to 79 in September, 3 points lower than in August, the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) announced on Wednesday.
* Exceeding analyst expectations, the Monetary Council of the Hungarian National Bank (MNB) raised the bank's base rate by 125 basis points to 13 percent on Tuesday.
* Sweden's economic growth will grind to a halt next year amid soaring inflation and interest rate rises, casting a pall over households and businesses as they prepare for rough times ahead, data showed on Wednesday.
* Mexico's exports grew 18.9 percent year-on-year between January and August, driven by oil and manufacturing shipments, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography said Tuesday.
* Greece proposes the establishment of an 80-billion-euro (76.7 billion USD) fund by European Union (EU) to collectively deal with the impact of the spike in natural gas prices amid the energy crisis, the Greek Environment and Energy Ministry said here on Tuesday.
* Young people in France are more positive about their current life and future prospects than they were during the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Institute of Youth and Popular Education (INJEP) said on Tuesday citing a recent survey.
* The African Union Advisory Board on Corruption (AUABC), established in 2009 to invigorate the fight against corruption, has been lobbying countries to ratify its convention to facilitate the elimination of the vice in the continent, an official said.
* Sri Lanka's Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to ensure gender equality has decided to propose amendments to the Children and Young Persons Ordinance to raise the age of a person acknowledged as a child from 16 to 18 years.
* Three Katyusha rockets landed in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone while a parliament session was being convened, Iraqi state news agency INA reported on Wednesday.
* Ghana's negotiations with the International Monetary Fund over a rescue package will be fast-tracked, the country's Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said on Wednesday.
* Botswana has resumed exports of live cattle and beef from areas declared free of foot and mouth disease (FMD) but sales to Europe, which has tougher import restrictions, remain suspended, a senior government official told Reuters on Wednesday.
* South African farmers are expected to harvest 6.5% less maize in the 2021/2022 season compared with the previous season, the government's Crop Estimates Committee (CEC) said on Wednesday.
* The death toll from typhoon Noru that slammed the Philippines over the weekend rose to 10 while eight remained missing, a spokesperson for a government disaster agency said on Wednesday.
* Hurricane Ian intensified to an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm on Wednesday as it steamed toward Florida's Gulf Coast, threatening to bring destruction and life-threatening conditions to much of the state.
* Over a month after devastating floods, flood water is still stagnant in parts of Pakistan, due to which the calamity-hit people including children are suffering waterborne and viral diseases, local media reported on Wednesday.
* Sri Lanka's wildlife ministry said Wednesday that the government spends an estimated 8 million USD annually on firecrackers to prevent human-elephant conflicts in the country.
* At least 22 people were killed when two Ugandan military helicopters crashed in east Democratic Republic of Congo, a Congo army spokesman who asked not to be named told Reuters on Wednesday.
* A restaurant fire killed 17 people in the northeastern Chinese city of Changchun on Wednesday, state television channel CCTV reported.
* A new island is forming in Tonga's western volcanic chain due to the Home Reef effusive lava flow eruption over the past days since Sept. 10 this year.
