* A 6.1-magnitude earthquake triggered a small tsunami, damaged scores of houses and forced dozens of people to flee homes in Maluku province's island of Seram in Indonesia Wednesday, an official said.
* Iraqi security forces shot down two unknown drones above two areas in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, the Iraqi military said on Wednesday.
* China administered about 19.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines on June 15, bringing the total number of doses administered to 923.91 million, data from the National Health Commission showed on Wednesday.
* India's COVID-19 tally rose to 29,633,105 on Wednesday, with as many as 62,224 new cases recorded in the past 24 hours, said the health ministry. Besides, 2,542 COVID-19 patients died since Tuesday morning, taking the death toll to 379,573.
* Russia reported 13,397 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, including 5,782 in Moscow, taking the official national tally since the pandemic began to 5,249,990. The government coronavirus task force said 396 people had died of coronavirus-linked causes in the past 24 hours, pushing the national death toll to 127,576.
* US’s New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo Tuesday announced the immediate lifting of major COVID-19 restrictions across the state as 70 percent of adults in the state have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
* Japan's exports rose at the fastest pace since 1980 in May and a key gauge of capital spending grew, helping the world's third-largest economy offset sluggish domestic demand as COVID-19 vaccinations boost business activity in key markets.
* Australia's minimum wage will rise by 2.5% for the financial year starting in July, a faster pace than this year, which the country's independent wage-setting body said reflected its strong economic recovery from the coronavirus-induced recession.
* The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported Wednesday 5,414 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 1,332,832. The death toll climbed to 23,121 after 158 more patients died from the viral disease, the DOH said.
* Singapore is evaluating the timing and scope of the next stage of its easing of coronavirus measures, originally planned for next Monday, after a new coronavirus cluster and cases were detected, its finance minister said on Wednesday.
* Indonesia reported 9,944 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, its highest daily number of new cases since Feb. 22, with 196 new deaths. Indonesia's total infections are 1,937,652, with 53,476 fatalities overall, according to data from its COVID-19 task force.
* Malaysia's foreign minister Hishammuddin Hussein said on Wednesday China had agreed to contribute 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines made by its drugmaker Sinovac BioTech to the Southeast Asian country.
* European Union governments agreed on Wednesday to add the United States to their list of countries from which they will allow non-essential travel, EU diplomats said.
* France on Tuesday started vaccinating children aged 12 and over in order to reach herd immunity and counter an eventual spread of more dangerous new strains of the COVID-19.
* Australia's second largest city Melbourne will further ease restrictions from midnight Thursday despite the state of Victoria still recorded locally acquired COVID-19 cases.
* South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Johnson & Johnson would send 2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to the country by the end of the month, making up for the amount lost due to contamination at an US ingredient supplier.
* The European Union plans to boost its early warning system and have a permanent capacity to produce about 300 million vaccines in the first six months of any new health emergency as it prepares for "the age of pandemics".
* The Slovenian government announced on Tuesday that the state of pandemic, which was declared last October, would not be extended.
* Ecuador said it had approved the use of the COVID-19 vaccine made by China's CanSino Biologics Inc.
* The number of COVID-19 cases recorded among people involved in the Copa America rose to 52.
* Flash floods triggered by heavy rains washed away a remote mountain camp in Bhutan on Wednesday killing 10 people and injuring five, while floods in neighbouring Nepal left seven people missing, authorities said.
