* Australia's Labor Party will form the country's next government on Monday, as unprecedented support for the Greens and climate-focussed independents ended nearly a decade of rule by the conservative coalition.
* The BRICS countries pledged to step up policy dialogues and jointly conduct research to foster environmental cooperation in climate change, biodiversity, and marine conservation at a meeting on Friday.
* Ukraine ruled out a ceasefire or concessions to Moscow while Russia intensified an offensive in the eastern Donbas region, as Polish President Andrzej Duda prepared to address the Ukrainian parliament on Sunday.
* Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who has objected to Sweden and Finland joining NATO, held phone calls with the leaders of the two countries on Saturday and discussed his concerns about terrorist organisations.
* The presidents of Serbia and Hungary Aleksandar Vucic and Viktor Orban warned on Saturday the impact of Russia-Ukraine conflict on regional and global food security at the opening of the 89th International Agricultural fair in Novi Sad, a city in northern Serbia.
* Russian gas producer Gazprom GAZP.MM said it continues to supply gas to Europe through Ukraine via the Sudzha entry point, with volumes on Sunday seen at 44.7 million cubic metres (mcm) down from 45.9 mcm on Saturday.
* China's ports saw a slight expansion of cargo throughput in the first four months of the year despite COVID-19 disruptions, official data showed. Cargo throughput at the country's ports neared 4.91 billion tonnes in the period, edging up 0.2 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Transport.
* Qatar's foreign minister said on Saturday in remarks cited by al Jazeera TV that the Iranian leadership expressed readiness for a compromise regarding "the Iranian nuclear file", referring to talks over reviving a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.
* Iran's oil minister has agreed to revive a long-stalled project to lay an undersea pipeline to carry gas to Oman, the Iranian state news agency IRNA reported on Saturday.
* The 27th conference of parties to the United Nations framework convention on climate change (COP27) slated for Egypt from Nov. 7-18 offers an opportunity to raise the visibility of Africa's quest for a green and resilient future, a UN official said Saturday on the sidelines of ninth edition of Africities Summit taking place in Kenya's western city of Kisumu.
* The monkeypox outbreak is something "everybody should be concerned about," US President Joe Biden said on Sunday, adding that US health officials are looking into possible treatments and vaccines.
* Norway has begun searching for possible cases of monkeypox in the capital Oslo, the country's Institute of Public Health (FHI) said on Saturday.
* The Chinese mainland on Saturday reported 157 locally-transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases, of which Shanghai and Beijing both reported 52, according to the National Health Commission Sunday.
* India's COVID-19 tally rose to 43,136,371 on Sunday, as 2,226 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, showed the federal health ministry's latest data.
* The Republic of Korea reported 19,298 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight Saturday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 17,957,697, the health authorities said Sunday.
* Malaysia reported 2,021 new COVID-19 infections as of midnight Saturday, bringing the national total to 4,489,503, according to the health ministry.
* Fiji has received more than 119,000 international tourists since the island nation reopened its borders in December last year, said Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama.
* A storm ravaged India's eastern state of Bihar on Thursday, killing at least 33 people, local media reported Saturday citing the state's Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The storm destroyed several houses and caused immense damage in as many as 16 districts of the state, mainly in the Katihar district.
* An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.3 jolted south of the Fiji Islands at 07:06 GMT on Sunday, the US Geological Survey said. The epicenter, with a depth of 589.53 km, was initially determined to be at 26.214 degrees south latitude and 178.3915 degrees east longitude.
