* Japanese Defence Minister Kishi Nobuo said on Sunday that he agreed with his Chinese counterpart to promote dialogue and exchanges.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a bill into law on non-compliance by Russia with the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the Kremlin said Saturday.
* French voters go to the polls on Sunday in the first of two rounds that will decide whether President Emmanuel Macron gets a working majority in parliament or ends up without the support needed to drive through his reform agenda.
* Germany's Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will travel to Kyiv with French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi before the G7 summit at the end of June.
* European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU executive's opinion on Ukraine's request to join the European Union would be ready in the coming week.
* Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday held a meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah with visiting US senior diplomats ahead of an expected visit of US President Joe Biden.
* US President Joe Biden said he had "not yet" decided if he will travel to Saudi Arabia, a week after he opened the door to a possible trip.
* Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday called for a peaceful solution to the Yemeni crisis, expressing his country's support for the legitimate government of Yemen.
* Russian gas producer Gazprom GAZP.MM said its supply of gas to Europe through Ukraine via the Sudzha entry point was seen at 41.9 million cubic metres (mcm) on Sunday, unchanged from Saturday.
* Sri Lanka may be compelled to buy more oil from Russia as the nation faces shortages amid an unprecedented economic crisis, its prime minister told the Associated Press.
* Inbound traffic to the main international airport of the Swedish capital was diverted on Saturday as the main terminal was overcrowded with massive queues at the security gates.
* Egypt plans to set up new area for crude oil storage in El- Tebbin, south of Cairo, the petroleum ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
* The Chinese mainland on Saturday reported 122 locally-transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 78 in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, 34 in Beijing and 10 in Shanghai, the National Health Commission said Sunday.
* US health officials are working to expand capabilities to test for monkeypox beyond a narrow group of public health labs, heeding calls from infectious disease experts who say testing for the virus needs to become part of routine care.
* An expert virologist reinforced the need to avoid intimate contact Saturday as the number of Monkeypox cases in Britain reached 366.
* A volcano approximately 600 km southeast of the Philippine capital spewed ash before dawn on Sunday, a week after a phreatic eruption that prompted authorities to raise the alert level to 1 and evacuate residents to safety.
* About 1,090 destitute and drought-affected families received relief assistance in three Afghan provinces on Saturday, the authorities said on Sunday.
* Australia has reported its highest number of influenza infections in May on record. According to the latest data from the national disease surveillance system, 65,770 flu cases were recorded across Australia in May.
