* The Russian State Duma, the lower chamber of parliament, on Tuesday (June 18) passed a bill suspending Russia's participation in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF). The bill, submitted by Russian President Vladimir Putin, proposes to suspend the treaty signed between the former Soviet Union and the United States in 1987.
* Chinese President Xi Jinping held a telephone conversation with his US counterpart, Donald Trump, on Tuesday at the latter's request. Trump said he looks forward to meeting Xi again during the upcoming Group of 20 (G20) summit in the Japanese city of Osaka later this month, and conducting in-depth discussions on bilateral ties and issues of common concern.
* Senior Russian, US and Israeli security officials will meet soon in Jerusalem to discuss the situation in Syria and the Middle East as a whole, Deputy Director of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry Artyom Kozhin said Tuesday.
* US President Donald Trump formally kicked off his 2020 re-election campaign at a rally in Orlando, Florida, on Tuesday night. Trump was elected the 45th president of the United States in 2016, after defeating Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
* The construction of Indonesia's new capital city was scheduled for 2021 and allocation to finance related projects will be set in the 2020 state budget, Indonesia Development Planning Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said in Jakarta Tuesday.
* US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday that President Donald Trump does not want war with Iran, while stressing that US pressure campaign against Tehran would continue. Pentagon announced on Monday the deployment about 1,000 additional troops to the Middle East for "for defensive purposes."
* A team of Israel experts are in the Philippines to train Philippine troops in counterterrorism methods next week, a spokesperson from the Philippine Army said on Tuesday.
* Japan on Tuesday strongly encouraged Iran to abide by a 2015 nuclear agreement after Tehran may exceed the uranium stockpile limit set in the accord.
* UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock on Tuesday asked parties to the conflict in Syria's Idlib to uphold international humanitarian law.
* Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah will discuss with Iraqi officials bilateral ties and recent regional and international developments during his upcoming visit to Iraq.
* The United States will provide US$250 million to Ukraine in an effort to increase the defense capability of the Eastern European country, the US Department of Defense announced Tuesday.
* Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid Tuesday met in Tallinn with her Croatian counterpart Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic to discuss bilateral cooperations in the fields of economy and digitalization as well as Croatia's presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) in the first half of 2020.
* A 6.7-magnitude earthquake striking Japan's northeastern region late Tuesday left at least 15 people injured with thousands forced to take shelter at evacuation centers, officials said Wednesday (June 19).
* At least 5,400 people had to be evacuated due to floods that hit the central and southern region of Uruguay, the National Emergency System (Sinae) reported on Tuesday.
