* Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Great Hall of the People on Tuesday (July 2), pledging more efforts to promote strategic cooperation between the two sides and work for sound bilateral ties.
* Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Wednesday that he was not considering raising the sales tax beyond 10% under his administration, and that he saw no such need for at least a decade.
* The Republic of Korean government on Wednesday revised down this year's growth outlook to 2.4-2.5 percent on external uncertainties that were forecast to cause the weakening of export and facility investment. The growth outlook was down 0.2 percentage points compared with the figure estimated six months ago, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
* Iran will increase its level of uranium enrichment after July 7 to whatever levels it needs beyond the 3.67% cap set in the landmark 2015 nuclear deal, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday, according to the IRIB news agency.
* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday urged European countries to truly implement a special mechanism for trade with Iran bypassing US sanctions, which has made it difficult for Iran to abide by the nuclear deal.
* Top diplomats from the European Union, France, Germany and the UK said on Tuesday that they are extremely concerned with Iran's exceeding of stockpile limit for low enriched uranium and urged Tehran to reverse course.
* Chinese and German militaries will hold a joint exercise on medical support from July 3 to 17 in Munich, Germany, said a source with the Health Bureau of the Logistic Support Department of the Central Military Commission of China Tuesday.
* Austria's cabinet has set Sept. 29 as the date of the next parliamentary election, a spokesman for the head of the provisional government, Brigitte Bierlein, said on Wednesday.
* Migrant apprehensions at the US southern border fell 30% in June from the previous month, Mexico said on Tuesday, after introducing controls as part of a deal with the United States to curb the flow of migration or face possible trade tariffs.
* Syria's President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday discussed the "escalatory stances" of the US administration with a visiting Iranian official, according to a report by the state news agency SANA.
* Zimbabwe needs to import 800,000 tonnes of maize following a drought that reduced the harvest by more than half, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Wednesday, adding that no one in the country would go hungry.
* At least 30 migrants were killed in an overnight strike on a Tripoli migrant detention centre and dozens were injured, the United Nations refugee agency said on Wednesday.
* Iran exported US$13 billion' worth of goods and services to Iraq in the past Iranian calendar year ending in March, up 37 percent year-on-year, Press TV reported Tuesday.
