*Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio said Tuesday that he has no intention of dissolving parliament, two days after his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lost all three lower house seats in by-elections, local media reported.
* Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn has approved the appointment of retired diplomat Maris Sangiampongsa as the Southeast Asian country's new foreign minister, the Royal Gazette said on Wednesday.
* Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele and opposition leader Matthew Wale have emerged as contenders for the position of Solomon Islands' prime minister, local media reported on Wednesday.
* Haiti's transitional council has named ex-Sports Minister Fritz Belizaire as the country's new prime minister, local media reported Tuesday.
* Maximum temperatures in most parts of India are likely to be above normal in May, the India Meteorological Department said on Wednesday, adding that the number of heat wave days will also be higher by about two to eight days.
* A Cambodian health official on Wednesday warned of health risks as temperatures in the Southeast Asian country have soared to record highs.
* Malaysian civil servants will see a salary increase of over 13% beginning December this year, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Wednesday.
* South Korea is being considered as a potential partner for part of the AUKUS deal between the United States, Britain and Australia, Defence Minister Shin Won-Sik said on Wednesday.
* New Zealand’s government is continuing "information gathering discussions" on future cooperation with the AUKUS security pact but is "a long way" from being able to make a decision on this, the country’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.
* British authorities have detained the first migrants set to be removed to Rwanda under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's flagship illegal migration policy, the government said on Wednesday.
* Environment ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) nations committed themselves on Tuesday to phasing out the use of coal by 2035 as part of a wider effort to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of fossil fuels.
* Sri Lanka and Indonesia will hold the second meeting of the negotiation committee on the proposed preferential trade agreement between the two countries on June 19, according to a statement from the Sri Lankan government's information department on Tuesday.
* Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa on Tuesday decreed a state of emergency in five coastal provinces because of "internal armed conflict".
* UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday called for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, highlighting the dire situation in Gaza which he described as "worsening by the day."
* Rival Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah have expressed the will to seek reconciliation through dialogue at unity talks in Beijing, China's foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
* U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, pushing to get more aid into Gaza, while urging Hamas to accept a deal that would halt fighting in the enclave and bring Israeli hostages home.
* Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah on Tuesday urged for reaching an immediate and sustainable ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
* Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani pledged on Tuesday to resume efforts to end the current Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
* The Palestinian presidency said Tuesday that Israel would not dare to continue its assault in Gaza without U.S. support.
* France's foreign minister arrived in Cairo on Wednesday on an unscheduled stop during a Middle East tour as efforts to secure a truce between Israel and Hamas and the release of hostages in Gaza reach a critical point.
* At least 34,568 Palestinians have been killed and 77,765 wounded in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
* Over 1,000 pro-Palestinian protesters have been arrested in recent days according to U.S. media reports, as the anti-war demonstrations at over 20 American universities continued on Tuesday.
* Turkish authorities have detained 41 people suspected of having ties to militant group Islamic State in operations across 12 provinces, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on social media platform X on Wednesday.
* United Airlines UAL.O on Wednesday extended the cancellation of its daily flight from Newark, New Jersey to Tel Aviv in Israel up to May 9, saying it was completing a safety assessment.
* The U.S.-British coalition in the Red Sea launched a fresh airstrike on Yemen's Houthi-held port city of Hodeidah on Tuesday, Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported.
* Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud has reiterated the country's commitment to non-proliferation and peaceful use of nuclear science, particularly in energy, food safety, medicine, and health sectors.
* The population of California grew last year for the first time since 2020, thanks to a drop in mortality and a rebound in legal foreign immigration, the state's Department of Finance said on Tuesday. The population rose by 67,000 people or 0.17 percent in 2023 to a total of 39,128,162, the highest of any U.S. state.
* New Zealand's average ordinary time hourly earnings increased by 5.2 percent in the year to the March 2024 quarter, while annual wage cost inflation was 4.1 percent, according to the statistics department Stats NZ on Wednesday.
* Ukraine's agricultural exports via Black Sea ports have reached pre-conflict levels, the government-run Ukrinform news agency reported Tuesday, citing a senior diplomat.
* South Korea's export grew for the seventh successive month in April due to strong global demand for locally-made tech products and automobiles, government data showed Wednesday.
* Overnight stays by foreigners at hotels and other accommodation facilities in Japan increased by 68.2 percent in March from a year earlier to about 12.70 million, the highest monthly figure, government data showed.
* The Philippines' foreign investments yielded net outflows of 236 million USD in March, the Philippine central bank said Wednesday.
* Italy's economy grew faster and prices rose slower than in the previous reporting period, according to preliminary economic data from the government's main statistics entity released Tuesday.
* The German economy grew by 0.2 percent in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the previous quarter, indicating a slow recovery from last year's recession, according to figures published by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on Tuesday.
* The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday it had reached a staff-level agreement with Mali for about $120 million in emergency financing, as the West African country is struggling with rising food insecurity.
* A new government report has shown that the aeronautical operations of Australia's four major airports returned to profit in 2022-23, the first full financial year since the end of COVID-19 travel restrictions.
* Peru's economy will likely expand by 3.1% this year, the economy ministry said late on Tuesday, up slightly from a previous forecast of 3.0% growth.
* The Mongolian government on Wednesday decided to slash the import duty on wheat flour to zero from about 15 percent.
* Sri Lanka's Colombo Port will record its best performance in 2024, local media reported on Wednesday, quoting Sri Lanka Ports Authority Chairman Keith D. Bernard.
* The death toll has risen to 24 after part of an expressway collapsed in south China's Guangdong Province, causing 20 vehicles to plunge, on early Wednesday morning, local authorities said. Another 30 people are receiving hospital treatment, with none in life-threatening condition, according to the government of the province's Meizhou city.
