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The Lithuanian government has declared a "nationwide emergency situation" in response to a series of incursions from neighbouring Belarus by weather balloons carrying smuggled cigarettes, BBC reported. 

Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene condemned the balloon incursions as a "hybrid attack" by Belarus that posed a real risk to national security and civil aviation.

This year alone, officials say about 600 balloons linked to smuggling and almost 200 drones have entered Lithuanian airspace, leading to the repeated closure of Vilnius airport, according to BBC.

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu narrowly survived a crucial test on Tuesday as the country's divided parliament voted in favour of a 2026 budget bill, BBC reported. 

If Lecornu had failed to win a majority in the National Assembly for his social security budget, it would have gravely weakened his hand ahead of the main budget vote, which is due by the end of the year. 

But in the end, the bill passed by 247 votes to 234. It will now go back to the upper house or Senate before returning for a final reading in the Assembly, according to BBC. 

A press conference by Maria Corina Machado - the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who is currently in-hiding - was cancelled on Tuesday, with the Nobel Institute saying they are "in the dark" about her whereabouts, BBC reported.

Machado is Venezuela's opposition leader and has been in hiding since the country's disputed 2024 election, which she and her supporters say was stolen.

She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for efforts to bring democracy to Venezuela, and was expected to formally collect it in a ceremony on Wednesday, according to BBC.

Japan is threatening China militarily which is “completely unacceptable”, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his German counterpart, after Japan said that Chinese fighter jets had aimed their radar at Japanese military aircraft, Reuters reported. 

Japan has denounced the encounter as a dangerous act, though China has blamed Japan for sending aircraft to repeatedly approach and disrupt the Chinese navy as it was conducting previously announced carrier-based flight training east of the Miyako Strait.

Relations have soured in the past month since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi warned that Japan could respond to any Chinese military action against Taiwan if it also threatened Japan’s security, according to Reuters.