* China on Friday refuted a US official's remarks that China should learn the right lessons from the situation in Ukraine, including that it can't separate the United States from its allies.
* India and Britain signed several memorandums of understanding (MoUs) in the fields such as nuclear energy, education, wind energy, artificial intelligence (AI) on Friday, which is the last day of the two-day visit New Delhi of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
* Russia plans to take full control of Donbas and southern Ukraine during the second phase of what it calls its special military operation, the deputy commander of Russia's central military district said on Friday, Russian news agencies reported.
* Ukrainian Presidential Advisor Mykhailo Podolyak said on Friday that Kiev will complete the talks on security guarantees with partner countries within a week, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported.
* The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Friday its expert mission would travel to Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power plant on April 26 to help ensure the facility's safety.
* Rival regional powers Iran and Saudi Arabia resumed talks in the Iraqi capital after they were suspended in March, Iran's semi-official Nour News reported on Saturday.
* The Baltic states -- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania -- are planning to organize joint procurement programs to beef up their air defense capabilities, the prime ministers of the three countries said following their meeting in Riga on Friday.
* EU companies may be able to work around Russia's demand to receive gas payments in roubles without breaching sanctions if they pay in euros or dollars which are then converted into the Russian currency, the European Commission said on Friday.
* If Germany joined an energy embargo against Russia, its economy could be significantly weakened, says a monthly report published by Germany's central bank Deutsche Bundesbank on Friday.
* Alphabet GOOGL.O unit Google, Meta FB.O and other large online platforms will have to do more to tackle illegal content or risk hefty fines under new internet rules agreed between European Union countries and EU lawmakers on Saturday.
* Early voting numbers in Slovenia's April 24 parliamentary election shattered records, the State Election Commission said on Friday.
* One soldier died and 27 other crew members went missing when they were fighting for the survival of the Russian missile cruiser Moskva that sank in the Black Sea last week, the Russian Defense Ministry said Friday.
* A blast tore through a Sunni mosque during Friday prayers in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz, killing 33 people and wounding dozens more, officials said.
* A rocket from the Gaza Strip was fired into Israel early Saturday, following two fired from the Hamas-ruled enclave on Friday night.
* Mainland China reported 24,411 new COVID-19 cases on April 22, including 2,988 symptomatic and 21,423 asymptomatic infections, the country's national health authority said on Saturday.
* Ninety-three percent of the people in Cambodia, aged 3 years old and over, have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccines, Health Ministry's secretary of state and spokeswoman Or Vandine said on Saturday.
* India's COVID-19 tally rose to 43,054,952 on Saturday as 2,527 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, showed the health ministry's latest data.
* Republic of Korea reported 75,449 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight Friday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 16,830,469, the health authorities said on Saturday.
* Most Americans support a flexible approach to the lingering COVID-19 pandemic, with cities reimposing mask mandates when cases surge, even as a growing number are eager to get on with their lives, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
* Brazilian Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga signed a decree on Friday ending the COVID-19 public health emergency, effective 30 days after its publication in the Official Gazette.
* Canada attracted more than one million travelers in a week for the first time since the pandemic, government data showed on Friday, as easing of COVID-19 border restrictions encouraged visitors back into the country.
* Poland can reach a compromise with Moderna on increasing the flexibility of COVID-19 vaccine contracts, the health minister said.
* Pakistan confirmed 82 new COVID-19 cases and one more death from the pandemic during the past 24 hours, the country's ministry of health said on Saturday.
