* French President Emmanuel Macron paid a surprise visit to a Socialist-held working class suburb north of Paris on Wednesday on his first official outing since his re-election, in an effort to woo left-wing voters ahead of June's parliamentary vote.
* India is getting too hot too early, raising the risk of fires, Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned on Wednesday, as New Delhi sweltered in extreme heat and a burning landfill on the outskirts of the capital spewed toxic smoke into the air.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin met with visiting United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in the Kremlin on Tuesday to discuss the situation in Ukraine.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday met with Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca to discuss Bucharest's support for Kiev, the presidential press service said.
* Profits of China's major industrial firms expanded at a faster pace in the first quarter of 2022 despite increasing challenges, such as the COVID-19 epidemic, official data showed on Wednesday.
* The US trade deficit in goods widened sharply in March amid a surge in imports, suggesting that trade remained a drag on economic growth in the first quarter.
* The Russia-Ukraine conflict has dealt "a major shock" to commodity markets, altering global patterns of trade, production and consumption, the World Bank (WB) said in a report released Tuesday.
* There is no signal Russia will stop delivering gas to Germany, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said on Wednesday, after Russian energy giant Gazprom GAZP.MM halted gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria for failing to pay for gas in roubles.
* Germany's economy ministry on Wednesday cut its economic growth forecast for 2022 to 2.2% from its late January prediction of 3.6% growth this year as Russia-Ukraine crisis, sanctions and high energy prices take toll on output.
* Two of Australia's big four banks expect the benchmark cash rate will rise next week and a third sees increased risk of a hike after a surprisingly strong inflation reading on Wednesday.
* China reported 14,298 new coronavirus cases on April 26, of which 1,824 were symptomatic and 12,474 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said.
* A Japanese health ministry panel green-lit a plan Wednesday to allow a fourth COVID-19 vaccine shot to initially be given to senior citizens and those with underlying medical conditions.
* Following the record surge in COVID-19 cases during the Omicron-driven wave, some 58% of the US population overall and more than 75% of younger children have been infected with the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, according to a US nationwide blood survey.
* Mexico will let all children aged over 12 be registered for COVID-19 vaccination from Thursday.
* Pfizer and BioNTech said that they had submitted an application to the US health regulator for the authorisation of a booster dose of their COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 years.
* Four Syrian soldiers were killed on Wednesday, Syria's defence ministry said, in an Israeli missile attack on positions near Damascus that a war monitor said had hit an arms depot.
* Twenty Muslim worshippers were killed in Ethiopia's Amhara region in clashes with unidentified armed men, an Islamic leader in the region said.
