* Railway trips in China hit a record high on Saturday, the first day of the five-day May Day holiday, data from the national railway operator shows. A total of 12,064 trains were in operation on Saturday, handling 19.66 million passenger trips, according to the China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. (China Railway).
* US President Joe Biden and his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, will join Pacific Islands leaders next month for a "historic" future-oriented meeting, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape said on Sunday.
* Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said his meeting with US President Joe Biden on Monday was essential in advancing his country's national interest and strengthening the "very important alliance" between Manila and Washington.
* Russia's Ministry of Defence on Sunday said its forces had taken four blocks in western Bakhmut, Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported.
* Iran's parliament on Sunday voted to dismiss the country’s industry minister, the first member of President Ebrahim Raisi's cabinet to be impeached since his election in 2020 amid growing economic resentment across the country.
* Yemen's Houthi rebels on Sunday released a government military commander who had been detained for eight years, a Houthi official announced in a statement.
* Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Saturday the expansion of cooperation between Iran and Iraq and the implementation of previously signed bilateral agreements serve the common interests of both sides, according to official news agency IRNA.
* The deadly clashes between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed at least 528 people and wounded 4,599, the Sudanese Health Ministry said in a report on Saturday.
* Sri Lanka's Department of Meteorology on Saturday issued a warning of heavy floods for 12 out of a total of 25 districts in the South Asian country, where heavy rains were reported over the last few days.
* Pfizer Inc PFE.N and BioNTech's 22UAy.DE new proposal to the European Union, amid a glut of COVID-19 shots, includes a provision for member states to pay half price, or about 10 euros ($11), for each of about 70 million cancelled doses, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.
* A man shot dead five neighbors including an 8-year-old boy after some of them had asked him to stop shooting a semiautomatic rifle in his front yard in Cleveland, Texas, because it was keeping their baby awake, police said on Saturday.
