* UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday urged a permanent ceasefire, unconditional release of all hostages, and the free flow of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip. Guterres made the appeal when attending the 34th Arab League Summit, which kicked off in the Iraqi capital Baghdad earlier in the day.
* The Afghan interim government and Russia have signed five memorandums of understanding (MoUs) focusing on trade, transport, transit, and gas exploration cooperation, a government statement said on Friday.
* U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he will speak separately with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday to push for a ceasefire deal between the two countries.
* Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara would continue its efforts to ensure the continuation of negotiations aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to a statement carried by Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency on Saturday.
* The 34th Arab League Summit kicked off in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Saturday, bringing together the bloc's 22 member states, along with a number of regional and international organizations, to address critical challenges facing the Arab world, particularly the ongoing crisis in Palestine.
* Arab leaders on Saturday called for an immediate halt to the war in Gaza and voiced their rejection of forced displacement of Palestinians. In the final statement of the 34th Arab League Summit, the leaders of the bloc's 22 member states demanded "an immediate halt to the war in Gaza and all hostilities exacerbating civilian suffering."
* Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday urged an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Speaking at the 34th Arab League Summit held in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Saturday, Abbas called on the summit to adopt an Arab plan to halt Israeli military operations and achieve peace in the region.
* On Saturday, European Council President Antonio Costa expressed his dismay on social media, stating he was "shocked" by the developments in Gaza and demanding an end to the violence. He urged the Israeli government to lift the blockade and ensure safe, swift, and unhindered access to humanitarian aid.
* Speaking at the 34th Arab League Summit in Baghdad on Saturday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called for international pressure to stop what he termed Israel's "massacre in Gaza." He said Madrid plans a UN resolution requesting a world court ruling on aid access to Gaza.
* Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani criticized Israel's action in the Gaza Strip. On Saturday, he reaffirmed Italy's commitment to a ceasefire and a two-state solution.
* Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani on Saturday called for Arab economic integration as a means to promote the development of Arab countries. Al-Sudani made the remarks during the opening session of the fifth Arab Economic and Social Development Summit held in Baghdad.
* Indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel resumed on Saturday in the Qatari capital Doha, according to senior Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi.
* Syria's defense authorities announced late Saturday the integration of armed units into the national defense framework. In a statement, Murhaf Abu Qasra, the chief of the Syrian defense authorities, said the move follows months of coordinated efforts aimed at unifying Syria's various military factions under a centralized command.
* Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has called on African countries to exert concerted efforts in the development of homegrown artificial intelligence (AI) to propel the realization of continental development ambitions.
* China will levy anti-dumping duties on imports of polyformaldehyde copolymer originating in the United States, the European Union, China's Taiwan region, and Japan from May 19 for a period of five years, the commerce ministry said in a statement Sunday.
* U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday demanded that the U.S. Federal Reserve cut rates "sooner, rather than later," lashing out at Fed Chair Jerome Powell for inactivity.
* U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday criticized retail giant Walmart for suggesting price hikes as a result of the soaring tariffs, demanding it "eat the tariffs" instead of passing them on to customers.
* Libyan Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah on Saturday vowed not to tolerate militias he called "brutal and unjust," and expressed his hope for a brighter future for Libya.
* At least 12 alleged criminals were killed and nine detained in an operation by Mexican federal forces against a criminal cell in the town of Huitzontla in the western state of Michoacan, the country's security ministry said on Saturday.
* Pakistan has recorded a significant reduction in the gender gap in mobile internet access, with 8 million more women coming online in 2024-2025, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Saturday as the country marked World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2025.
* The total output value of China's satellite navigation and positioning service industry reached 575.8 billion yuan (about 79.9 billion USD) in 2024, up 7.39 percent year on year, according to a white paper published Sunday.
* The Greek Ministry of National Economy and Finance on Saturday welcomed Fitch's upgrade of Greece's economic outlook, calling it further confirmation of the country's "steadfast recovery path."
* The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said it has reached a staff-level agreement with Somalia on the third review under the Extended Credit Facility arrangement. The IMF said in a statement issued on Friday evening that the deal would see the lender unlock 10 million USD, which is subject to approval of the IMF Executive Board.
* The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday said it is "actively monitoring" COVID-19 infections in Southeast Asia amid a reported rise in cases in parts of the region.
* Mongolia's measles tally surged to 2,076 after 112 new local infections were reported in the past 24 hours, the country's National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said on Saturday.
* Namibia recorded 5,921 new malaria cases and eight deaths between May 5 and 11, marking a 12-percent decrease from the previous week, according to the Ministry of Health and Social Services.
* At least 21 people were killed as suspected tornadoes swept through parts of the U.S. states of Missouri and Kentucky from Friday into Saturday morning, said authorities.
* At least 17 people were killed and many others injured Sunday after a massive fire broke out in a building in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, officials said.
* An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 jolted central Peru at 10:22:06 GMT on Saturday, the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) said. The epicenter, with a depth of 10.0 km, was initially determined to be at 14.67 degrees south latitude and 74.04 degrees west longitude.
