* Israel bombed what it said were underground tunnels used by Hamas and Palestinian militants fired rocket barrages at Israeli cities as fighting spilled into a second week on Monday and international calls for a ceasefire mounted.
* New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Monday that Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison will visit New Zealand for the annual Australia-New Zealand Leaders' Meeting on May 30-31.
* Mainland China reported 25 new COVID-19 cases on May 16, up from 18 cases a day earlier and marking the highest daily increase in more than six weeks, the country's national health authority said on Monday. The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Mainland China now stands at 90,872, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,636.
* India's federal health ministry on Monday reported 281,386 confirmed cases during the past 24 hours, the first time since April 21 that new COVID-19 cases reported on daily basis have fallen below 300,000 mark. Meanwhile, as many as 4,106 related deaths were reported from across the country on Monday, raising the death toll in the country to 274,390.
* Brazil recorded 40,941 additional cases in the past 24 hours, along with 1,036 deaths from COVID-19.
* Russia on Monday reported 9,328 new COVID-19 cases, including 3,573 in Moscow, taking the national infection tally to 4,949 573. The coronavirus taskforce said 340 people had died of coronavirus-linked causes, taking its death toll to 116,211.
* Thailand's economy improved in the first quarter, but a third wave has clouded the outlook for the tourism-dependent country.
* Singapore plans to shut most schools from this week and draws up plans to vaccinate youngsters.
* Japan's wholesale prices rose in April at their fastest annual pace in six and a half years, data showed.
* The European Union needs to dramatically toughen weak CO2 targets for commercial vans to spur a shift to electric models and phase out fossil-fuel sales entirely by 2035, European campaign group Transport and Environment (T&E) said on Monday.
* Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has declared that it remains unsafe to re-open the country's international borders.
* England's ministers will make a decision on June 14 about whether or not to proceed with the final phase of lockdown easing.
* Spanish police said they cleared 9,000 revellers from Barcelona's city centre streets and the nearby beach on Sunday to prevent dangerous overcrowding on the first full weekend after restrictions were lifted.
* An experimental COVID-19 vaccine developed by Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline showed a robust immune response in early-stage clinical trial results, enabling them to move to a late-stage study.
* Irish health officials are considering allowing the use of COVID-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson for those aged between 40 and 49 in addition to the current use for over-50s, a senior health official said.
* Greece will help its key tourist industry with an additional financial package worth more than EUR400 million (US$486 million), the country's finance minister said on Monday.
* Mexico's health ministry on Sunday reported 1,233 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country and 53 more fatalities, bringing its total to 2,381,923 infections and 220,437 deaths.
* Colombia reported on Sunday 520 deaths from COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, raising the nationwide death toll to 81,300, the ministry of health and social protection said. Meanwhile, 15,093 new infections were reported, bringing the nationwide tally to 3,118,426, the ministry said.
* Turkey will start easing its strict lockdown on Monday by allowing movement during the day while keeping overnight and weekend curfews in place.
* Saudi Arabia said foreign visitors arriving by air from most countries will no longer need to quarantine if they have been vaccinated.
* South Africa will launch phase two of its vaccine rollout on Monday with the aim of inoculating five million citizens aged over 60 by the end of June.
* Trinidad and Tobago will impose a state of emergency from midnight to contain an increase of cases and related deaths.
