1. Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to China in May for talks with Xi Jinping.

2. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit the Middle East this week, aiming to reach a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, and secure the release of hostages held by the Palestinian militant group.

3. Pakistan remained one of the world's three smoggiest countries in 2023.

4. Many hospitals in China have stopped offering newborn delivery services this year.

5. The Bank of Japan ended eight years of negative interest rates and other remnants of its unorthodox policy.

6. A researcher from TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance was wrongly added to a groupchat for American artificial intelligence safety experts last week.