China's domestic trips up 119.7% during May Day holiday

Official data shows 230 million domestic trips were made on the Chinese mainland during the May Day holiday.

This represents a year-on-year increase of nearly 120 percent.

The May Day holiday lasts from May 1 to 5, which has witnessed strong domestic demand for tourism.

China's May Day holiday box office revenue reaches 1.6 billion yuan

The box office revenue on the Chinese mainland during the May Day holiday reached 1.6 billion yuan, roughly 247 million U.S. dollars as of Wednesday afternoon.

Romantic drama "My Love" and spy thriller "Cliff Walkers" are the top earners, pocketing 490 million yuan and 474 million yuan, respectively.

Four sentenced to at least 51 months in jail over violence in Hong Kong

The District Court of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has sentenced four people, including three men and one woman, to prison for taking part in unlawful violent rallies in 2019.

The convicts, charged with crimes including arson, will serve 51 to 56 months of jail time.

Robust domestic demand lifts U.S. trade deficit to record high

The U.S. trade deficit jumped to a record high in March as soaring domestic demand drew in imports of foreign-made goods.

Data from the US Commerce Department shows trade deficit increased 5.6 percent to an all-time high of 74 billion US dollars.

The figure represents a 57.6% increase from the same period a year ago and is higher than the 70.5 billion dollars in February.

The trade imbalance with China increased more than 22% to 37 billion U.S dollars.

India announces $6.7 billion to boost COVID-19 pandemic battle

India has released about 6.7 billion US dollars in cheap financing for vaccine makers, hospitals and other firms.

The Governor of the Reserve Bank of India also vowed to deploy unconventional measures if the crisis worsens.

Hospitals across the country of 1.3 billion people have been hit by chronic shortages of beds, oxygen, vaccines and key drugs.

With more than 380,000 new cases reported on Wednesday, India has become the second country after the United States to pass 20 million COVID-19 cases.

Mixed reactions as Tokyo Olympic COVID defenses tested at marathon event

The Tokyo Olympic marathon test event took place on Wednesday in the northern city of Sapporo with mixed reactions.

"In order to hold the games, you need to test it, there's also the matter of security, in order not to spread infection, I think you need to practice to forecast, so I am for it."

"At schools, all the children are practicing self-restraint but the adults are just doing whatever they want to do. That is not okay." 

The Hokkaido-Sapporo Marathon Festival 2021 half-marathon event was used as a test run for both the proposed Tokyo Olympic marathon course and COVID-19 countermeasures to be used during the games.

Tokyo 2020 President Seiko Hashimoto said she hoped that the world was able to see how well COVID-19 countermeasures were taken at the event.

The Tokyo Olympic marathon will take place in Sapporo to avoid the summer heat of the capital.

Syria says Israeli raids targeting port region of Latakia

Syria says its air defenses downed several Israeli missiles during pre-dawn raids on the Mediterranean port city of Latakia.

One civilian was killed and six injured in one of the strikes that the Syrian army said hit a civilian plastics factory in the city.

The Israeli military has yet to comment.

Although Israeli strikes in the last few years have targeted many parts of Syria, they have rarely hit Latakia which is close to Russia's main air base of Hmeimim.

French minister threats to cut Jersey's electricity

French Maritime Minister Annick Girdardin has warned that France could cut off electricity to the British island of Jersey in a dispute over fishing rights.

The warning followed claims from Paris that Jersey is stalling in issuing licenses to French boats under the terms of the UK's post-Brexit trade deal with the EU.

Officials in Jersey accused France of acting disproportionately, saying they were just following new rules that took effect last week.

Britain is responsible for the island's foreign relations even though Jersey is not technically part of the UK.

Jersey and the other Channel Islands, which are closer geographically to France than to Britain, are self-governing dependencies of the British Crown that have their own administrations and elected legislatures.