China's manufacturing and investment improved in the first two months of the year, while weakness in the property sector weighed on the economy, the National Bureau of Statistics said Monday.

The report said industrial output rose 7% from a year earlier in January-February, better than analysts had forecast. Spending on factories and equipment, known as fixed-asset investments, rose 4.2%.

Asian stocks advanced Monday ahead of policy decisions this week by Japan's central bank and the Federal Reserve.

Oil prices and U.S. futures rose.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Monday that his country is ready to work with New Zealand to deepen trade and economic ties and address climate change.

Wang met his New Zealand counterpart, Winston Peters, at the start of a tour that will also include Australia.

Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street ahead of a busy week for central banks around the world that could dictate where interest rates go next. The S&P 500 was 1% higher in early trading Monday, coming off its first back-to-back weekly losses since October. It's still close to its all-time high set early last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 133 points, or 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite was up 1.5%. Treasury yields held relatively steady. The Federal Reserve will announce its latest decision on interest rates Wednesday. The central banks of Japan and England also meet this week.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP's earlier story follows below.

This winter's record warmth provided the key ingredient for a Midwest outbreak of deadly tornadoes and damaging gorilla hail that hit parts of the Midwest Wednesday and Thursday, tornado experts said.

At least three people were killed in Thursday's tornado outbreak in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Arkansas, which came a day after large hail struck Kansas. It's a bit early, but not unprecedented, for such a tornado outbreak usually associated with May or April, but that's also because of the hottest winter in both U.S. and global records, meteorologists said.

South Sudan is closing all schools starting Monday in preparation for an extreme heat wave expected to last two weeks.

The health and education ministries advised parents to keep all children indoors as temperatures are expected to soar to 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit).

officially, at least.

The vernal equinox arrives on Tuesday, marking the start of the spring season for the Northern Hemisphere.

Hamas' unprecedented raid on southern Israel has prompted a legal predicament: How does a country scarred by the deadliest attack in its history bring the perpetrators to justice?

Israel is holding hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza accused of taking part in the Oct. 7 attack that sparked its war with Hamas. It is grappling with how to prosecute suspects and offer closure to Israelis, including victims' families.

The European Union has announced a 7.4 billion-euro ($8 billion) aid package for cash-strapped Egypt as concerns mount that economic pressure and conflicts in neighboring countries could drive more migrants to European shores.

The deal, which drew criticism from rights groups over Egypt's human rights record, was signed Sunday afternoon in Cairo by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The ceremony was attended by leaders of Belgium, Italy, Austria, Cyprus and Greece.

When Sabine Thonke joined a recent demonstration in Berlin against Germany's far-right party, it was the first time in years she felt hopeful that the growing power of the extremists in her country could be stopped.

Thonke, 59, had been following the rise of the Alternative for Germany, or AfD, with unease. But when she heard about a plan to deport millions of people, she felt called to action.