* The United States will host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation's (APEC) annual meeting in 2023, according to a White House statement on Thursday.
* Russia signalling its will to continue four-way diplomatic talks on eastern Ukraine would be a positive signal, France's foreign minister said on Thursday ahead of a meeting of officials from France, Ukraine, Russia and Germany in Berlin.
* Russia Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday said it was the sovereign right of any government to determine the length of military drills it chooses to hold, speaking after talks in Moscow with British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.
* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday Moscow was ready to normalise relations with the United Kingdom, ahead of talks with British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss at a time of heightened East-West tensions over Ukraine.
* Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev thanked his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Thursday for helping to prevent a coup in the Central Asian nation last month, which both leaders blamed on international "bandits" and "terrorists".
* Ukraine will receive Stinger anti-aircraft missiles from Lithuania within days, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said on a visit to Kyiv on Thursday.
* Indonesia will order 42 Rafale fighter jets in a 8.1 billion USD deal, France's defence ministry said on Thursday, as part of a series of agreements also including submarine development and ammunition, making Jakarta the biggest French arms client in the region.
* No plans have been set for a summit of the top leaders of Japan and the Republic of Korea, a top Japanese official said on Thursday, after the the RoK president signalled his intention to improve the neighbours' strained ties before his term ends in May.
* Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday that Turkey normalising relations with Israel would not mean a change in Ankara's Palestinian policy, ahead of an expected visit by Israeli President Isaac Herzog next month.
* US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke on Wednesday with the defense ministers of the Republic of Korea and Japan about the threats posed by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea after missile launches by Pyongyang, the Pentagon said.
* The World Health Organization estimates that the number of COVID-19 infections in Africa could be seven times higher than official data suggests, while deaths from the virus could be two to three times higher, its regional head said on Thursday.
* Online sales of Winter Olympics souvenirs were up 21.2 times during the Lunar New Year holiday, China's commerce ministry said on Thursday, while sales of snow sports equipment and clothing increased 62.9% and 61.2% respectively.
* A Japanese Health Ministry committee has approved the oral COVID-19 drug made by US drugmaker Pfizer Inc, the ministry said in a statement on Friday.
* Russia reported 197,076 COVID-19 cases on Thursday, a record daily high, as the Omicron variant, which accounted for 70% of detected infections, continued to spread across the country.
* The US government is planning to roll out COVID-19 shots for children under the age of 5 as soon as Feb. 21, according to a document from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
* Top European Union officials said low absorption of COVID-19 vaccines in African countries had become the main problem in the global vaccine rollout following a recent increase in supplies of jabs.
* British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he intended to end the legal obligation for people in England to self-isolate if they test positive for COVID-19 later this month.
* Mexico's health ministry reported 24,898 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 743 more deaths on Wednesday.
* The Republic of Korea launched a self-treatment scheme for patients with mild coronavirus symptoms in order to free up medical resources for more serious cases, as new infections hit a fresh high on Thursday due to the fast spreading Omicron variant.
* New Zealand police on Thursday arrested more than 50 people and began forcefully removing hundreds of protesters camped outside its parliament building for the last three days to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates and tough coronavirus restrictions.
* Palestinian authorities have ramped up COVID-19 testing and vaccinations in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip and warned that public indifference to their calls for masking and social distancing is hampering efforts to fight the pandemic.
* A tech-fuelled global stocks rally cooled in Asian trade on Thursday as investors took a more cautious posture amid uncertainties around the outlook for inflation and interest rates.
* India's fuel consumption fell in January after scaling a nine-month peak in December, government data showed on Wednesday, as COVID-19 curbs in several states hit mobility and industrial activity.
* Sweden's central bank kept policy plans broadly unchanged on Thursday, stressing that surging inflation is temporary and that it remains too early to begin withdrawing support from the economy even as the effects of the COVID pandemic fade.
* France will decide in the next few weeks on how to adjust its military presence in Mali, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Thursday.
* Poland's plans for a new generation of gas-fired power plants would make it impossible for it to meet net zero emissions by 2050 and cost taxpayers 4.4 billion USD, research by thinktank Carbon Tracker showed on Thursday.
* Libya's eastern-based parliament met on Thursday for a vote on a new interim prime minister, a move likely to intensify the country's political struggles, with the incumbent vowing to remain in office.
* Egypt's natural gas exports are expected to rise to 7.5 million tonnes by the end of this fiscal year, Petroleum Minister Tarek El-Molla said on Thursday.
* Twelve people were injured at Saudi Arabia's Abha airport by shrapnel from a drone intercepted by air defences on Thursday, the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yeman's Iran-aligned Houthi group said.
