* Countries in the Quad grouping will strengthen cooperation on cyber- and counter-terrorism, including on ransomware attacks, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said after meeting her counterparts from India, Japan and the United States.
* Russia agreed to further discussions with France, Germany and Ukraine over the conflict in eastern Ukraine, but said Ukraine must commit to negotiate with separatists in its east, which was a "red line", France's Elysee palace said on Friday.
* International bookings for flights to Southeast Asian countries that are relaxing tight pandemic-related border controls rose sharply in January, data from online travel company Skyscanner shows.
* US President Joe Biden on Thursday said he expected inflation to start to ease this year as supply chain logjams clear up, while saying that his administration was already helping ease shortages, as new data showed the biggest jump in consumer prices in 40 years.
* NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday that the presence of American troops in Romania showed the United States' commitment to the security of Europe, as more soldiers arrived at an airbase.
* Hardline Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Friday Tehran “never” pins hope on ongoing talks in Vienna aimed at reviving the country's 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers.
* The United States is seeking the first-ever consultations with Mexico over its environmental obligations under the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, including protection of the critically endangered vaquita porpoise, US trade officials said Thursday.
* French President Emmanuel Macron's department announced on Friday new plans by the United States and France to protect the environment, as France hosted the 'One Ocean' summit.
* Canada should use federal powers to ease the growing economic disruption caused by the blockage of a vital US-Canada trade route by protesters opposed to coronavirus mandates, US President Joe Biden's administration said on Thursday.
* US President Joe Biden on Thursday said mask requirements for children would likely to start to fall away given federal plans to begin vaccinating children under the age of 5, but said it was probably premature to drop COVID mask requirements entirely.
* The Republic of Korea's Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported on Friday 53,926 new daily COVID-19 cases, the second straight day with more than 50,000 cases driven by the Omicron variant, with an increase of 49 deaths to a total of 7,012.
* More people arrived outside New Zealand's parliament on Friday, as protesters calling for an end to a vaccine mandate and tough COVID-19 restrictions refused to end their demonstrations despite arrests by the police.
* Asian share markets fell on Friday, after red-hot US inflation data and hawkish comments from a Federal Reserve official fuelled bets on US interest rates being hiked more aggressively, and sent US Treasury yields jumping.
* Eli Lilly and Co said on Thursday it had entered an agreement with the US government to supply up to 600,000 doses of its developmental COVID-19 antibody drug for at least 720 million USD.
* Amazon.com Inc on Thursday informed staff at its US warehouses and logistics sites that they must report being fully vaccinated by March 18 if they wish to receive paid leave due to COVID-19.
* Tunisia will lift the night curfew it imposed last month to curb the spread of COVID-19 from Thursday, a statement from the government said.
* Novavax Inc said on Thursday its two-dose vaccine was 80% effective against COVID-19 in a late-stage trial testing the shot in teens aged 12 to 17 years.
* A Japanese Health Ministry committee has approved the oral COVID-19 drug made by Pfizer, the ministry said.
* The Irish government on Thursday announced a 200 euro credit to all domestic electricity accounts and a 20% cut to public transport costs until the end of the year in a bid to ease political pressure building around record inflation.
* Toyota Motor Corp, General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler-parent Stellantis said they had been forced to cancel or scale back some production at North American plants on Thursday because of parts shortages stemming from Canadian trucker protests against pandemic mandates.
* The death toll from Cyclone Batsirai in Madagascar jumped to 111 on Friday from 92 reported earlier this week, the state disaster relief agency said. The cyclone hit the Indian Ocean island late on Saturday, slamming the southeastern coastline before receding late on Sunday.
* Australia on Friday listed koalas along much of its east coast as endangered after the native marsupial's habitats were hit by prolonged drought, bushfires and developers cutting down trees.
* Finland's formal purchase agreement for F-35 fighter jets could be signed as soon as Friday, US-based sources familiar with the plan said on Thursday, bringing the stealthy new planes one step closer to deploying in coming years on Russia's northern flank.
