* Wall Street tumbled in choppy trade on Friday, European shares finished lower but still eked out their first weekly gain of the year as traders grappled with decades-high inflation and the prospect of a tightened rate hike timeline from the US Federal Reserve.
* US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will speak on Saturday as Western nations warned a war in Ukraine could ignite at any moment.
* Turkmenistan will hold an early presidential election on March 12, a Central Election Commission official told Reuters on Saturday, after President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov hinted he planned to resign.
* Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised US President Joe Biden on Friday "quick action" to enforce the law against protesters who have blocked a key US trade corridor and damaged auto production in both nations, the White House said.
* China's medical products regulator said on Saturday it has given conditional approval for Pfizer's COVID-19 drug Paxlovid, making it the first oral pill specifically developed to treat the disease cleared in the country.
* The first batch of COVID-19 vaccines that are part of the Quad group of countries' pledge to donate shots across the world, manufactured by India's Biological E, will roll out in the first half of 2022, the grouping said in a statement.
* France will ease some restrictions on foreign travellers from Saturday to reflect an improving pandemic situation, no longer requiring that those with a European vaccination certificate undertake a COVID-19 test before departing for France.
* Days-long rallies against COVID-19 vaccination mandates picked up in numbers in New Zealand and Australia on Saturday, with protesters blocking roads and disrupting life in the countries' capitals.
* Belgium announced further easing of coronavirus restrictions to allow nightclubs to reopen and drop the requirement for primary school pupils to wear masks, as cases of the Omicron variant fell from an end-of-January peak.
* The estimated range of England's COVID-19 reproduction "R" number is between 0.8 and 1.0, similar to its range the previous week, the UK Health Security Agency said, with the daily reduction in cases also around the same level.
* Canada is reviewing its pandemic-related border restrictions and will likely announce changes next week, as the worst of a Omicron variant-driven wave appears to have passed, Canada's health minister said.
