* Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu on Monday told President Vladimir Putin that some of the country's military drills had already ended and others were coming to a close.
* Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will travel to Bahrain on Monday in the highest-level visit since the countries established relations under a 2020 US-sponsored deal, his office said.
* China's National Immigration Administration said it will not be renewing passports for non-essential travel while the international COVID-19 epidemic situation is still severe and cross border travel poses "great security risks".
* The Japanese unit of Merck & Co Inc said it would accelerate imports of its oral COVID-19 treatment to help with a surge in cases caused by the Omicron variant.
* Singapore's Health Sciences Authority said it has granted an interim authorisation for Novavax's COVID-19 vaccine.
* The Philippine central bank is keen on maintaining its policy support to sustain economic recovery, its governor said, ahead of this week's rate setting meeting.
* The Asia-Pacific aviation industry's slow recovery from the pandemic amid government restrictions will cast a shadow over the Singapore Airshow, though there are nascent signs of improvement as concerns over the Omicron variant recede.
* Norway will scrap nearly all its remaining COVID-19 lockdown measures as high levels of coronavirus infections are unlikely to jeopardise health services, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said.
* 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, the health minister said on Friday.
* Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Morgan Stanley said they are dropping the requirement for staff to wear masks in the office.
* New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she felt demonstrations against a COVID-19 vaccine mandate now entering their second week were an "imported" phenomenon, and nothing like anything she had seen before in the country.
* Cook Islands, a small South Pacific nation that has not experienced COVID-19 in its community, is readying for its first coronavirus infections after an infected traveller visited, Prime Minister Mark Brown said.
* The World Health Organization said it had added its first monoclonal antibody tocilizumab to its so-called pre-qualification list, an official list of medicines used as a benchmark for procurement by developing countries.
* Israel's Arab minority and Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip have raised 10 million USD in less than a month to build homes for Syrian refugees, according to activists behind the campaign.
* Coronavirus case numbers have slightly dropped in Germany, as the government plans to loosen coronavirus restrictions in Europe's biggest economy.
* Sweden's Health Agency recommended on Monday that people aged 80 or above should receive a second booster shot of COVID-19 vaccine, the fourth jab in total, to ward off waning immunity amid the rampant spread of the Omicron variant.
* UAE energy minister Suhail al-Mazrouei said on Monday that infrastructure in the UAE was well-protected against attacks and that the country had diversified its electricity infrastructure and has spare capacity.
* Union leaders representing tens of thousands of health workers in Sri Lanka said on Monday the government had agreed to meet their demands for higher wages, as spiralling inflation worsens the country's economic crisis.
* Jordan will begin exporting electricity to Lebanon in March after finalising a funding agreement with the World Bank, Jordan's Energy Minister Saleh Kharabsheh told Saudi owned TV station AlArabiya.
