* French President Emmanuel Macron officially announced on Thursday that he would run for a second term in office in the upcoming presidential elections scheduled for April.
* The United States and Russia have established a military hotline aimed at preventing miscalculation during the ongoing Russia-Ukraine military conflict, US media outlets reported Thursday.
* Belarus has strengthened its air defences along the perimeter of its border in line with an order from President Alexander Lukashenko, a senior military official said on Friday.
* Asian equity markets and the euro suffered heavy losses, while oil prices jumped as investors took fright from reports of a nuclear power plant on fire amid fierce fighting between Ukraine and Russian troops.
* Japan will release 7.5 million barrels of oil from private reserves as a part of the International Energy Agency (IEA)-led coordinated release, its industry minister Hagiuda Koichi said on Friday.
* The Philippines has put "pro-business" measures to lure foreign investors into the Southeast Asian country recovering from the two-year COVID-19 pandemic.
* Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday said state-oil producer Petroleo Brasileiro SA PETR4.SA could, due to the crisis inflicted by the war in Ukraine, lower its profit to prevent fuel prices from exploding.
* Argentina has sealed a USD45-billion debt deal with the International Monetary Fund, the country's government and the IMF said on Thursday, after talks ironed out final wrinkles of an initial agreement reached in January.
* A bomb blast inside a mosque during Friday prayers in northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar has killed at least five people and wounded more than 30, police said.
* India's COVID-19 tally rose to 42,951,556 on Friday, as 6,396 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, showed the federal health ministry's latest data.
* The Republic of Korea decided on Friday to ease social-distancing rules against COVID-19 for two weeks as the tightened quarantine measures in recent weeks roiled the businesses of small merchants.
* The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said some 93% of the US population live in locations where COVID levels are low enough that people do not need to wear masks indoors.
* COVID-19 cases in Sweden are falling sharply, even as nearly all pandemic-related restrictions were lifted less than a month ago.
* France will on March 14 lift rules requiring people to show a COVID-19 vaccine passport to access venues, reported BFM TV.
* Mexico reported 461 more confirmed fatalities from COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the total death toll registered in the country since the pandemic began to 319,296, according to health ministry data.
* Brazil had 61,870 new cases of the novel coronavirus reported in the past 24 hours, and 578 deaths from COVID-19, the Health Ministry said on Thursday.
* Greece will lift its requirement of mask-wearing outdoors from Saturday, as COVID-19 infections trend lower.
* Eli Lilly and Incyte's arthritis drug baricitinib helped reduce the risk of death in hospitalised COVID patients by 13% regardless of which other coronavirus treatment they were given, according to a large British study.
