* Russia must prioritize grain supplies to domestic bakeries over export markets, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said as he unveiled fresh measures to support the domestic economy on Wednesday in the face of international sanctions over Ukraine.
* Moscow is interested in holding the next rounds of peace talks with Kiev as soon as Ukrainian negotiators are ready, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for negotiations aimed at resolving the conflict with Russia, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported Wednesday.
* US President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday the imposition of an energy embargo on Russia, a latest move against Russia over the Ukraine crisis, even though analysts have warned of potential huge consequences and spillovers.
* The head of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) warned Tuesday that the world cannot replace Russia's share of oil exports, calling for energy depoliticization.
* Crude oil prices jumped again, while Asian stocks struggled for footing as investors assessed the impact of the worsening conflict in Ukraine and a new US ban on Russian oil.
* G7 energy ministers will meet on Thursday to discuss what more the West can do to reduce its dependence on Russian oil and gas, British Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said.
* Egypt's supply minister Ali Moselhy said on Wednesday that production from Russia and Ukraine represented 32% of exportable wheat quantities globally.
* If a deal to bring the United States and Iran back into compliance with a 2015 nuclear accord is not done "very soon" the window of opportunity will close, Ireland's foreign minister, a facilitator of the talks, said on Wednesday.
* Japan's gross domestic product (GDP) in the October-December period of 2021 was revised down to an annualized real growth of 4.6 percent from the initially reported 5.4 percent, government data showed Wednesday.
* Australia declared a national emergency on Wednesday in response to devastating floods along its east coast, and designated catastrophe zones in towns swept away by swollen rivers.
* The fuel shortages in Sri Lanka will be over by March 15, Minister of Energy Gamini Lokuge said Wednesday.
* Militiamen have killed 18 civilians who had sought refuge in a church compound in eastern Congo, a witness and a local human rights groups said on Wednesday.
* The Chinese mainland on Tuesday reported 233 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, the National Health Commission said Wednesday.
* Republic of Korea reported a new record daily high 342,446 COVID-19 cases.
* The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported 580 new COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, bringing the number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 3,669,283.
* Malaysia reported 31,490 new COVID-19 infections, as of midnight Tuesday, bringing the national total to 3,680,953, according to the Health Ministry.
* French health authorities reported 93,050 new COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, the highest daily total since Feb 22.
* South African drugmaker Aspen Pharmacare APNJ.J concluded an agreement with Johnson & Johnson JNJ.N to package, sell and distribute the American group's COVID-19 vaccines under its own brand in Africa.
* Moderna Inc said it would set up a manufacturing facility in Kenya, its first in Africa, to produce messenger RNA vaccines, including COVID-19 shots.
