* Asian share markets rose, with investors' eyes on volatile oil prices, Ukraine-Russia peace talks and the US Federal Reserve, which is expected to raise rates for the first time in three years and give guidance on future tightening.
* Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday held a phone conversation with his Indonesian counterpart, Joko Widodo.
* Russia will table its own draft Security Council resolution on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine after France and Mexico announced their intention to move their draft to the General Assembly, said the Russian UN ambassador on Tuesday.
* The Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday has extended the current martial law for another 30 days from March 26, Yaroslav Zheleznyak,a lawmaker, said on Telegram.
* Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, speaking alongside counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, said on Wednesday the war in Ukraine must stop and Ankara was to continue peace efforts seeking a lasting ceasefire.
* German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will hold talks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Berlin on Thursday, a German government spokesperson said on Wednesday.
* The Biden administration will grant temporary deportation relief and work permits to Afghans without permanent legal status but who are currently in the US, a move that could aid those evacuated after last year's US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
* The pandemic added 4.7 million more people to Southeast Asia's most extreme poor in 2021, reversing gains made in fighting poverty, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Wednesday, while urging governments to take steps to boost economic growth.
* The Republic of Korea's job growth has topped 1 million for two straight months as of February due to a low base effect and an economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, statistical office data showed Wednesday.
* The finance ministers of the European Union (EU) member states agreed on Tuesday on a "general approach" to a new tax that is designed to prevent carbon leakage, the Council of the EU said in a statement.
* The World Trade Organization praised a provisional deal to waive patent rights for COVID-19 vaccines after more than a year of deadlock, although drugmakers said the move risked undermining the industry's ability to respond to future health crises.
* Medical assistance across China has been coming to the country's northeastern Jilin Province for the COVID-19 resurgence, local authorities said Wednesday.
* The Philippines has loosened entry restrictions for all fully vaccinated foreign nationals visiting the country starting this month, the Philippines' Bureau of Immigration said on Wednesday.
* India on Wednesday started administering doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to young people aged 12 to 14 as public and private schools re-opened.
* Uzbekistan cancelled some COVID-19 restrictions starting from Wednesday and will resume issuing electronic visas for foreigners to open the country to tourists, said the Uzbek special commission on COVID-19.
* Germany plans to spend up to 2.861 billion euros (3.14 billion USD) to ensure that COVID-19 vaccine makers have enough production capacity available to supply the country with shots in future outbreaks through 2029, the economy ministry said.
* The US government will run out of supplies of COVID-19 treatments known as monoclonal antibodies as soon as late May and will have to scale back plans to get more unless Congress provides more funding, the White House said.
* The Republic of Korea reported a record 400,741 new daily COVID-19 cases, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said on Wednesday, as the country seeks to further ease social distancing rules despite a wave of Omicron infections.
* Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech have submitted an application to US regulators seeking emergency use authorization for a fourth booster dose of their COVID-19 vaccine for those aged 65 years and above.
* The wearing of masks in public in Namibia and negative PCR tests for vaccinated visitors are no longer required, as active COVID-19 cases fall to just a couple of hundred.
