* Singapore has completed updates to its list of eligible electors, with the revised registers open for public inspection from Saturday until Feb. 28, the Elections Department announced on Friday.
* India's federal government imposed direct rule in the restive northeastern state of Manipur, four days after Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh tendered his resignation, officials said Friday.
* U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he wanted Russia to rejoin what used to be the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations, calling the U.S.-led decision to expel Russia from the group a decade ago a "mistake."
* U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that Ukraine would be involved in peace negotiations with Russia over ending the conflict between the two countries.
* Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with local media on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump "agreed quite quickly to coordinate and hold a working meeting somewhere in a third country."
* Russia has begun preparing a negotiating team for upcoming talks with the United States, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday. The Kremlin spokesman confirmed that efforts were underway to form a delegation for upcoming negotiations with the United States, including on the situation in Ukraine.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that Kiev would not accept any bilateral peace talks without Ukraine's participation, the government-run Ukrinform news agency reported.
* Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev noted that dialogue between Russia and the U.S. on the Ukraine crisis will have a positive impact on Kazakhstan, the Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency reported on Thursday.
* The European Union (EU) and several European leaders have insisted on playing a key role in potential Ukraine peace negotiations, voicing concerns about being sidelined after U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, held a phone talk on Wednesday.
* The U.S. administration of President Donald Trump on Thursday directed federal agencies to lay off almost all probationary workers, a continuation of its extensive efforts to massively reduce the federal workforce.
* As U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order for reciprocal tariffs on Thursday, his administration planned to impose tariffs on Canada and France over their digital services taxes on U.S. technology giants.
* The United States has deported 1,297 undocumented migrants to Ecuador since the start of 2025, Ecuadoran Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld said Thursday.
* The building temporarily housing the Dutch House of Representatives in The Hague was temporarily locked down on Thursday after an intrusion by a man allegedly carrying a knife. The intruder was swiftly arrested by the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, the country's military police force.
* The Japanese government adopted bills on Friday to revise laws aimed at enhancing disaster prevention and relief efforts, local media reported.
* The Indonesian Ministry of Industry will set a maximum limit on emissions for companies manufacturing cement, fertilizers, steel, and paper, while encouraging them to participate in carbon emissions trading, an official announced on Thursday.
* Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has signed a decree on the dismissal of conscripted servicemen to the reserve and the drafting of Kazakh citizens for compulsory military service in 2025, a statement from the Kazakh presidential press service said on Thursday.
* Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office on Thursday denied media reports that the crisis between Israel and Hamas, which threatened to collapse the Gaza ceasefire, had been resolved.
* Parties attending Thursday's Paris conference on Syria vowed to support Syria's transition. In a joint statement, the participants vowed to support Syria in achieving a peaceful, credible, orderly and swift inclusive transition, in line with the key principles of UN Security Council Resolution 2254.
* Iran's permanent mission to the United Nations (UN) in New York has rejected the U.S. accusation that Tehran is providing the Yemen-based Houthis with financial resources, arms support, and military training.
* More than 825,000 displaced people in Syria have returned to their homes since December, leaving just under 2 million homeless in the country, the United Nations said on Thursday.
* Israel's military said it struck Gaza on Thursday in retaliation for an earlier alleged attempt to fire a rocket from the enclave. The attack targeted "the launcher from which the rocket launch in the Gaza Strip was identified," a military spokesperson said in a statement.
* A total of 452 wounded and sick individuals, along with 620 companions, have left the Gaza Strip over the past 12 days at the Rafah border crossing, which opened under a ceasefire agreement, a Palestinian official said Thursday.
* China's current account surplus reached 422 billion USD in 2024, data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed Friday. The current account surplus to gross domestic product ratio stood at 2.2 percent last year, staying within a reasonable range, said Li Bin, deputy head of the administration.
* India's foreign exchange (forex) reserves increased by 7.654 billion USD to 638.261 billion dollars during the week ended Feb. 7, official data released by the country's central bank the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed on Friday. This was the third consecutive week when India's forex reserves rose, after declining for several weeks in a row.
* Republic of Korea's export volume logged a double-digit fall last month due to fewer business days, central bank data showed Friday. The export volume index tumbled 10.7 percent in January from a year earlier, after rising 6.6 percent in the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
* Singapore's economy grew by 4.4 percent in 2024, accelerating from the 1.8 percent expansion recorded in 2023, according to data released by the Ministry of Trade and Industry on Friday. The ministry has maintained its GDP growth forecast for 2025 at a range of 1.0 percent to 3.0 percent.
* Malaysia's Retirement Fund Incorporated announced its highest-ever investment income of 18 billion ringgit (4.04 billion USD) in 2024, delivering a total return of 12 percent.
* Singapore's Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) cleared nearly 230.4 million travelers in 2024, marking a 20 percent increase compared to the previous year, the authority reported on Friday.
* Authorities in Western Australia (WA) on Friday issued an emergency cyclone warning for a 250-kilometer stretch of coast in the state's northwestern Pilbara region.
* The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) on Friday noted an increase in water and food-borne diseases, influenza-like illnesses, leptospirosis, and dengue (W.I.L.D diseases), as the heavy rain has triggered flooding in some areas in the past weeks.
