* The Iranian Embassy in Syria announced that Iran's ninth batch of humanitarian aid arrived in the quake-hit country on Thursday night, Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) reported Friday.
* EU countries have agreed to phase out COVID-19 restrictions on travellers from China that were put in place to guard against possible new coronavirus variants after China's reopening prompted a surge in infections there.
* The Australian authorities are developing a national plan to deal with long COVID-19 cases, the country's top doctor revealed.
* Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said Thursday that Moscow would respond if the European Union (EU) decides to confiscate the country's frozen assets, TASS news agency reported citing the official.
* Russia said on Friday that it had summoned the Dutch ambassador over what it called "obsessive attempts" by the Dutch authorities to hold it responsible for the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in Ukraine in 2014.
* The fate of Finland's bid to join NATO is in "Turkey's hands", President Sauli Niinisto said on Friday, after the Finnish parliament agreed it would ratify NATO's founding treaties on Feb. 28.
* The European Union and United Kingdom on Friday made "good progress" in their talks on the Northern Ireland Protocol of the Brexit arrangement, EU commissioner Maros Sefcovic said.
* China will grant zero-tariff treatment to 98 percent of taxable items originating from Ethiopia, Burundi and Niger from March 1, 2023, according to a statement released Friday by the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council.
* Nigerian police will deploy a total of 310,973 personnel across the country for security operations during the general elections scheduled to be held on Feb. 25, Inspector General of Police Usman Alkali Baba said Thursday.
* The Senegalese presidential election will be held on Feb. 25, 2024, the Senegalese Minister of the Interior, Abdoulaye Antoine Felix Diome, announced on Thursday in a statement.
* Mongolia sees the Republic of Korea's high-tech industry and busy ports as an ideal customer as well as gateway to the wider world for copper and rare earth materials, Mongolian Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene told Reuters on Friday.
* Colombia and Venezuela on Thursday signed an agreement to revive trade between the two countries during a ceremony on a border bridge at which Colombia's President Gustavo Petro and Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro both signed.
* Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced Thursday the minimum monthly wage will increase from the current 1,302 reais to 1,320 reais (251 USD) starting May.
* More than 15 million Colombians suffer moderate or severe food insecurity, equivalent to almost a third of the population, due to poverty, unemployment and the Andean country's long-running conflict, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Thursday.
* Thailand's economy grew 2.6 percent year on year in 2022, missing expectations as improving tourism sector and domestic demand failed to offset shrinking exports, data showed on Friday.
* Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said the current OPEC+ deal on oil output will continue until the end of the year, Ashrq TV reported on Thursday citing comments by the prince published on Energy Aspects' website.
* Greece and Bulgaria signed on Thursday two memoranda of understanding (MoU) to further develop bilateral cooperation in the energy sector to benefit the wider region.
* Myanmar seized a large haul of narcotics worth over 15.92 billion kyats (over 7.5 million USD) in Shan state, according to a release from the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC).
* Azerbaijan's economy is projected to increase 2.5 percent this year, according to the latest forecast of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development published on Thursday.
* Malta energy authority has issued a new call for the development of large-scale renewable energy installations that can provide clean energy for up to 7,000 households in the next few years, Energy Minister Miriam Dalli told journalists on Thursday.
* Jordan signed on Thursday an agreement worth 79.46 million euros (about 85 million USD) to build a wastewater treatment plant in the Ghabawi region east of the capital Amman.
* Fighters from Democratic Republic of Congo's M23 rebel group killed at least 20 men and raped scores of women and girls in the east in November, Amnesty International said in a report on Friday.
* Thousands of people in Indonesian city of Surakarta have been affected by flooding following the extended heavy rainfall, according to local disaster mitigation agency.
* An earthquake of 6.4 magnitude struck off Indonesia's Tanimbar islands in Maluku province on Thursday, the country's geophysics agency said, adding that there was no tsunami potential.
* The death toll from Cyclone Gabrielle in New Zealand rose to eight on Friday, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said and he warned that the number was expected to increase as emergency crews make contact with hundreds of cut-off communities.
