* U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held talks in Riyadh on Tuesday in the presence of Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, local media reported.
* Russia has officially terminated an agreement with Ukraine on ensuring navigation safety in the Azov Sea and the Kerch Strait, according to an official document published Monday on the country's legal information portal. The decision was formalized through an order signed by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that Kiev would not participate in the upcoming U.S.-Russia negotiations set to take place in Saudi Arabia this week, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported.
* China welcomes all peace efforts to solve the Ukraine crisis, including the talks between the United States and Russia, and China hopes that all parties and stakeholders can participate in the peace talks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Tuesday.
* Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Monday warned search engine Google in a second letter that her government will take legal action unless the company reinstates the name of the Gulf of Mexico on its maps.
* U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Riyadh on Monday for talks with Saudi officials, focusing on a controversial U.S. proposal for Gaza, as part of his first Middle East tour as the top U.S. diplomat.
* The needs in Gaza, where the ceasefire is holding, are overwhelming, humanitarians said on Monday, adding that continuing Israeli operations in the West Bank are still producing casualties.
* Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed the possibility of the Palestinian Authority (PA) governing post-war Gaza. He reiterated his support for former U.S. President Donald Trump's plan for Gaza, which includes the transfer of the enclave's Palestinian population to neighboring countries. Arab leaders have rejected the proposal.
* Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has ordered the establishment of a new government directorate to promote the "voluntary departure" of Gaza's Palestinian population, the Defense Ministry said Monday.
* An Israeli government official said Monday that the country's military will maintain troops at five posts in southern Lebanon, despite the deadline for its full withdrawal expiring on Tuesday.
* Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Monday voiced concerns over whether Israel would completely withdraw from southern Lebanon on Tuesday.
* The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) on Monday announced that its forces had made advancements in their fight against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on different fronts.
* The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Ukraine on Monday signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) aimed at boosting trade, investment, and economic collaboration between the two countries.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Ankara on Monday to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the state-run TRT broadcaster reported.
* The Lebanese government decided on Monday to extend the suspension of flights to and from Iran, without clarifying the duration of the extension.
* Iran and Sudan on Monday signed two memorandums of understanding (MoUs), aiming to enhance cooperation at both bilateral and regional levels, the official news agency IRNA reported.
* The independent experts of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan on Monday began a four-day visit to the country to discuss the human rights situation.
* The United Nations (UN) has launched a 6-billion-USD humanitarian appeal to assist nearly 26 million Sudanese affected by the ongoing conflict, both inside Sudan and in neighboring countries, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced in a statement on Monday.
* The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced on Monday that 106.6 million USD are needed urgently to assist Sudanese refugees in Libya.
* African leaders, experts, and key stakeholders convened at the Africa Business Forum on Monday, calling for the continent to harness its untapped potential to drive economic transformation.
* Singapore's economy is projected to grow between 1 percent and 3 percent in 2025, while inflation is expected to average 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced on Tuesday as he delivered the country's 2025 Budget in the parliament.
* Thailand's economy expanded 3.2 percent in the final quarter of 2024 from a year earlier, driven by public investment, exports and private consumption, official data showed on Monday.
* Australia's central bank on Tuesday cut interest rates for the first time in over four years. The board of governors of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) announced a decision to lower the cash rate target by 25 basis points to 4.1 percent, and the interest rate paid on Exchange Settlement balances to 4 percent.
* Sri Lanka is set to expand its free trade agreement network and simplify its import duty structure to help small- and medium-sized enterprises access raw materials more easily, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake announced on Monday while presenting the 2025 budget.
* Indonesia plans to build 63,000 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations by 2030 to accommodate the expected increase in EVs to 943,000 units that year, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources announced on Tuesday.
* Cote d'Ivoire will strive to reduce its poverty rate to below 20 percent in 2030 by implementing its National Development Plan (PND) 2026-2030, Prime Minister Robert Beugre Mambe said Monday.
* The incidence of acute respiratory viral infections (ARVI) and influenza has been rising in Kyrgyzstan, the press service of the country's Ministry of Health said on Monday. From February 10 to 16, 10,796 cases of ARVI and 73 cases of influenza were reported, marking a 3 percent increase compared to the previous week.
* Cape Verde's Ministry of Agriculture and Environment announced in a statement on Monday an outbreak of African swine fever on Boa Vista Island, following laboratory tests.
* At least 31 people were killed and another 15 injured after a public transit bus plunged into a ravine along the highway connecting western Bolivia's departments of Potosi and Oruro, local authorities said Monday.
