* Russian President Vladimir Putin will deliver his annual address to both chambers of the Russian parliament on February 29, the Kremlin said on Tuesday, state-owned TASS news agency reported.
* A joint air patrol by the Philippines with the United States was aimed at protecting territory and national interests in the East Sea/South China Sea, a Philippine military official said Tuesday.
* Russian forces have taken full control of the Avdiivka coke and chemical plant, the country's defense ministry said in a statement on Monday.
* Hungary's ruling Fidesz party proposed on Tuesday that parliament should vote to ratify Sweden's bid to join NATO on Feb. 26, a move that it would support.
* U.S. President Joe Biden said Monday that he is willing to meet with House Speaker Mike Johnson in order to secure the long-awaited passage of a bill that contains funding for the provision of additional arms to Ukraine.
* Sweden's defence ministry said on Tuesday the Nordic country will donate military aid to Ukraine worth some 7.1 billion Swedish crowns ($682 million), including the transfer of equipment and fresh cash for arms procurement.
* Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani on Monday dismissed the recent comments by the head of the UN nuclear organization that Iran was not fully transparent about its nuclear activities.
* The Palestinian death toll resulting from the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has surpassed 29,000, the Gaza-based Health Ministry announced on Monday.
* Twenty-six member states of the European Union (EU) called for an "immediate humanitarian pause that would lead to a sustainable ceasefire" in the besieged Gaza Strip, the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in Brussel on Monday.
* The Brazilian government on Monday called its ambassador in Tel Aviv Frederico Meyer back to the country for consultations after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva voiced harsh criticism of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, in response to the fact that Israel summoned the diplomat for statements, the Brazilian foreign ministry confirmed.
* The European Union (EU) said Monday it launched a naval mission in the Red Sea and the Gulf regions to safeguard its commercial and security interests.
* Guinea's self-appointed military leaders have dissolved the government and will appoint a new one, the presidency's secretary general said in a filmed statement on Monday.
* Yemen's Houthi militants said on Monday they had attacked the Rubymar cargo vessel in the Gulf of Aden which was at risk of sinking, raising the stakes in their campaign to disrupt global shipping in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza war.
* Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said on Monday that the Suez Canal's revenues have decreased by 40-50 percent since the outbreak of the war on the Gaza Strip and the recent tensions in the Red Sea.
* The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Monday that 10.8 million children in Ethiopia are in need of emergency humanitarian aid in 2024.
* The Philippines' Department of Agriculture (DA) on Monday said it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) to help boost rice production in the Philippines.
* Russia plans to carry out over 40 space launches in 2024, said Yury Borisov, director general of Russia's state space corporation Roscosmos, in an interview with local media on Monday.
* Thailand's economy expanded 1.9 percent in 2023, slowing from a revised 2.5 percent growth in the previous year due to softening government spending and exports, the country's economic planning agency said on Monday.
* Latvia reported 42.14 billion euros (45.41 billion USD) of foreign trade turnover last year, a drop of 5.69 billion euros or 11.9 percent from the 2022 volume, according to official statistics published in Riga on Monday.
* Temperatures rose across Japan on Monday as warm air flowed in from the south, with daytime highs hitting a record for February at many locations in northern Japan, the weather agency said.
* This winter, Mongolia has seen record snowfall, the largest since 1975, the country's National Agency for Meteorology and Environmental Monitoring said Tuesday.
