* South Africa on Friday concluded the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting, after a range of global issues having been discussed.
* The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has condemned U.S. military provocations, vowing to counter the strategic threat posed by the United States and other enemies with strategic means, reported the official Korean Central News Agency on Saturday, citing a defense official.
* China firmly supports the free trade system with the World Trade Organization (WTO) at its core and will continue to support the reform of the international body, said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his meeting with WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Johannesburg, on Friday.
* Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation on the bilateral agenda on Friday, said the press service of the Uzbek president.
* U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday depicted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's presence at peace talks as "not very important." Trump said that Zelensky's participation in talks over the past three years had not led to any substantial progress.
* U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that Washington was nearing a deal requiring Kiev to hand over 50 percent of its rare earth minerals as the payoff of U.S. aid during Ukraine's conflict with Russia.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held separate phone conversations with French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Zelensky's press office said Friday.
* U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that he will impose retaliatory tariffs on countries that levy digital taxes on U.S. tech companies.
* Indonesia has been exploring new export destinations beyond the United States and plans to accelerate trade negotiations in anticipation of new U.S. tariffs, a senior minister said on Thursday.
* Latvia imported weapons, ammunition, parts, and accessories worth 796,774 euros (764,903 USD) from Russia in 2024, marking a 74.5 percent increase from the previous year and setting a new record, according to data from the Central Statistical Bureau released on Friday.
* Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan signed a final protocol on the delimitation and demarcation of the Kyrgyz-Tajik state border during a joint meeting in Bishkek, the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers of Kyrgyzstan announced on Friday.
* Afghan interim government's Acting Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, left Kabul for Uzbekistan, aiming to enhance bilateral relations in various sectors, the office of the acting deputy prime minister for economic affairs said in a statement on Saturday.
* Leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain met in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh on Friday to discuss the Palestinian issue and the developments in the Gaza Strip, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
* The United Nations Secretary-General's Special Envoy for West Africa and the Sahel Leonardo Santos Simao on Friday called for the establishment of a cooperation framework between the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
* The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economies will outpace global growth in 2025, with the region's gross domestic product (GDP) growth expected to double, said a report released Friday by the First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB).
* A senior United Nations envoy has called on South Sudan's leadership to improve security in the country and work for faster progress on outstanding peace benchmarks.
* United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix warned on Friday that the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) could spiral into a broader regional crisis.
* Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko announced on Friday, in front of the National Assembly, a second phase of measures to reduce the cost of living, following the first phase implemented in last June.
* Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday visited the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank, joining Israeli military forces operating in the area.
* Hamas said on Friday that it has "no interest in not committing" to the Gaza ceasefire deal in response to the Israeli accusation that a body returned by Hamas is not that of hostage Shiri Bibas.
* Hamas on Saturday handed over two Israeli hostages to the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, according to Palestinian sources.
* Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Friday called on the United States to continue supporting the Lebanese army with equipment and resources to help it carry out its national security duties, particularly in southern Lebanon.
* Spain has been witnessing a surge in travel to China, driven by China's visa-friendly policies. The latest moves include an extended visa-free entry policy introduced in November last year to allow ordinary passport holders from 38 countries to visit China for a maximum of 30 days without applying for a visa.
* Kyrgyzstan's external debt stands at 4.5 billion USD and is scheduled to be paid off by 2035, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov said in an interview with the country's Kabar News Agency on Thursday.
* Peru's economy grew 3.3 percent in 2024, recovering from the previous year's recession, the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI) reported Friday.
* Belarus exported 6 million tonnes of milk and dairy products to 69 countries in 2024, Belarusian First Deputy Agriculture and Food Minister Alexander Lomsky said at the Dairy Farm Forum held on Friday in Minsk.
* Afghanistan's central bank announced Saturday that it will put on auction 20 million USD on Sunday in a bid to maintain the stability of the national currency, the afghani.
* NASA and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than next Friday, Feb. 28, to launch two new missions on one single rocket -- one to study more than 450 million galaxies, and the other to observe the sun's corona, according to a NASA update on Friday.
