* UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday called for preventing further escalation of the conflict in Ukraine and giving peace "a chance."
* The president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, will be visiting China from Feb. 28 to March 2, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan on Friday and discussed the practical aspects of increased Russian energy supplies, the Kremlin said in a statement.
* The European Union vowed to increase pressure on Moscow "until Ukraine is liberated" as it adopted a tenth package of sanctions on Russia on Saturday, a day after the first anniversary of the "special military operation" in Ukraine.
* Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff signalled on Saturday a possible further delay in Budapest's ratification of Finland and Sweden joining NATO, saying a vote may take place only in the second half of March.
* Russia has halted supplies of oil to Poland via the Druzhba pipeline, the chief executive of Polish refiner PKN Orlen PKN.WA said on Saturday, adding that the company would tap alternative sources to plug the gap.
* Britain and the European Union are inching towards concluding talks on revising post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland and an agreement is possible, but by no means guaranteed, in the coming days, Ireland's prime minister said on Saturday.
* Nigeria's presidential and parliamentary elections kicked off Saturday as voters went to the polls nationwide to elect a new president and members of the national assembly.
* Campaigns for Cameroon's senatorial elections started on Saturday. The campaigns will run till midnight of March 11 just before Election Day, March 12.
* A recent survey conducted by the Indian government has shown the unemployment rate for people aged 15 years and above in urban areas has dropped to 7.2 percent during October-December 2022 from 8.7 percent a year ago.
* Argentina's government is in final talks with International Monetary Fund officials to ease foreign exchange reserves targets for 2023 under the country's 44 billion USD program, two sources close to the matter told Reuters.
* Mexico's economy grew 3.1 percent in 2022, according to figures released by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography on Friday. The growth inched up from a previous estimate of 3.0 percent reported by the institute on Jan. 31.
* Germany's gross domestic product (GDP) in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2022 declined 0.4 percent on the previous quarter, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said on Friday.
* The South African Reserve Bank (SARB), the country's central bank, said it is committed to the fight against money laundering.
* Mongolia has built around 900-km railway lines in 2022, local media reported on Saturday, citing the country's Ministry of Road and Transport Development.
* At least 14 people were killed and over 50 others injured when a moving truck hit three buses parked on the roadside in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, police said Saturday.
* The death toll from landslides caused by heavy rains on the coast of Brazil's Sao Paulo state over the weekend has risen to 54, as rescuers continue to search for dozens of missing people under mountains of mud, officials confirmed Friday.
* An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 hit off the eastern part of Japan's northern island of Hokkaido on Saturday, authorities said, and no tsunami warning was issued.
