World News in Brief: February 5

Voters in Cyprus went to the polls on Sunday to elect a new president to succeed outgoing President Nicos Anastasiades. Polling stations opened at 0500 GMT and are set to close at 1600 GMT, and the final results are expected about two hours after the end of voting.
Oil producers may have to reconsider their output policies following a demand recovery in China, the world's second-largest oil consumer, the International Energy Agency's Executive Director Fatih Birol said on Sunday.
Oil producers may have to reconsider their output policies following a demand recovery in China, the world's second-largest oil consumer, the International Energy Agency's Executive Director Fatih Birol said on Sunday.

* China's foreign ministry said on Sunday that it expressed strong dissatisfaction and opposition towards the United States' use of force to attack its airship.

* Moscow is ready to use all kinds of weapons to respond to Ukraine's attack on Russia, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said Saturday.

* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that the situation on the front lines in the east of the country was getting tougher and Russia was throwing more and more troops into battle.

* Dozens of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have been freed following a latest prisoner swap, officials from both sides confirmed on Saturday.

* Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman warned on Saturday Western sanctions against Russia could result in a shortage of energy supplies in future.

* The United States welcomed efforts by the Central Bank of Iraq on banking sector reforms as well as commitment to anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT, the US Treasury Department said on Saturday.

* An envoy for Qatar's foreign affairs minister visited the Afghan capital on Sunday and met with the Taliban administration's acting foreign minister, according to an Afghan foreign ministry statement.

* Palestinian officials are facing international pressure to resume security coordination with Israel, which has been severed in response to Israeli aggression in the West Bank.

* Tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrated Saturday evening in several cities to protest the government's plan to reform the judicial system. The largest protest is being held in the coastal city of Tel Aviv, which was attended by thousands of people.

* Several members of the Libyan House of Representatives, or the parliament, on Saturday expressed concern about the country's current political stalemate.

* Sub-Saharan African countries should come up with targeted interventions like enhanced surveillance, timely diagnosis, treatment and care in order to tame the rising fatalities linked to cancer, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Saturday during World Cancer Day.

* Iran's supreme leader has pardoned "tens of thousands" of prisoners including some arrested in recent anti-government protests, state news agency IRNA reported on Sunday, after a deadly state crackdown helped quell the nationwide unrest.

* China will continue increasing the deployment of renewable power in 2023 on strong demand, lower raw-material costs and a low-base effect for wind power, according to Fitch Ratings.

* The number of airline passengers using Japan's Narita Airport in Tokyo saw a year-on-year increase of nearly threefold in 2022, largely owing to the relaxation of border controls since October last year, local media reported on Sunday.

* Australian Health Minister Mark Butler has identified attracting more foreign doctors as key to fixing the country's health system.

* Afghanistan's central bank Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) will auction 16 million USD on Sunday to stabilize the exchange rate of the national currency, a statement of the bank said.

* Fire crews continued to battle a large-scale wildfire in Cuba's eastern province of Holguin, local media reported Saturday.

* A dangerous combination of record-setting cold temperatures and powerful winds buffeted the northeastern United States on Saturday, creating life-threatening conditions and causing the death of an infant in Massachusetts.

* Dozens of wildfires blazing though Chile caused the government to extend an emergency order to another region on Saturday, as a scorching summer heat wave complicates efforts to control fires that have claimed at least 23 lives so far.

* Nine people were missing on Sunday after a fishing boast capsized off the southwest coast of Republic of Korea, authorities said, with the country's president urging stepped-up search and rescue efforts.

* A Magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck offshore the Chilean city of Coquimbo on Saturday, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC) said.

Xinhua/Reuters/VNA