* The United States and China must understand each other "more fully" and cultivate a relationship more compatible with peace and progress in the world, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has said.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday held talks with visiting President of the European Council Charles Michel to discuss cooperation between Ukraine and the European Union (EU), Zelensky's press service reported.
* Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif met with a Russian delegation led by Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov on Friday, discussing matters related to oil and gas supply.
* Germany's new Minister of Defense, Boris Pistorius, took office on Thursday, who stressed that "the meaning of security is different than it was a year ago" due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
* Sweden will provide Ukraine with the Archer artillery system, its tenth and the largest military aid package so far, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Thursday.
* Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Thursday described the agreements reached with Russia in the energy and transportation sectors as "constructive and positive."
* The United Nations' deputy secretary-general met the deputy governor of Afghanistan's Kandahar, provincial authorities said on Friday, a rare meeting by a foreign envoy with the Taliban's leaders in its southern heartland.
* Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday called on the US government to intervene to stop the Israeli new government's measures against the Palestinians before it is too late.
* Independent lawmakers in Lebanon are staging a sit-in at parliament to pile pressure on dominant factions to elect a new president nearly three months since the post fell vacant with the country in the throes of an economic crisis.
* French President Emmanuel Macron proposed on Friday boosting military spending by over a quarter in coming years, saying the hike would help ensure a transformation of the army to respond to multiple potential threats.
* India has produced over 500 million metric tons of sugarcane in the sugar season of 2021-2022, officials said Friday.
* Japan's total population shrank by 0.43 percent or about 538,000 in 2022, official estimates showed Friday, amid the government's pledge to address the demographic challenge.
* Germany's population swelled to an all-time record number of at least 84.3 million inhabitants at the end of 2022, due to record net immigration, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said on Thursday.
* Uzbekistan plans to build 250 micro hydroelectric power plants to diversify energy sources and develop clean energy amid rising domestic demand, the Uzbek president's press service said Thursday.
* France's Ministry of the Interior said that an estimated 1.12 million French people took to the streets across the country on Thursday to protest against the government's controversial pension reform plan.
* Somali National Army (SNA) forces killed 100 al-Shabab extremists in a foiled attack on a military base in Galcad town in central Somalia on Friday, the government said.
* Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat has strongly condemned the abduction of more than 50 women and girls in Burkina Faso.
* Islamist al Shabaab militants on Friday killed at least seven soldiers at a Somali military base in a town re-captured by the government, the information ministry and militant group said.
* The World Health Organization's director of immunisation on Friday praised China for making quick progress on vaccinating older people with COVID-19 shots and boosters since lifting anti-virus controls last month.
* The OPEC Fund for International Development, a development institution established by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' member governments nearly 50 years ago, has raised $1 billion by selling its first ever bond.
* Malaysia's inflation, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), eased to 3.8 percent in December last year from 4 percent in November 2022, official data showed on Friday.
* Proposed measures to help Polish households cope with rising heating bills will cost 4.5 billion zlotys ($1.04 billion), according to a draft law posted on the parliament website on Friday.
* The Tanzanian authorities said on Wednesday that the East African nation is investing heavily in information and communications technology (ICT) to make it an online business hub in Africa.
* Tens of millions of USD more might be needed to salvage the Safer oil tanker off Yemen's Red Sea coast, a United Nations spokesman said Thursday.
* Malawi has run out of cholera vaccine amid a rise in confirmed cases of the outbreak, the country's Health Ministry disclosed on Thursday.
* Health authorities in the eastern Bolivian department of Santa Cruz on Thursday declared a "red alert" for dengue fever due to an alarming rise in cases and four deaths from the disease this year.
