* UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday extended his warmest greetings to all people celebrating the Lunar New Year, or Chinese Spring Festival, in a video message.
* The Belarusian Central Election Commission (CEC) said Friday 35.99 percent of eligible voters have cast their ballots after four days of early voting in the presidential elections.
* Republic of Korea's court denied the second request for extension of the arrested President Yoon Suk-yeol's detention, multiple media outlets said Saturday.
* China and the United States should find the right way to get along in the new era, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a phone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio held at the latter's request on Friday.
* Moscow is open to talks on Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday. In the meantime, the Russian president said that certain issues require special attention. He recalled that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had previously issued a decree prohibiting such negotiations.
* Moscow is ready for nuclear disarmament talks with Washington, although it would be necessary to take into account the nuclear arsenals of U.S. allies, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.
* U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered a sweeping pause Friday on almost all of the State Department's existing foreign aid grants, according to reports by U.S. and British media that obtained an internal memo specifying the order in the form of guidance.
* Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang met with Dutch leaders on Wednesday and Thursday in The Hague. The two sides agreed to jointly promote an open world economy, and strengthen cooperation in various fields including green development.
* The Canadian government is threatening to review its commercial relationship with Amazon after the online retail giant decided to close all its distribution centers in Quebec, local media reported Friday.
* Cyprus and Egypt have reached an agreement to export natural gas from Cypriot fields in the eastern Mediterranean for liquefaction at Egyptian plants, President Nikos Christodoulides announced on Friday.
* Cambodia on Saturday urged people to be extra vigilant against high air pollution, saying that they should wear masks for outdoor activities.
* The Israeli authorities on Saturday released 200 Palestinian prisoners as part of the second phase of a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.
* Iran's envoy to the United Nations (UN) has strongly rejected Israel's claim that Tehran is smuggling advanced weaponry systems to Lebanon in violation of a UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution, describing the accusation as "baseless and incorrect."
* A wave of gunfire and rumors prompted a wide-scale security operation in Syria's coastal provinces, resulting in dozens of arrests, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday.
* China has become the world's largest online retail market for 12 consecutive years, with online retail sales reaching 15.5 trillion yuan (about 2.16 trillion USD) in 2024, the Ministry of Commerce said Friday.
* Finland's unemployment rate rose as employment weakened in 2024, announced Statistics Finland on Friday. According to the statistical agency, the average number of employed people aged 15 to 74 was 2,602,000, while 238,000 were unemployed. There were 25,000 fewer employed and 34,000 more unemployed people compared to the previous year.
* Moody's Ratings has affirmed Malaysia's local and foreign currency long-term issuer and local currency senior unsecured debt ratings at A3 with a stable outlook.
* Uzbekistan's imports of passenger cars reached a value of 1.28 billion USD in 2024, local media reported Saturday, citing the country's statistics agency. According to the agency, 74,700 passenger cars, including electric vehicles, were imported into Uzbekistan in 2024.
* Sri Lanka's international airports handled over 8.8 million passenger arrivals and departures in 2024, a senior official from Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) (Private) Limited (AASL) announced on Friday.
* China's meteorological authority renewed a yellow alert for a cold wave on Saturday, as most parts of the country will see temperatures plunge by 8-12 degrees Celsius over the next three days.
