* The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council held a high-level meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the Declaration on the Right to Development, stressing that the landmark declaration was a ground-breaking achievement.
* China is willing to conduct candid consultations with the United States to reduce restrictions on bilateral trade and investment, China's vice minister for commerce said on Thursday.
* The ruling party of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea convened an enlarged Central Committee plenary meeting in Pyongyang from Sunday to Wednesday, dedicated to addressing the pressing issue of agricultural production, the official Korean Central News Agency reported Thursday.
* The Finnish parliament on Wednesday approved legislation allowing the country to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). 184 members of parliament voted in favor, with seven against and one abstention.
* German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock met with her Chinese counterpart, Qin Gang, ahead of the Group of 20 (G20) meeting in India, the German Foreign Ministry said on Twitter on Thursday.
* Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Thursday that Moscow had been forced to suspend its participation in the New START nuclear arms control treaty because Washington was using it to help Ukraine attack Russian strategic sites.
* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday accused the West of "shamelessly burying" the Black Sea grain initiative that facilitates the export of Ukraine's agricultural products from its southern ports, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.
* German Foreign Minister Baerbock on Thursday called on her Russian counterpart to return to the full implementation of the new START nuclear arms control treaty.
* Saudi and British defence ministers have agreed to study future co-operation on combat air capabilities and potential industrial projects, the Saudi state news agency reported.
* President Joe Biden plans to ask Congress to provide 1.6 billion USD in new funding to tackle fraud tied to US pandemic relief programs and help victims of identity theft, the White House said.
* United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met with senior Iraqi leaders in Baghdad on Wednesday during a visit aimed at showing the UN solidarity with Iraq.
* United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed has called for Africa-led solutions as a key imperative to achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Africa.
* Global energy-related emissions of carbon dioxide hit a record high last year, although more clean technology such as solar power and electric vehicles helped limit the impact of increased coal and oil use, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday.
* Thailand's exports declined for the fourth consecutive month in January as the economic slowdown dampened demand from key markets, data showed Thursday.
* The Republic of Korea's export would be hard to recover without a rebound in demand for chips, the country's deputy prime minister for economic affairs said on Thursday.
* The United Arab Emirates' gross domestic product (GDP) grew 7.6% in 2022, Economy Minister Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri said on Thursday at the Investopia conference in Abu Dhabi.
* Italy's economy grew less than expected in 2022, by 3.7 percent, the country's the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) reported on Wednesday.
* The Central Bank of Mexico (Banxico) cut its forecast for the growth of the country's economy in 2023 and 2024, due to a deterioration of US expectations, especially in the industrial sector, an inflation report released Wednesday said.
* The European Union (EU) has pledged 18 million Fijian dollars (around 8.1 million USD) for the next three years to support the growth of inclusive digital economies in the Pacific region through a partnership with the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF).
* The Lebanese currency reappreciated on Wednesday evening after it fell to a new low of more than 90,000 against the USD on the parallel market earlier on the same day, the L'Orient Today reported on its website.
* Oman is in the preparation process to offer a new batch of oil and gas concession areas by the end of the first quarter of 2023, the energy ministry said in a tweet on Thursday.
* More than 158 tonnes of drugs were seized in France in 2022, a new record, the country's Ministry of the Interior said on Wednesday. The authorities seized a record 128.6 tonnes of cannabis, 15 percent more than in 2021.
* NASA and SpaceX launched the Crew-6 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on early Thursday. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft Endurance roared off Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:34 a.m. Eastern Time (0534 GMT) Thursday.
