* Over 614 million women and girls live in conflict-affected places worldwide, a number that has increased by 50 percent since 2017, said the United Nations system in Lebanon in a statement on Friday.
* Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe announced on Friday two bills will be introduced to advance gender equality and empower women, which would be submitted to the parliament in May, according to the President's Media Division (PMD).
* Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE) has invited various international organizations to participate as observers in the upcoming presidential elections on July 28, CNE president Elvis Amoroso said Thursday.
* International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi described his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week as "professional and frank", the IAEA said in a statement on Friday.
* Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories have expanded by a record amount and risk eliminating any practical possibly of a Palestinian state, the U.N. human rights chief said on Friday.
* The United Nations human rights office said on Friday that an Israeli offensive in Gaza's border town of Rafah could not be allowed to happen because it would cause massive loss of Palestinian lives.
* European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday announced the immediate launch of a project to establish a maritime aid corridor from Cyprus to Gaza.
* Britain said it would work alongside the United States to open a maritime corridor to deliver aid directly to Gaza, foreign minister David Cameron said on Friday.
* Israel said Friday that it "welcomed" the inauguration of the maritime corridor from Cyprus to the Gaza Strip aimed at boosting the humanitarian aid to the embattled Palestinian enclave.
* At least 30,878 Palestinians have been killed and 72,402 have been wounded since Oct. 7 in Israel's military offensive on Gaza, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Friday.
* Finland will deploy soldiers to participate in two operations in the Red Sea, the government announced on Friday.
* India's southwestern state of Karnataka on Friday banned the use of drinking water for other purposes including washing cars, gardening and construction activities as a drinking water crisis intensifies in the state capital Bengaluru.
* The Republic of Korea plans quick measures to improve pay and working conditions for young doctors, the government said on Friday, addressing a key demand by medical trainees who have walked off the job, but denying there was a full-scale healthcare crisis.
* The Swiss government on Friday formally approved a negotiating mandate for talks with Brussels to update the country's relationship with the European Union after a previous bid unraveled in 2021.
* The Ukrainian authorities will start a mandatory evacuation from 57 settlements in the eastern Kharkiv region, regional governor Oleg Synegubov announced on Thursday.
* Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Ali Bagheri Kani said on Friday that consultations would continue with the European Union (EU) on issues of common interest, including the removal of sanctions on Tehran.
* Ukraine will receive 6 billion euros ($6.6 billion) from the European Union via its four-year Ukraine facility in the next two months, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Friday.
* Venezuelan inflation in February slowed to 1.2% versus January, when it measured 1.7%, the country's central bank said on Thursday. February's inflation is the lowest since August 2012.
* The Philippines' unemployment rate increased to 4.5 percent in January from 3.1 percent in December last year, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Friday.
* Malaysia saw the number of unemployed people reduce further to 567,300 in January from 567,800 in the previous month, with unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.3 percent, official data showed Friday.
* Canada's economy added a net 40,700 jobs in February, double the expected gain, data showed on Friday, and wage growth slowed for a second consecutive month as the central bank continues to hold interest rates at a 22-year high.
* Pakistan's remittances from workers recorded an inflow of $2.2 billion during February, the central bank said in a statement.
* The United Nations food agency's world price index fell in February for a seventh consecutive month as lower prices for all major cereals more than offset the rising price of sugar and meat.
