* Unrest in Kazakhstan will not affect plans for NATO's talks with Russian next week over Ukraine, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Thursday.
* The peacekeeping forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) sent to Kazakhstan will total around 2,500 people, the RIA news agency quoted the secretariat of the Russia-led security bloc as saying on Thursday.
* The United States Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) will open a forward-based headquarters in Albania on a rotational basis, Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Thursday.
* President Joe Biden used the first anniversary of the Jan. 6 assault on the US Capitol on Thursday to urge Americans to protect the country's fragile democracy by standing up for the right to vote.
* China reported 116 domestically transmitted infections with confirmed clinical symptoms for Thursday, mostly in Xian and the province of Henan, down from 132 a day earlier, official data showed on Friday.
* India reported 117,100 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, the most since early June, as the Omicron variant overtakes Delta in the cities.
* Japan is set to declare quasi-emergency measures in three regions on Friday to stem a COVID-19 surge that some officials have linked to US military bases in the country.
* Chicago Public Schools, the third-largest US education district, cancelled classes for a second day amid a walkout by teachers demanding tougher COVID-19 protection measures, although city officials insisted schools are safe.
* Austria will impose new COVID-19 measures from Saturday and the government is still working on a draft law to make vaccinations compulsory from Feb. 1 as the highly contagious Omicron variant spreads, Chancellor Karl Nehammer said on Thursday.
* The Omicron outbreak in Australia's most-populous state could peak by the end of January, official modelling showed on Friday, as authorities reinstated some restrictions in a bid to slow the record spike in infections.
* Brazil reported 35,826 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, the highest daily number of infections since September, and 128 deaths from COVID-19, the Health Ministry said on Thursday.
* Argentina reported a record number of COVID-19 cases on Thursday for a third day in a row at nearly 110,000, as the highly infectious Omicron variant drives a third pandemic wave in the South American nation.
* Italy reported a record daily number of new COVID-19 cases on Thursday at 219,441 against 189,109 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of coronavirus-related deaths fell to 198 from 231.
* France reported 261,481 new confirmed coronavirus infections on Thursday, less than the record of more than 332,000 on Wednesday, but the seven-day moving average of new cases rose well above 200,000 for the first time since the start of the epidemic.
* Nigeria is working to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, President Muhammadu Buhari said in a televised interview on Thursday, as the country battles growing cases of the virus.
* Johnson & Johnson said on Thursday that a real-world study showed its single shot COVID-19 vaccine protects against breakthrough infections and hospitalizations for up to six months.
* The eastern United States, from Tennessee to New York, faces stronger winds and heavier snow overnight, likely causing the first bomb cyclone of the 2022 winter season in the region, forecasting service AccuWeather said on Thursday.
* Qatar Airways is seeking more than 600 million USD in compensation from Airbus over surface flaws on A350 jetliners, according to a court document shedding new light on an escalating business feud worth 4 million USD a day.
