* South Korea's acting President Choi Sang-mok on Monday ordered an emergency safety inspection of the country's entire airline operation system as investigators worked to identify victims and find out what caused the country's deadliest air disaster.
* All living U.S. presidents condoled with the family of Jimmy Carter after the 39th U.S. president from 1977 to 1981 died Sunday at the age of 100 in Plains, Georgia. A state funeral has been announced.
* Tacit acceptance of Ukraine's decision to halt Russian gas transit will heighten tensions, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico warned in a letter to the European Union (EU) on Sunday.
* China's Ministry of Finance has unveiled measures to encourage government agencies to make their fleets greener by introducing new energy vehicles (NEVs), as the country accelerates its green transition.
* Greece's economic recovery continues to make strides, with public debt sustainability assured and growth rates projected to outpace the Eurozone average, Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras told The National Herald (TNH) on Saturday.
* Cambodia exported 8.25 billion USD worth of products to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) members in the first 11 months of 2024, up 14.4 percent from 7.21 billion dollars over the same period last year, said a Ministry of Commerce's report on Monday.
* Around 65 percent of companies in Japan hire foreign workers to fill labor shortages, Kyodo News reported, citing a recent government survey.
* The head of the World Health Organization on Monday called for an end to attacks on hospitals in Gaza after Israel struck one and raided another in the past few days.
* Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), held talks with visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi in Dubai on Sunday, according to Emirates News Agency (WAM).
* At least 45,514 Palestinians have been killed and 108,189 wounded in Israel's military offensive in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, Gaza's health ministry said on Sunday.
* Fighters in the Gaza Strip fired about five rockets at southern Israel on Sunday afternoon, the Israeli military said. The rockets triggered air raid warning sirens in the city of Sderot and other communities near the Palestinian enclave. No injuries were reported.
* At least 45 people have been killed between Nov. 27 and Dec. 22 in Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement, according to a source from the Lebanese army on Sunday.
* Qatar Tourism, the regulatory body of the tourism sector, announced on Sunday that the country welcomed over five million visitors in 2024, marking a 25 percent increase in international arrivals compared to 2023.
* At least 71 people died in Ethiopia when a truck packed with passengers plunged into a river, according to thespokesperson for the southern Sidama regional government and a statement.
* A light aircraft from an aviation club crashed into the sea off the coast of Ras Al Khaimah, the northernmost emirate of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), on Sunday, killing the pilot and co-pilot, according to an official source.
* Nine minor earthquakes with the strongest magnitude of 2.7 rattled the northeastern suburbs of the Greek capital on Sunday, said the National Observatory of Athens.
* Mongolia's livestock population fell to 57.6 million in 2024, representing a 10.9 percent decline compared to the previous year, the National Statistics Office (NSO) reported on Monday.
* An outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, was discovered in a turkey farm in central Israel, the country's Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security said in a statement on Sunday.
