World News in Brief: January 14

Senior members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Japan's ruling coalition, formed by the Liberal Democratic Party and the Komeito Party, gathered in Beijing for the ninth meeting under an exchange mechanism, calling for enhanced exchanges between the ruling parties of the two countries.
About 92,000 people remain under mandatory evacuation orders due to the Los Angeles wildfires in the western United States, and another 89,000 are under evacuation warnings, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna told reporters on Monday.
About 92,000 people remain under mandatory evacuation orders due to the Los Angeles wildfires in the western United States, and another 89,000 are under evacuation warnings, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna told reporters on Monday.

* The Republic of Korean constitutional court on Tuesday said the second hearing of the trial of President Yoon Suk-yeol's impeachment will be held on Thursday. The court on Tuesday held the first hearing of the case but only lasted for about four minutes due to Yoon's absence.

* The Chinese government has released a list of measures to foster new growth points in the culture and tourism sector and boost related consumption.

* Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil on Monday denounced attacks on several of the country's diplomatic missions, describing them as "a coordinated action" by the country's political opponents.

* Russia will seek measures to minimize the consequences of new U.S. sanctions targeting Moscow's energy sector, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday.

* Indonesia plans to propose a reduction in trade tariffs to the United States through bilateral cooperation between the two countries, Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said on Monday.

* Defense ministers from Poland, Germany, France, Britain, and Italy, so-called the "European Five" (E5) gathered in Poland on Monday for a meeting to talk about the development of the arms industry and support for Ukraine.

* Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will sign a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement after their talks in Moscow on Friday, the Kremlin said Monday.

* Public transport, air travel, schools, and essential services were disrupted across Belgium on Monday as a nationwide strike took place to protest proposed pension reforms by the coalition forming the new federal government.

* The Australian government has launched the first national strategy to improve the lives of people with autism. The 42.3 million Australian dollar (26.1 million USD) plan includes 22 commitments on four key reform areas.

* Yemen's Houthi forces fired a missile at Israel early on Tuesday, triggering sirens in wide areas, including Tel Aviv and some Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, according to an Israeli military statement.

* Syria's new foreign minister, Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, announced on Tuesday through social media that he will make his first official visit to Turkey on Jan. 15.

* Hamas delivered a "positive" response to a draft of the Gaza ceasefire agreement offered by mediators in the Qatari capital Doha on Monday, a senior Hamas official said.

* Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday that Iran's future relations with Syria depend on Syria's actions. He made the remarks at a weekly press conference in the capital Tehran, while commenting on the latest developments in Syria and the possibility of resuming ties with Damascus.

* Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani held a phone call with U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday to discuss bilateral relations and developments in the Gaza Strip, according to a statement from the Emiri Diwan, the administrative office of the emir.

* Libyan Prime Minister Abdul-Hamed Dbeibah on Monday expressed the country's readiness for military cooperation with Senegal, stressing the importance of joint action to address security challenges in the region.

* The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Monday they had received 82 million USD in funding from the World Bank to improve health services for more than 8 million people in Sudan.

* The number of inbound trips made by foreigners to China under the country's visa-free policies in 2024 doubled compared with the previous year, indicating that China's expanded visa-free policies and related gestures promoting greater openness to the world are delivering benefits and gaining recognition from travelers globally.

* India's retail inflation eased to a four-month low of 5.22 percent in December 2024, the latest government data showed Monday. According to the data released by the federal ministry of statistics and program implementation (MoSPI), the inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) in December 2024 is 5.22 percent. In November the CPI was 5.48 percent.

* Kyrgyzstan's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 9 percent to about 17 billion USD in 2024, showed preliminary data from the National Statistics Committee on Tuesday.

* Thailand's investment application values surged 35 percent from a year earlier in 2024 to a combined 1.14 trillion baht (33 billion USD), marking a 10-year-high thanks to large foreign projects in data centers and cloud services, official data showed on Monday.

* Cambodia exported 11.6 million tons of agricultural products to international markets in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 3.2 percent, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) said on Tuesday.

* Malaysia's wholesale and retail trade expanded at 4.7 percent with 149.3 billion ringgit (33.12 billion USD) of sales in November 2024, official data showed Monday.

* Hungarian tourism achieved record-breaking results in 2024, with unprecedented numbers of international visitors, a surge in domestic travel, and the highest-ever revenue generated by accommodations, Zoltan Guller, president of the Hungarian Tourism Agency (MTU), announced on Monday.

* A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck the Kyushu region in southwestern Japan on Monday, the country's weather agency said, with a 20-centimeter tsunami observed in Miyazaki Prefecture.

* Japan's weather agency warned of another strong earthquake after a 6.9-magnitude temblor struck the Kyushu region in southwestern Japan on Monday.

* Greece has been in the grip of a cold weather front since Sunday with heavy rainfall and snowfall that have caused traffic disruptions and flooding in parts of the country, authorities said on Monday.

Xinhua