* Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed bilateral ties and the situation in Ukraine during a telephone conversation with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.
* The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) decided on Monday to abolish its agencies handling inter-Korean affairs, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Tuesday.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will also attend the meeting and will brief the president on the progress of bilateral talks.
* The Russian city of Voronezh declared a state of emergency on Tuesday after an attack by Ukrainian drones, Mayor Vadim Kstenin said.
* The United Nations is seeking to raise 4.2 billion USD this year for Ukraine's conflict-torn communities and refugees, the Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine said on Monday.
* Iraq recalled on Tuesday its ambassador from Tehran to discuss the recent Iranian attack on the city of Erbil, according to a statement by the country's foreign ministry.
* Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said it has launched barrages of ballistic missiles against the bases of "terrorists" and Israel's intelligence service Mossad in Syria and Iraq's Kurdistan Region respectively in response to recent anti-Iran "terror" attacks.
* Turkey said it had destroyed 23 targets in overnight air strikes on Kurdish militants in northern Iraq and Syria, a further escalation of conflict south of its border.
* At least 24,285 Palestinians have been killed and 61,154 have been wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza since Oct.7, the health ministry in the enclave said in a statement on Tuesday.
* Tanzania and Kenya have agreed to resolve restrictions on air travel between the two countries within the next three days, Tanzanian Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, January Makamba, said on Monday.
* Ecuador's security forces have arrested 1,534 people since President Daniel Noboa declared a state of "internal armed conflict" on Jan. 8, the Presidency reported on Monday.
* The UN humanitarian chief released an emergency 10 million U.S. dollars on Monday to aid about 500,000 people in South Sudan fleeing the Sudan war.
* Authorities in northern Laos' Luang Prabang province are expecting more than 1.7 million people to visit the province during Visit Laos Year 2024 and anticipate tourist spending of at least 900 million USD.
* India will extend edible oil imports at a lower duty by another year until March 2025, the government said in a notification issued late on Monday, as the world's biggest vegetable oil importer moves to contain local prices.
* Germany slipped into recession in 2023, the country's Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said on Monday. Based on initial calculations, Destatis said that Germany's gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 0.3 percent year-on-year, with global crises weighing on the economy.
* The increased industrial use of raw wood in Finland has undermined the key role of forests in making the country carbon neutral by 2035, the Finnish Institute for Natural Resources (LUKE) said on Monday.
* Kyrgyzstan's gross domestic product (GDP) has reached 13.4 billion USD in 2023, up 6.2 percent compared with 2022, according to preliminary estimates by the National Statistics Committee.
* Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid said Monday that his country wants to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) to boost its trade system and achieve sustainable development.
