* The United Nations and its aid partners in Gaza called for the lifting of restrictions on school supplies so that more children can receive education, UN humanitarians said Friday.
* A localized ceasefire agreed by Russia and Ukraine will enable repairs to begin on the damaged backup power line to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement on Friday.
* China and Canada have reached specific arrangements to properly address trade issues related to electric vehicles (EVs), steel and aluminum products, rapeseed, and agricultural and aquatic products, China's Ministry of Commerce said on Friday.
* Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday announced its strategy for economic diplomacy, designed to navigate global trade volatility and shield its export-dependent economy from rising trade protectionism.
* The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) on Friday issued a Conflict Zone Information Bulletin (CZIB) recommending that air operators avoid flying over Iranian airspace at all altitudes.
* The Russian Armed Forces took control of five populated settlements in the special military operation zone over the past week, including two in the past 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday.
* Ukrainian and U.S. teams will hold another round of negotiations on Jan. 17 in Miami, Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Olga Stefanishyna announced on Friday.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that Ukraine needs permanent security guarantees, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported.
* U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that he may impose tariffs on countries that do not support his plan for the United States to "obtain" Greenland.
* Venezuela's Acting President Delcy Rodriguez on Friday announced three changes to her cabinet. Miguel Perez Pirela was appointed minister of communication and information, replacing Freddy Nanez, who will head the Ministry of Ecosocialism, Rodriguez said on Telegram.
* U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday offered to restart U.S. mediation to help resolve a long-running dispute on Nile River water sharing between Egypt and Ethiopia, stressing that no single country should unilaterally control the river's resources.
* Israel and the United States on Friday launched a strategic partnership on artificial intelligence (AI) to boost cooperation in research, development, and securing technology supply chains, according to the Israeli Prime Minister's Office.
* A newly-formed Palestinian technocratic committee to temporarily administer the post-war Gaza officially launched its work on Friday, the committee's head Ali Abdel Hamid Shaath told Egypt's state-run Al-Qahera News in an interview.
* There continues to be a need for the Lebanese armed forces to get more resources and financial support to strengthen its capacities to secure the country's southern border, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix said Friday.
* The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Friday that its forces would withdraw from current contact lines with government forces east of Aleppo to advance military integration talks with the authorities.
* Syrian interim leader Ahmad al-Sharaa on Friday issued a decree affirming the cultural, linguistic and civic rights of Syrian Kurds, as tensions rise between the authorities and Kurdish-led forces in Aleppo and its eastern countryside.
* Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Barham Ahmed Salih exchanged views on Friday on the situation of refugees in Chad. In a statement, the Chadian presidency said Mahamat Deby expressed concern that insufficient funding was placing Chad under an unsustainable financial and security burden.
* Some Chadian soldiers were killed and others injured after clashes with Sudanese paramilitary forces along the border of the eastern part of the country, Chad's Minister of Communication and Government Spokesman Gassim Cherif Mahamat said on Friday.
* The number of bankruptcies in Finland continued to grow in December, marking 2025 the worst year for business failures since the recession of the 1990s, Statistics Finland said in a press release published on Friday. A total of 360 bankruptcy petitions were filed in December 2025, up 34 percent compared to the same month one year earlier.
* Crude oil transportation via the trunk pipeline system of Kazakhstan's national oil transporter KazTransOil reached 45.1 million tonnes in 2025, the highest level recorded over the past seven years, the company's press service said Friday.
* An outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) has been confirmed at a pig farm in Gangneung, a city in South Korea's Gangwon province, Yonhap News Agency reported Saturday. Local authorities said Saturday that about 20,000 pigs raised at the farm will be culled in accordance with quarantine regulations.
