* UN General Assembly (UNGA) President Csaba Korosi on Tuesday called on the international community to make the UN Charter "our guiding light" and advance the progress of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
* UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday called for investing in people and prioritizing education in his message for the International Day of Education, to be observed on Jan. 24.
* China could see a sharp recovery in economic growth from the second quarter onwards based on current infection trends after the dismantling of most COVID-19 restrictions, IMF Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath said on Wednesday.
* China's economy in 2023 will see a significant improvement, make bigger strides and contribute more to world economic recovery, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday.
* Ukraine's interior minister and a child were among at least 14 people killed on Wednesday when a helicopter crashed into a nursery and set it ablaze in a suburb of the capital Kyiv.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that he discussed defense issues with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier during the meeting in the format of a video conference.
* Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hinted on Wednesday that the next general and presidential elections could be held on May 14, nearly one month earlier than the scheduled date.
* The Iranian nuclear chief on Wednesday stressed that there is no undeclared nuclear activity or site in Iran, according to the Iranian Students' News Agency.
* Senior officials of Tunisia and Italy met on Wednesday in Tunis, vowing to combat illegal immigration together, according to the Tunisian presidency.
* Somalia and the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) have commended significant gains made by the security forces in liberating three strategic towns in two days and vowed to intensify operations against al-Shabab in the country.
* Morocco and Israel have agreed to expand military cooperation in areas including intelligence, air defense and electronic warfare, according to a statement released by Morocco's Royal Armed Forces (FAR) on Tuesday.
* Senior officials of Tunisia and Italy met on Wednesday in Tunis, vowing to combat illegal immigration together, according to the Tunisian presidency.
* The number of foreign visitors to Japan in 2022 reached 3.83 million, a 15-fold increase from the previous year, after the phased easing of COVID-19 border restrictions, government data showed Wednesday.
* Cambodia has 753,670 business establishments, employing 2.98 million people, the preliminary results of the 2022 Economic Census said here on Wednesday.
* Philippine customs authorities said Wednesday that more than 700 cases of smuggled goods, including farm products, were recorded in 2022, warning travelers not to bring in vegetables and fruits illegally.
* A 7.1-magnitude earthquake jolted off North Sulawesi province in central Indonesia on Wednesday, but there were no reports of damages or casualties, the weather agency said.
* Spain and Portugal have formally requested a EU approval to extend the temporary Iberian cap on prices for natural gas used by power plants, a spokesperson for Spain's EU representation told Reuters.
* Germany must accelerate a hydrogen law revision, which is pending in Berlin, to allow for related investments in gas transport networks up to the end of the decade, said the head of the biggest gas pipeline operator, Open Grid Europe (OGE).
* New cross-border corporate tax rules could yield about a quarter of a trillion dollars in extra revenue for governments, more than previously expected, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development estimated on Wednesday.
* British inflation eased last month after hitting a 41-year high in October, offering some comfort to the Bank of England, but the pressure on households remained intense as food and drink prices rose at the fastest pace since 1977.
* Canada's Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 6.8 percent on an annual average basis in 2022, hitting a 40-year high, Statistics Canada announced Tuesday.
* Prices in Italy rose to record levels in 2022, the government's statistics entity ISTAT said on Tuesday.
* Driven by rising energy and food prices in particular, inflation in Germany slowed at the end of 2022 but reached a record high of 7.9 percent for the year as a whole, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said on Tuesday.
* Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso proposed Tuesday that Ecuador host the 2025 Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on Plastic Pollution Treaty.
* Tunisia's tourism revenues grew by 110.4 percent during the first 10 days of 2023, compared to the same period last year, said the Tunisian Ministry of Tourism and Handicrafts on Tuesday.
* The death toll of an oil tanker explosion in central Thailand's Samut Songkhram province rose to eight as more bodies of victims were recovered from the wreckage, local authorities said Wednesday.
