* Travel in China flourished over the three-day New Year's holiday, with 135 million domestic tourist trips, up 155% from last year, while domestic tourism revenue rose to 79.73 billion yuan ($11.23 billion), data released Monday showed.
* Saudi state TV said on Tuesday that the kingdom had officially begun its membership of the BRICS bloc. Saudi Arabia's foreign minister had said in August that the kingdom would study the details before the proposed Jan. 1 joining date and take "the appropriate decision".
* Chinese and Thai authorities are communicating and looking forward to implementing the visa waiver for the two countries' citizens, China's foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
* A total of 22,185 Palestinians have been killed and 57,035 wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza since Oct.7, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
* Israel is withdrawing some forces from Gaza to shift to more targeted operations against Hamas, and is partially returning reservists to civilian life to help the economy as the war looks set to last well into the new year, an Israeli official said.
* The Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier will return to its home port, the U.S. Navy said on Monday, ending its deployment to the eastern Mediterranean, which started in support of Israel after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants.
* Somalia on Tuesday rejected a pact its breakaway region of Somaliland signed with Ethiopia allowing it to use a major port with access to the Red Sea in return for recognition as an independent state, saying the agreement had no legal force.
* Denmark's Maersk MAERSKb.CO still plans to sail more than 30 container vessels through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea in the time ahead despite a weekend attack on one of its ships in the area, a company schedule released late on Monday showed.
