* President Xi Jinping has ordered all-out rescue efforts to save lives and minimize casualties following a 6.8-magnitude earthquake that took a heavy toll after jolting a county in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region Tuesday morning.
* The U.S. Congress convened Monday to count electoral college votes and certify President-elect Donald Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in the November presidential election.
* Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday morning he is stepping down after a party race while the opposition leader complained that nothing has changed. Giving a speech outside his home at Rideau Cottage, Trudeau said he will stay on as Prime Minister until his successor is chosen.
* Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen on Monday tasked Freedom Party leader Herbert Kickl with forming a new government after recent coalition talks without the far-right party collapsed.
* Indonesia welcomes Brazil's announcement as chair of BRICS 2025, which recognizes the Southeast Asian country as a full member, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday.
* The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) successfully test-fired a new-type intermediate-range ballistic missile on Monday, with its top leader overseeing the event, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Tuesday.
* A delegation of Japan's ruling coalition will visit China from Jan. 13 to 15, said a spokesperson for the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on Tuesday. The two sides will jointly hold the ninth meeting of the China-Japan ruling party talks.
* The number of poor people in Indonesia has decreased, and job creation has risen as the government prudently allocates fiscal support, a minister said on Monday.
* The Philippines and Japan have renewed their Bilateral Swap Arrangement (BSA) effective on Jan. 1, 2025, the Philippine central bank said Monday.
* The Venezuelan government on Monday severed diplomatic relations with Paraguay and recalled its diplomatic personnel from the country in protest against Paraguayan President Santiago Pena's support for opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia.
* The upcoming meeting among the Slovak and Ukrainian delegations, and representatives of the European Commission (EC) has been cancelled, local media reported Monday. The recent halt in Russian gas transit to Slovakia should have been high on the agenda of the meeting.
* Hungary is reopening its embassy in Damascus following signs of stabilization in Syria's security situation, foreign minister Peter Szijjarto announced Monday.
* Indonesia, one of the world's largest providers of migrant workers, plans to send at least 425,000 workers abroad in 2025, expecting to boost the economy by 0.52 percent from the potential foreign exchange earnings, Minister of Migrant Worker Protection Abdul Kadir Karding said on Monday.
* Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday that the country is ready for negotiations "based on honor and dignity" to address concerns about its nuclear program and lift sanctions.
* Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Monday that he had approved "offensive and defensive" measures in the Israeli-occupied West Bank following a deadly shooting attack.
* United Nations Special Envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg arrived in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Monday, marking his first visit in nearly two years as part of efforts to push forward the stalled peace process.
* Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday hinted at the possibility of a new cross-border military operation in Syria if Turkey perceives threats to its national security.
* Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani said on Monday that his country will continue to strengthen its army's capabilities to confront potential challenges and threats.
* Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Monday demanded that Israel halt its violations of the ceasefire agreement as Israeli forces continued their withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
* Yemen's Houthi group said in a statement on Monday that it targeted the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier in the northern Red Sea with two winged missiles and four drones, as well as sites in Israel.
* A Qatari Air Force plane carrying 23 tons of humanitarian aid arrived in Damascus on Monday as part of Qatar's air bridge to support Syrians, the Qatar News Agency reported.
* Palestine's gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 28 percent and its unemployment rate increased to 51 percent in 2024, the Ramallah-based Ministry of Economy said Monday in a statement.
* Humanitarian aid started distribution on Monday in the southern part of the Sudanese capital Khartoum, aiming to support over 80,000 war-affected people who have been grappling with dire humanitarian conditions amid the current civil war, a local volunteer group said.
* The Indonesian government is planning to import wheat as a substitute for corn in animal feed to prevent disrupting domestic demand for corn, according to Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs Zulkifli Hasan on Monday.
* The Philippines' headline inflation rate increased to 2.9 percent in December from 2.5 percent in November, bringing the 2024 average inflation rate to 3.2 percent, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Tuesday.
* Germany's inflation rate climbed to 2.6 percent in December 2024, with official data released on Monday indicating an annual average of 2.2 percent for the year.
* Hungary's tourism sector soared to unprecedented levels in November 2024, with guest numbers increasing by 17 percent year-on-year to 1.2 million and overnight stays rising by 10 percent to 2.8 million, according to the Ministry of National Economy.
* India Monday announced the postponement of its much-anticipated Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) by two days. According to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), the test that was scheduled to take place on Tuesday morning has now been moved to Thursday.
* Myanmar's police have destroyed 563 acres of opium fields in eastern Myanmar's Shan state, the state-run daily Myanma Alinn reported on Tuesday.
* Global air crash fatalities rose sharply in 2024, with 334 lives lost in civil aviation accidents, German media reported on Monday, citing the preliminary data released by the German Aviation Association (BDL).
* The number of Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV) cases rose to three in India on Monday after one more case, a two-month-old infant, was detected in the country's western state of Gujarat.
* A patient in the U.S. state of Louisiana has become the first person to died of bird flu, or H5N1, in the United States, authorities said on Monday.
* A strong earthquake was felt in the Kathmandu Valley on Tuesday morning, and police said no damage has been reported yet.
* Large parts of the United States experienced extreme winter weather on Monday, including heavy snowfall, ice storm, and blizzard.
