World News in Brief: January 14

Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako have accepted an invite from Queen Elizabeth to make a state visit to the United Kingdom in early 2020, according to Buckingham Palace.

* Republic of Korea President Moon Jae-in said on Tuesday (January 14) it was too early to be pessimistic about stalled denuclearisation dialogue between the United States and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and that inter-Korean cooperation could help ease the way for sanctions to be lifted.

* Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye said on Monday that Israel is seeking to increase the number of its settlers in the West Bank to 1 million.

* US President Donald Trump has spoken over phone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Libya and the Middle East, said the White House on Monday. The two leaders on Sunday discussed ongoing regional security matters in the Middle East, Libya and other bilateral issues.

* The United Arab Emirates' (UAE) Supreme Petroleum Council signed an energy cooperation agreement with Japan's Agency for Natural Resources and Energy during Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to the country.

* Khalifa Haftar, commander of the Libyan National Army, has left Moscow without signing a ceasefire agreement drafted at talks in Russia on Monday, the TASS news agency cited the Russian Foreign Ministry as saying on Tuesday.

* Iran's judiciary has arrested some people for their role in the crash of a Ukrainian plane that Tehran said was accidentally hit by an Iranian missile, judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said on Tuesday. He did not give further details.

* Iran will punish all those responsible for the accidental shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger plane, President Hassan Rouhani said in a televised speech on Tuesday, adding that the "tragic event" would be investigated thoroughly.

* Turkish prosecutors on Tuesday ordered 176 soldiers detained over suspected links to the network that Ankara says was behind a coup attempt three-and-a-half years ago, state-owned Anadolu news agency reported.

* The humanitarian community will need some US$733 million to help needy people in Afghanistan this year, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Afghanistan reported on Tuesday.

Xinhua, Reuters