WORLD

Last year is set to be the UK's second warmest on record, according to provisional figures released on Tuesday by the country's national meteorological service.

Britain's former prime minister Tony Blair has strongly denied an Israeli media report linking him to talks last week about the resettlement of Palestinians from Gaza in other countries.

Turkey on Tuesday announced the detention of 33 people suspected of planning abductions and spying on behalf of Israel's Mossad intelligence service.

The 7.5 magnitude quake that rattled Ishikawa prefecture on the main island of Honshu triggered tsunami waves more than a metre high, toppled houses, caused a major fire and tore apart roads.

Russia on Tuesday rained missiles on the Ukrainian capital and other cities killing two people and injuring over 50 as strikes damaged high-rise buildings and sparked fires.

Somalia will hold an emergency cabinet meeting on Tuesday, state media said, after the breakaway region of Somaliland struck a controversial deal with Ethiopia giving Addis Ababa access to the Red Sea.

Waiting in the cold, hundreds of residents of the earthquake-hit Japanese town of Shika stood in a queue to get rations of a suddenly scarce, but vital, commodity: drinking water.

Shelling and missile strikes rocked the length of the Gaza Strip overnight into Tuesday, after Israel's army warned its war against the territory's Hamas rulers will last through 2024.

Hong Kong pro-democracy tycoon Jimmy Lai pleaded not guilty Tuesday to "sedition" and "collusion" charges in a high-profile national security trial that could see him jailed for life.

On Day 88 of the Israel-Hamas war, Houthis targeted a U.S. warship in the Red Sea as Israel responds to attacks by Hezbollah and launches from Syrian territory.

South Korean opposition party leader Lee Jae-myung was stabbed in the neck on Tuesday while talking to reporters in the port city of Busan.

Deep under the Red Sea, a passing Israeli warship could barely be heard as Yamit Avital held her breath and dived, her mind briefly cleared of the trauma of the October 7 Hamas attacks.

A Chinese exchange student who fell victim to a "cyber kidnapping" scam in which his parents were extorted for $80,000, was found alive but "cold and scared" in a tent in the Utah wilderness, police said.

At least six people died in a major earthquake that struck central Japan on New Year's Day, triggering tsunami waves over a meter high, damaging homes and sparking a major fire that wreaked destruction overnight, authorities said Tuesday.

Modi had avoided his annual summit with Putin in the last two years after Russia invaded Ukraine. But Putin could be reaching out now.

Fourteen Nicaraguan priests have now been arrested in a crackdown on the Catholic Church in the Central American country, prompting Pope Francis to call for dialogue during his Monday prayer.

Chad's transitional president General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno on Monday appointed one of his leading opponents, who recently returned from exile, as prime minister.

President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Moscow would intensify strikes on military targets in Ukraine, after an unprecedented Ukrainian attack over the weekend on the Russian city of Belgorod.

A long-awaited European Union's visa liberalisation scheme allowing Kosovo nationals to travel to Europe's borderless zone without a visa came into force on Monday with the first travellers hailing it as a great relief.

Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a New Year's message that some of the 300,000 army reservists would get a break from the war, in order to prepare for the "prolonged fighting" ahead.

Tsunami waves over a metre high hit central Japan on Monday after a series of powerful earthquakes that damaged homes, closed highways and prompted authorities to urge people to run to higher ground.

French President Emmanuel Macron called for unity in the country in his New Year's Eve address Sunday as it prepares for the 2024 Olympic Games, after a difficult year for his government.

The war in Gaza ground into the new year on Monday, with Hamas firing a barrage of rockets at Israel just as the clock struck midnight and two dozen people killed overnight in Israeli strikes on the Palestinian territory.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen expressed hopes on Monday for Taipei and Beijing to seek "long-term peaceful coexistence" and said future relations should be decided by Taiwan's "democratic procedures".

Seconds after ringing in the new year on a lively street in Tel Aviv, some young Israelis found themselves running for cover while others kept the party going with a shrug as missile defence systems intercepted a barrage of rockets overhead.

It's Day 87 of the Israel-Hamas war, and Hamas continued to fire rockets toward Israel on New Year's Day. Yemen's rebel army also pursued its disruption of Red Sea shipping, and Hezbollah carried out attacks toward northern Israel that displaced thousands of residents.

The fighting begins and ends with a hug, part of a singular ritual that has residents of the Peruvian Andes punching and kicking in a year-end fight competition known as Takanakuy.

Denmark's popular Queen Margrethe II, Europe's longest-serving monarch and last reigning queen after the death of Britain's Elizabeth II, is hailed for modernising Danish royalty in her half-century on the throne.

Denmark's popular Queen Margrethe II, Europe's longest-serving monarch, said Sunday that she would abdicate on January 14 and pass the baton to her son Crown Prince Frederik.