TEHRAN, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Nasser Kanaani, said on Monday, the day Iran became an official BRICS member, that the multilateral platform provided by the BRICS enables Iran to grasp more opportunities to boost economic cooperation with other countries and better serve its national interests.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his military should “thoroughly annihilate” the United States and South Korea if provoked, state media reported Monday, after he vowed to boost national defense to cope with what he called an unprecedented U.S.-led confrontation.

BANGKOK, Jan 1 (Bernama) — Visitors from Malaysia to Hatyai, the vibrant southern Thai city, doubled to 20,000 daily during the Christmas and year-end holiday season, contributing more than 2 billion Baht to the local economy in two weeks before the year ended.

Hatyai Songkhla Hotel Association President, Sitthipong Sitthiphataraprabha said Hatyai’s irresistible appeal lies on its combination of delectable and diverse food choices, easy accessibility, and affordable hotel options drew Malaysians in droves.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s Supreme Court on Monday struck down a key component of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s contentious judicial overhaul, delivering a landmark decision that threatens to reopen the fissures in Israeli society that preceded the country’s ongoing war against Hamas.

The planned overhaul sparked months of mass protests, threatened to trigger a constitutional crisis between the judicial and legislative branches of government and rattled the cohesion of the powerful military.

TAIPEI, Jan 1 (Reuters) - Taiwan's relations with China must be decided by the will of the people and peace must be based on "dignity", President Tsai Ing-wen said on Monday after China's leader, Xi Jinping, said "reunification" with the island is inevitable.

China has been ramping up military pressure to assert its sovereignty claims over democratically governed Taiwan, which on Jan. 13 holds presidential and parliamentary elections.

MANILA, Jan 1 (NNN-PNA) – Two people died due to a house fire, in Taguig City in Metro Manila yesterday, the Bureau of Fire Protection said.

The bureau said, the two victims were trapped in the house that went into flame. The victims’ names, gender and other personal details were not made available.

Firefighters have extinguished the fire, the bureau said.

Further investigation is ongoing, it added.

ISLAMABAD, Jan 1 (NNN-APP) – Pakistan earned 892.972 million U.S. dollars through IT exports in Jul-Nov, the first five months of the ongoing fiscal year 2023-24, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said, yesterday.

On a year-on-year basis, the sector saw a 4.45 percent growth, as compared to 854.918 million U.S. dollars recorded during the corresponding months of fiscal year 2022-23, the bureau said.

CARACAS, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday shared a New Year's Eve message, in which he highlighted the struggles and successes of the South American country in 2023, and forecasted fresh achievements for 2024.

Via social media site X, Maduro invited Venezuelans to celebrate "a 2024 of new victories."

"2023 has been a year of struggles, but also of victories and hope. We have overcome obstacles, demonstrating that unity and solidarity are our strength," he said.

MOSCOW  (AP) —Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Russia’s “united society” in his prerecorded New Year’s address to the nation, the country’s state news agencies reported Sunday.

Putin addressed Russians in a video that ran under four minutes long, significantly shorter than the New Year’s speech he gave last year, according to state news agency RIA Novosti. Millions of people were expected to watch the new address when it airs on TV as each Russian time zone region counts down the final minutes of 2023 on Sunday.

JERUSALEM, Dec 31 (Reuters) - One of the senior figures in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing coalition called on Sunday for Palestinian residents of Gaza to leave the besieged enclave, making way for Israelis who could "make the desert bloom".

SECAUCUS, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey mayor says buses of migrants bound for New York City have been stopping at the train station in his town and others in an apparent effort to evade an executive order by New York’s mayor trying to regulate how and when migrants can be dropped off in the city.

MOSCOW, December 31. /TASS/: The number of casualties during the shelling of Belgorod by the Ukrainian armed forces totaled 131 people of whom 24 people died including 4 children, the Russian Health Ministry reported.

"As a result of the shelling of Belgorod from Ukraine, 131 people were wounded, including 18 children. Of these, 24 people died, including four children," the statement says.