Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said that Israeli forces would remain on the Syrian summit of Mount Hermon for "as long as necessary."

During a visit to the area with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior security officials for a situational assessment, Katz said on Tuesday, "We will stay here for as long as necessary," emphasising that the military presence at the strategically significant summit "strengthens security," news agency reported.

"Mount Hermon's summit is Israel's eyes for identifying near and distant threats. From here, we can see Hezbollah positions in Lebanon to the right, and Damascus to the left," he said.

Following instructions issued last Thursday, Katz said the military must "swiftly" complete its deployment in the area, including "fortifications, defensive measures, and improving soldiers' conditions to prepare for a prolonged stay."

The World Bank is ready to take part in Lebanon's reconstruction after the Hezbollah-Israeli conflict comes to an end, a senior official from the World Bank said.

Jean-Christophe Carret, the World Bank's country director for the Middle East Department, expressed the bank's intention to collaborate with the Lebanese government on the country's reconstruction, news agency reported quoting Lebanon's National News Agency.

Carret made the remarks during a meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, during which they discussed reconstruction projects and programmes, including debris removal, infrastructure rebuilding, and the rehabilitation of industrial and agricultural facilities.

Berri praised the "World Bank's desire and readiness to respond and engage with Lebanon in rebuilding and addressing the consequences of the Israeli aggression."

At least 14 people have been killed and hundreds more injured after a major earthquake struck Vanuatu on Tuesday.

The Red Cross reported the updated death toll early Wednesday local time, citing government sources. Local media previously reported a death toll of seven, news agency reported.

The 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck Vanuatu's capital city of Port Vila on Tuesday, causing widespread damage.

Several aftershocks hit the region following the initial quake, including one measuring a magnitude of 5.5 in the early hours of Wednesday morning, according to the US Geological Survey.

The Fiji-based head of the Red Cross in the Pacific, Katie Greenwood, said on social media that more than 200 people have been injured.

Russia’s Radiological, Chemical, and Biological Defence Forces chief, Lt General Igor Kirillov, was killed in a bomb blast in southeastern Moscow early on Tuesday, with top Russian leaders blaming Ukraine for the crime, reports said.

Russian authorities reacted strongly to the incident, saying that he had constantly exposed the West's "crimes" in Ukraine and elsewhere.

The blast occurred around 6 a.m. outside a residential building on Ryazansky Avenue in southeastern Moscow as Kirillov and his aide were leaving the premises to board an official vehicle,

Russian investigators said an IED, containing TNT, was likely attached to an electric scooter near the building’s entrance and was most probably detonated remotely, by a radio signal or mobile phone, it added,

The death toll from Tropical Cyclone Chido's remnants in Malawi rose to seven, with nearly 35,000 people stranded, the African country's Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) said on Tuesday.

DoDMA Commissioner Charles Kalemba said in a statement that a total of seven deaths have been recorded in five districts, while approximately 34,741 people from 7,721 households have been affected, marking a sharp rise from Monday's report of 1,800 affected families.

According to the statement, the department also registered 16 injuries, and at least 20 councils in the southern and central regions, including the national capital of Lilongwe, have experienced "mild to severe damages".

The cyclone left a trail of destruction as it blew off roofs of dwelling houses and public infrastructure on the way.

South Korea's Army Chief of Staff Gen. Park An-su, who served as the chief commander during President Yoon Suk Yeol's short-lived imposition of martial law, was arrested on Tuesday, prosecutors said.

Park was arrested on a court-issued warrant on charges of playing a key role in an insurrection and abuse of power.

He became the fifth key figure who was arrested over Yoon's December 3 failed bid to impose martial law.

So far, former Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun, Lt Gen Yeo In-hyung, head of the Defence Counterintelligence Command, Lt Gen Kwak Jong-keun, head of the Army Special Warfare Command, and Lt Gen Lee Jin-woo, head of the Capital Defence Command, have been arrested.

More than 880,000 people have been displaced since the latest escalation of hostilities in Syria, UN humanitarians said.

UN partners estimated that around 6 per cent of the displaced are living with at least one form of disability, news agency reported.

"Return movements remain dynamic, with partners recording more than 220,000 returnees yesterday (Sunday)," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. "Additionally, over 40,000 displaced people are staying in around 250 collective centers across northeast Syria."

At least four people have been killed and five others injured from a shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, with the suspected shooter, a juvenile believed to be a student, also dead, police said.

The Madison Police Department declined to provide details about the four people killed during a shooting at a Christian school Monday morning, citing the need to contact the victims' families before releasing details, news agency reported.

Officials are working to reunite students with their parents. About 390 students from kindergarten through 12th grade attend the school, according to News. Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have responded.

Senator Ron Johnson wrote on social media, "My sincere condolences and prayers for all the victims of the tragedy at Abundant Life Christian School. I will continue to closely monitor the situation." Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers wrote, "I am closely monitoring the incident at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison.

Italy's population continued to age in 2023, with a growing disproportion between older adults and children, the country's National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) stated.

The median age in the country had reached 46.6 years by December 31, 2023, marking a 0.2 per cent increase from 2022, according to the ISTAT's latest census report released on Monday, news agency reported.

Between 2022 and 2023, the share of people aged 0-14 fell to 12.2 per cent from 12.4 per cent. The proportion of those aged 15-64 remained at 63.5 per cent, while the percentage of individuals over 65 years old rose to 24.3 per cent from 24 per cent.

ISTAT emphasised the aging trend by comparing the ratio of people aged 65 and older to children under six: "In 2023, there were 5.8 elderly people for every child at the national level." This ratio was up from 5.6 in 2022, and significantly higher from 3.8 in 2011.

Donald Trump said on Monday that he would speak to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and that of Russia Vladimir Putin to end the "carnage" of nearly three years of war, as the Kremlin leader lauded Russian army successes on the ground.

Both sides have rushed to gain an advantage on the battlefield ahead of Trump entering the White House in January, and there has been some alarm in Ukraine that it will be forced to make territorial concessions in exchange for peace.

Trump has been highly critical of billions of dollars of aid that Joe Biden's administration provided to Kyiv to battle Moscow's invasion.

He spoke on Monday at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida as Putin hailed his army's accelerating advance in Ukraine in what he called a "landmark" year.