WASHINGTON, Dec 29 — President-elect Donald Trump has urged the United States Supreme Court to pause implementation of a law that would ban popular social media app TikTok or force its sale, arguing he should have time after taking office to pursue a “political resolution” to the issue.

WASHINGTON, Dec 29 — Severe weather disrupted holiday travel yesterday across the United States with deadly tornadoes in the southeast and heavy snow and wind on the west coast, delaying or canceling thousands of flights across the country.

SEOUL, Dec 29 — At least 62 people were killed when an airliner veered off the runway and erupted into a fireball as it slammed into a wall at South Korea’s Muan International Airport today, the national fire agency said.

ZURICH, Dec 28 — The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday that he was not sure he was going to survive an air strike on Yemen's main airport carried out by Israel a day earlier during a series of attacks on the Iran-aligned Houthi movement.

NEW DELHI, Dec 28 — The body of Manmohan Singh, the former Indian prime minister whose death has sparked outpourings of grief at home and accolades from abroad, was cremated today on the banks of the Yamuna River in New Delhi with full state honours.

WASHINGTON, Dec 28 — United States (US) President-elect Donald Trump has urged the US Supreme Court to pause implementation of a law that would ban popular social media app TikTok or force its sale, arguing he should have time after taking office to pursue a "political resolution" to the issue.

BANGKOK, Dec 27 — Thailand's economy slowed in November compared to the previous month as reduced private consumption and investment offset continued growth in tourism and exports, according to the country's central bank today, reported Xinhua.

CAIRO/JERUSALEM, Dec 27 — Israeli forces raided the Kamal Adwan Hospital on Friday, one of three medical facilities on the northern edge of Gaza, ordering dozens of patients and hundreds of others to evacuate and leaving part of the site on fire, Health Ministry officials said.

BERLIN, Dec 27 — President Frank-Walter Steinmeier dissolved Germany's lower house of Parliament on Friday to pave the way for snap elections on February 23, 2025, following the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's three-way coalition.

SEOUL, Dec 27 — Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok will take on his role as acting president on Friday, after the opposition-controlled National Assembly's motion to impeach acting President Han Duck-soo, his office confirmed, according to the Yonhap News Agency.

SEOUL, Dec 27 — South Korea’s National Assembly voted to impeach acting President Han Duck-soo less on Friday, than two weeks after he took over from President Yoon Suk-yeol, who was impeached for his botched imposition of martial law, Yonhap News Agency reported.

TOKYO, Dec 27 — Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will visit Malaysia and Indonesia from January 9 to 12, to deepen cooperation with the Southeast Asian nations toward realising a rules-based, free and open Indo-Pacific.

BEIJING, Dec 27 — China's Ministry of Commerce announced today that it will continue to impose anti-dumping duties on n-butanol imports from China's Taiwan region, Malaysia and the United States for another five years, effective from Dec 29, 2024, reported Xinhua.

MUMBAI, Dec 27 — Indian cinema is best known for Bollywood extravaganzas, but an art-house film about three women navigating loneliness and love in a metropolis is gaining viewers and earning international recognition, including nominations to the Golden Globe and Academy Awards.

NEW YORK, Dec 27 — The US Food and Drug Administration is proposing that cosmetic products containing talc should be tested using standardised methods to detect asbestos, a potential contaminant, according to documents posted on the federal register yesterday.

BEIJING, December 27 — China has approved the construction of what will be the world's largest hydropower dam, kicking off an ambitious project on the eastern rim of the Tibetan plateau that could affect millions downstream in India and Bangladesh.

NEW DELHI, Dec 27 — Described as a "reluctant king" in his first stint as prime minister, the soft-spoken Manmohan Singh, who died yesterday at the age of 92, was arguably one of India's most successful leaders.

JAKARTA, Dec 27 — Survivors and families of victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami 20 years ago visited mass graves, lit candles and comforted one another across Southeast and South Asia in ceremonies yesterday to mark the disaster that killed some 230,000 people.

ISTANBUL, Dec 27 — A top Kazakh official said law enforcement agencies from Azerbaijan and Russia will not be allowed to participate in the forensic investigation of Wednesday's Azerbaijan Airlines (Azal) plane crash near the city of Aktau, Anadolu Agency reported.

BAKU, Dec 26 — An Azerbaijan Airlines flight that crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday killing 38 people was downed by a Russian air defence system, four sources in Azerbaijan with knowledge of the investigation told Reuters.