Earth's average surface temperature in 2022 tied with 2015 as the fifth warmest on record, according to an analysis by (NASA).

Continuing the planet's long-term warming trend, global temperatures in 2022 were 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit, or 0.89 degrees Celsius, above the average for NASA's baseline period 1951-1980, scientists from NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York reported.

The past nine years have been the warmest years since modern recordkeeping began in 1880. This meant Earth in 2022 was about 2 degrees Fahrenheit, or about 1.11 degrees Celsius, warmer than the late 19th century average, the study said.

At least three leading international aid agencies have partially resumed life-saving work in Afghanistan, after assurances from the Taliban authorities that Afghan women can continue to work in the health sector.

Hundreds of NGOs have been instrumental in trying to address one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with half of Afghanistan's 38 million population hungry and three million children at risk of malnutrition.

CARE, Save the Children, and International Rescue Committee (IRC) suspended their operations in late December in protest at a government order banning Afghan women from aid work, the latest rollback of women's rights in the country.

The IRC and CARE also confirmed they have resumed work with women staff in the health sector.

Vietnam President Nguyen Xuan Phuc has resigned after days of rumours he was about to be sacked amid a major anti-corruption drive that has seen several ministers fired.

Phuc's sudden departure is a highly unusual move in communist Vietnam, where political changes are normally carefully orchestrated with an emphasis on cautious stability.

His resignation follows the dismissal of two deputy prime ministers this month in an anti-corruption purge that has led to the arrest of dozens of officials.

He was prime minister between 2016 and 2021, before assuming his role as president.

Iran has released a prominent chef and Instagram influencer who was detained earlier this month in its crackdown on nationwide protests.

Navab Ebrahimi, known for his videos promoting Persian cooking, was arrested in Tehran on January 4 and taken to the city's Evin prison.

Nik Yousefi, an Iranian filmmaker and photographer who was himself arrested in October as part of the crackdown and then freed, wrote on Twitter that Ebrahimi had been released on bail.

Iran has arrested at least 14,000 people in the wave of protests sparked by the September 16 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman who had been arrested for allegedly breaching the strict dress code for women.

No reason has been given for the arrest of Ebrahimi, who had some 2.7 million followers on Instagram enjoying his slickly produced videos showing how to produce classic Persian dishes without pain.

Italian film legend Gina Lollobrigida, who achieved international stardom during the 1950s and was dubbed "the most beautiful woman in the world" after the title of one of her movies, died in Rome on Jan 16 . She was 95.

He's long been labouring to complete a promised biography of William Shakespeare, but now Boris Johnson is turning to a life story closer to home: his own.

Britain's former prime minister is set to write a memoir "like no other", according to Arabella Pike, publishing director at HarperCollins imprint William Collins, which has acquired the rights.

No date was set for the release of the memoir, or a figure given for the financial advance, which is likely to be hefty.

Johnson, 58, was forced out of 10 Downing Street in September, and his supporters have been agitating for his return, although he backed out of a leadership challenge against Rishi Sunak in October.

China's population shrank last year for the first time in more than six decades, official data showed  on Jan 17  as the world's most populous nation faces a looming demographic crisis.

The nation of 1.4 billion has seen birth rates plunge to record lows as its workforce ages, in a rapid decline that analysts warn could stymie economic growth and pile pressure on strained public coffers.

The population stood at around 1,411,750,000 at the end of 2022, Beijing's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported, a decrease of 850,000 from the end of the previous year.

China's economy grew 3.0 percent in 2022, official data showed, one of the weakest rates in 40 years owing to the Covid-19 pandemic and a real estate crisis.

Beijing had set itself a target of 5.5 percent, a rate already much lower than the performance of 2021, when GDP increased by more than eight percent.

The World Bank has forecast China's GDP will rebound to 4.3 percent for 2023 -- still below expectations.