A senior Palestinian official, Hanan Ashrawi says Palestine will not be blackmailed into submission following a threat by Donald Trump via Twitter to cut aid to Palestinian Authority. His comment came few hours after the United States President tweeted that his country would consider withdrawing financial aids to Palestine since the country does not appreciate nor respect the United States.

North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un on Monday warned the United States that he has a “nuclear button” on his desk ready for use if North Korea is threatened, but offered an olive branch to South Korea, saying he was “open to dialogue” with Seoul. After a year dominated by fiery rhetoric and escalating tensions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program

South Korean authorities have seized a second ship suspected of supplying oil to North Korea in violation of international sanctions, BBC reports. The Panama-flagged tanker, which is named Koti, is being held at a port near the western city of Pyeongtaek. The latest vessel seized, which has a mostly Chinese and Burmese crew, is a 5,100-tonne oil carrier.

North Korea reopened a long-closed hotline with South Korea on Wednesday, hours after US President Donald Trump appeared to mock the North’s leader by saying he has a “bigger and more powerful” nuclear button than he does. The North’s decision to open the border phone line came a day after South Korea proposed high-level discussions amid a tense standoff over North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs.

Iran has restricted access to the Instagram and Telegram social media apps as a security measure during rare anti-government protests, according Al Jazeera. The report quoted a government official as saying on Sunday that social media in the country would be temporarily limited, as the government warned protesters they would pay a price if days of unrest continued.

Israel has formally notified UNESCO that it will withdraw from the UN culture and education body. Israel will follow in the United States' footsteps and withdraw from UNESCO. Both countries allege the UN body has an "anti-Israel bias." Israel said in October that it would pull out of Paris-based UNESCO after the United States said it was withdrawing due to alleged "anti-Israel bias."