Welcome to SBS News in Easy English. I'm Biwa Kwan.
Clean-up efforts continue in Vanuatu, following last week's deadly earthquake.
At least 14 people have died with many more injured and displaced across the island.
Nearly 1,000 Australians have since returned home on repatriation flights.
Local aid groups are creating temporary shelters and schools while they wait for water and electricity to be restored.
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Memorials have been held across the Asia Pacific region to commemorate the devastating impacts of the tsunami.
Indonesian mourners have attended a vigil and communal evening prayer in Banda Aceh city, and many have gathered at a mass grave in a village, where more than 14,000 unidentified victims are buried.
Local residents have also come together for memorial services in Thailand, where the tsunami took the lives of around 8,000 people.
In Australia, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has paid his respects to the victims, which included 26 Australians.
"For many years, survivors have lived with the weight of loss and the pain of memories, that one terrible day looming so large over all the others for all of these people. We hold them in our hearts. In our hearts are also filled by what the disaster showed us of the human spirit. Even amid that nightmare, people followed that human instinct to help each other."
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In Victoria, cooler weather conditions are helping firefighters working to contain the fire in the Grampians, following the worst bushfire conditions since 2019's Black Summer.
The fire has burnt more 70,000 hectares of bushland over more than a week.
Local resident Daryl Lord says he is closely monitoring the impact of the wind on the bushfires.
"The problem is that it is unpredictable where and when - and that's the hard part. At the moment, we have got fire to our north. The northerly wind at the moment could bring that onto us. We've got fire out to the west, so a westerly could bring that."
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The Russia government has confirmed Australian officials have been in communication them over reports the Russian army captured an Australian citizen fighting with Ukrainian forces.
The Russian Foreign Ministry says it's investigating the video footage of Oscar Jenkins being interrogated by Kremlin backed forces.
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Azerbaijan has launched a criminal investigation after at least 38 people were killed in a passenger plane crash in Kazakhstan.
29 people survived, while flights on the Azerbaijan Airlines route have been suspended until the investigation is complete.
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Finnish authorities have seized a ship carrying Russian oil in the Baltic Sea on suspicion it caused the outage of an undersea power cable connecting Finland and Estonia.
The ship was boarded by a Finnish coast guard crew which took command and sailed the vessel to Finnish waters.
Finnish Police says the case is being investigated as aggravated criminial mischief.
Estonia's Prime Minister, Kristen Michal, says the incident highlights the need for increased monitoring.
"Of course the way we see it as I described, what the government is thinking, then is that when it comes to critical infrastructure, then the countries around the Baltic Sea should be more active. What does it mean in practice? It is that our navy with our allies is going to be more active when it comes to the critical infrastructure, looking after both monitoring and deterrence perhaps more than they have been doing so far."
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One of India’s longest-serving prime ministers, Manmohan Singh, has died.
He was 92.
India's current Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, says the country mourns the loss of one of its most distinguished leaders.
Born in 1932 in the village of Gah in what is now Pakistan, Manmohan Singh studied economics to find a way to eradicate poverty in India.
He had never held elected office before taking on the role of prime minister.
Mr Singh was taken to a hospital in New Delhi after he lost consciousness at his home on Boxing Day, but he could not be resuscitated and was pronounced dead at 9:51 pm local time.
He is survived by his wife and three daughters.
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In Tennis, two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep has announced her withdrawal from the Australian Open due to pain in her knee and shoulder.
In a statement, she says will delay the start to her 2025 season, after she suffered pain during an exhibition event in Abu Dhabi.
The former world No.1 received a wildcard for the Australian Open qualifying tournament last week.
I'm Biwa Kwan and that's SBS News in Easy English.
