LEBANON: The national parliament voted to elect army commander Joseph Aoun as head of state today, filling a more than two-year-long presidential vacuum.

The vote came weeks after a tenuous ceasefire agreement which has reduced the severity of the conflict between Hezbollah and the Israelis. But Israel has faced accusations that it has violated the ceasefire on numerous occasions.

MYANMAR: The government bombing of a village under the control of an armed ethnic minority group has killed about 40 people and injured at least 20 others, officials of the group and a local charity reported today. They said hundreds of houses burned in a fire triggered by the airstrike.

The attack occurred Wednesday in Kyauk Ni Maw village on Ramree island, an area controlled by the ethnic Arakan Army in western Rakhine state, they said. 

PAKISTAN: Pakistani security forces have recovered at least eight out of 16 mineworkers who were kidnapped by militants in the country’s restive north-west this morning, police and two security officials said.

The operation was launched hours after insurgents ambushed and attacked the workers’ vehicle in a narrow road in Lakki Marwat district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, police officer Mohammad Ijaz said.

FRANCE: Two people have died and 20 others were injured from a cold snap bringing snow and ice across northern Europe, authorities in northern France said today.

One of those killed slipped on a pavement and violently banged their head, authorities from the Nord region said in a statement. The other person had no fixed address and was found dead in the town of Valenciennes.