The United Nations and aid partners are responding to deadly Tropical Cyclone Dikeledi battering southeast Africa with high winds and heavy rain, UN humanitarians said.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the UN partners began working with local authorities after the cyclone made landfall on Saturday in northern Madagascar, the same area hit by deadly Cyclone Chido nearly a month ago, news agency reported.

OCHA's latest ReliefWeb status alert reported that Dikeledi's center was over the Mozambique Channel, approximately 75 km east of the coast of Nampula province in northeastern Mozambique. It passed just south of Mayotte, the island where Cyclone Chido inflicted heavy death and destruction.

The government of Madagascar reported that three people were killed and more than 350 displaced to several temporary sites. More than 5,200 people were directly affected, nearly 1,300 homes flooded, and five health centers were damaged.

South Korea will set up tailored strategies for different scenarios in the wake of potential changes in the US trade policy following the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump next week, the industry ministry said on Tuesday.

"If the United States introduces detailed trade protectionism measures, significant impacts on South Korea's exports will be inevitable," the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a policy report.

"There are also concerns protectionist measures could spread among major markets in a chain reaction," it added, reports news agency.

The ministry said it is currently formulating strategies based on "accurate data" to counter potential moves by the Trump administration to implement protectionist measures targeting countries with trade surpluses with the US.

US President Joe Biden cited taking the Quad to the "next level" among the major foreign policy achievements of his outgoing administration and noted that hosting the leaders at his home for the last summit showed "we're really friends."

Biden on Monday said he strengthened America's bilateral and multilateral alliances and partnerships, such as NATO and the Quad; forged new ones, such as AUKUS with the United Kingdom and Australia, and weakened America's adversaries, such as Russia, China and Iran.

He also spoke at length about his decision to pull the US out of Afghanistan, ending the country's longest war.

"The United States is winning the worldwide competition compared to four years ago," Biden said in a speech at the State Department.

"America is stronger. Our alliances are stronger, our adversaries and competitors are weaker."

About 92,000 people remain under mandatory evacuation orders and 25 dead due to the Los Angeles wildfires in the western US, and another 89,000 are under evacuation warnings, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna told reporters.

At least 25 people have died and more than a dozen others remain unaccounted for as multiple wildfires rage across the Los Angeles area.

The fierce wildfires in Los Angeles County, fueled by severe drought conditions and strong winds, scorched over 40,500 acres, and destroyed more than 12,300 structures as of Monday, news agency reported.

The Palisades Fire, the largest one, was 14 per cent contained, and the Eaton Fire, the second largest, was 33 per cent contained as of Monday morning, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).

Iran and three European powers -- France, Britain and Germany -- have agreed to restart discussions on lifting sanctions and Tehran's nuclear program, a senior Iranian diplomat said.

Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran's deputy Foreign Minister, announced this on social media platform X as a new round of talks began in Geneva between Iran, the three countries, and the European Union. The talks are expected to cover a range of issues, including how the countries relate to each other, as well as problems in the region and the world, news agency reported.

Gharibabadi said the talks were "serious, frank, and constructive," adding they went into detail about removing sanctions and the nuclear issues needed for a deal.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said on Monday that "progress" has been achieved in the talks held in Qatar on a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas that will secure the release of the hostages.

"There is progress in the negotiations to release the hostages," Sa'ar said during joint remarks alongside Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, who is on a trip to the region.

"Israel very much wants to release the hostages and is working hard to reach a deal," Sa'ar said.

One sticking point in the indirect negotiations has been the nature of the ceasefire. Hamas is demanding a permanent truce, while Israel seeks a temporary pause, maintaining the option to resume military operations if necessary for security reasons.

As firefighters continue to battle devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area, winds are expected to intensify in the coming days, potentially further complicating rescue efforts.

According to the local officials, gusty winds and persistently dry weather are increasing extreme fire threats in the region.

Northeast wind gusts surpassed 50 miles (about 80 km) per hour on Sunday, and the strong Santa Ana winds are also forecast to pick up in the coming days.

These winds, combined with low humidity and extremely dry vegetation, will keep the fire threat in Los Angeles County at a "very high" level, said Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone.

Three active wildfires are still ravaging Los Angeles County, scorching nearly 40,300 acres (about 163 square km), according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE).

A man has died and a woman has been hospitalized after a light plane crashed in Australia's Northern Territory (NT).

The 63-year-old man and 29-year-old woman were the sole occupants of the plane when it crashed in a recreational area about 50 km southeast of Darwin on Sunday, local authorities reported.

NT Police, Fire and Emergency Services said in a statement that the crash was reported to police at about 10:20 am local time.

Emergency services were deployed to the scene where the 63-year-old pilot was found deceased inside the plane.

The death toll from the ravaging wildfires in Los Angeles has risen to 24, local media reported.

Wildfires continued to rage through Los Angeles County, marking a catastrophic 'Black Swan' event of unprecedented scale in the history of the US' most populous county.

Among the active fires, the Palisades Fire has burned through 19,978 acres (80.85 square km) with just six per cent containment as of Thursday night. Meanwhile, the Eaton Fire has scorched 13,690 acres (55.4 square km) and remains completely uncontained, news agency reported.

For residents like Michael, an accountant in Altadena where the Eaton Fire erupted, the devastation has been life-altering. He was evacuated moments before his home was engulfed by flames.

"It's like living through Armageddon," he said, choking back tears. "We've lost everything."

Three people were killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a group of people near the Shebaa Farms in southern Lebanon, a Lebanese military source said.

The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told on Sunday that an Israeli drone fired an air-to-ground missile at the Bastra area south of the town of Shebaa, resulting in the fatalities.

The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement on Saturday that its air force had identified and attacked three "suspects" near the Israeli-annexed Shebaa Farms area, news agency reported.

Lebanon's General Directorate of Civil Defence announced on Sunday it had retrieved two bodies in the Lebanese town of Khiam, the bodies and remains of eight people in the town of Naqoura, two bodies in the village of Biyyadah, and one body in the village of Tayr Harfa.