US President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order directing his administration to prioritize the procurement of commercially available products and services rather than non-commercial, custom products or services, the White House said.The order directs agency contracting officers to review all pending contracts for non-commercial products or services within 60 days and submit waivers justifying their necessity, according to a White House fact sheet.

Former US president Joe Biden slammed President Donald Trump's social security policy in his first speech since leaving office on Tuesday."In fewer than 100 days, this administration has done so much damage and so much destruction," he said."People are now genuinely concerned for the first time in history, for the first and only time in history, that social security benefits may be delayed or interrupted," he added.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Jordanian Prime Minister Jafar Hassan discussed on Tuesday ways to expand economic cooperation and increase investments between the two nations, the State Department said in a statement.The pair also discussed the situation in Gaza and the West Bank, the statement added.

An earthquake of magnitude 6.4 struck Afghanistan on Wednesday, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said.The quake was at a depth of 121 km (75 miles), EMSC said.

US President Donald Trump said in an interview aired on Tuesday that he planned to roll out a new program offering money for immigrants in the country illegally to leave voluntarily.Trump said such a "self-deportation program" would include some financial assistance and the prospect of re-entering the country later legally."We're going to give them a stipend," Trump told Fox Noticias' Rachel Campos-Duffy, according to an official transcript of an interview taped on Monday."We're going to give them some money and a plane ticket, and then we're going to work with them. If they're good, if we want them back in, we're going to work with them to get them back in as quickly as we can."

Members of the World Health Organization (WHO) have reached a historic agreement to prepare the world for future pandemics, news agency AFP said on Wednesday, citing WHO.

Hong Kong Post said on Wednesday that it would suspend its postal service for items containing goods to the United States, for air mail from April 27, and said that Hong Kong residents should be prepared to pay "exorbitant and unreasonable fees."

No Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) official was invited to the visit conducted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Israeli media reported on Wednesday. It is customary for a representative of the agency that oversees the area to take part in such visits, according to the reports. The Prime Minister's Office was cited as saying in response, "This is a military visit, not a Shin Bet visit."