Donald Trump is to make businessman and property developer-turned-political strategist Jared Kushner one of his senior advisers when he becomes president. The appointment is controversial because of concern about possible conflicts of interest and nepotism as Kushner is married to Trump’s daughter, Ivanka. Kushner’s attorney told CNN that Kushner will resign from all management positions he holds at a number of companies and will divest a “significant number” of his assets to avoid conflicts of interest. The announcement comes a day after outgoing President Barack Obama said the presidency is not a “family business.”

Russia has made its first official reaction to a US intelligence report on Friday that Russia tried to hack the US presidential campaign to influence the result. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov referred to the allegations as “reminiscent of a witch-hunt” and said the charges against Russia "were not backed by anything" and said his government “categorically rejects any involvement of Moscow, any involvement of official and unofficial persons in the Russian Federation in the hacker attacks."

A meeting between billionaire Alibaba Group Chairman Jack Ma and US President-elect Donald Trump took place Monday. The two men reportedly discussed how the Chinese e-commerce giant could create more jobs by allowing US businesses to sell goods in the Chinese market, specifically focusing on agricultural products. “We think that China and U.S.A. relationship should be strengthened, should be more friendly,” Ma said after the meeting.  

McDonald's has agreed to a deal that effectively sells off the vast majority of its franchises in the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong to Chinese state-backed conglomerate CITIC and the US Carlyle Group for a reported 2.1 billion US dollars. Under the deal, CITIC and CITIC Capital will have a 52-percent share of a newly formed company that will control McDonald’s restaurants. Carlyle Group will have a 28-percent stake and McDonald's will maintain a 20-percent stake. The new company says it plans to add more than 1,500 restaurants on the Chinese mainland and in Hong Kong over the next five years.

A UN relief agency has said that "over the past week, 22,000 new arrivals were reported to have crossed the border” from Myanmar to Bangladesh. At least 65,000 Rohingya are thought to have fled to Bangladesh since an army crackdown on insurgents by Myanmar in the state of Rakhine in October. The report comes as the UN’s human rights envoy for Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, begins a 12-day visit to investigate claims of violence against the Muslim Rohingya. Myanmar’s government says claims of abuse are made up.

Two Chinese scientists, physicist Zhao Zhongxian and pharmacologist Tu Youyou, won China's top science award Monday. Zhao was recognized for his work in the field of superconductivity, while Tu won the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her discovery of artemisinin as a treatment for malaria. President Xi Jinping presented award certificates to both of them.

Authorities in China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have announced plans to tighten security in border areas to prevent terrorists from entering or leaving the region in 2017. "We need to make sure not a single terrorist can get in or out of Xinjiang illegally, especially when our neighboring countries are facing rising terrorist threats," senior Xinjiang official Aniwar Turson said on Monday. Bordering eight countries including Pakistan and Afghanistan, Xinjiang is viewed by the Chinese government as its main battleground in the fight against terrorism.

Cristiano Ronaldo was named the world's best player at the inaugural Best Fifa Football Awards in Zurich on Monday. It is the latest prize in a string of awards for the Real Madrid and Portugal forward which includes winning the Ballon d'Or after his third Champions League title in 2016. The award is decided based on votes by national team captains, national team managers, selected journalists and an online poll of fans, each group accounting for 25 percent of the final count. Ronaldo received 34.54 percent of the total votes, with Lionel Messi coming second with 26.42 percent and Antoine Griezmann third with 7.53 percent.