The 10 most important things in the world right now

Reuters/Denis Balibouse

People are silhouetted on the balloon surface being inflated during the 38th International Hot Air Balloon Week in Chateau-d'Oex, Switzerland January 23, 2016. For nine days balloonists from 15 countries take part in the ballooning event in the Swiss mountain resort famous for ideal flight conditions due to an exceptional microclimate.

Good morning! Here's what you need to know on Monday.

1. The first white British man has been publicly identified as joining ISIS in Syria, according to The Sunday Times. Jack Letts, a 20-year-old originally from Oxford, joined the radical Islamist group and secretly traveled to Syria two years ago.

2. A major earthquake of magnitude 6.6 struck about 162 km (100 miles) southeast of Malaga, Spain, the US Geological Survey said.

3. While Chinese economic growth is likely to stabilise in the near term, 2016 will likely be an even more challenging year for policymakers than that experienced in 2015, Deutsche Bank analysts have said.

4. Britain might take in refugee children who have been displaced by the war in Syria and have traveled to other countries in Europe, a government minister said on Sunday.

5. A video published on Sunday by the media centre of Islamic State purported to show images and last statements of nine of the people who took part in the Paris attacks that killed 130 people.

6. Four of Twitter's top executives are leaving the company, according to reports from Re/code and The New York Times. The news follows a rough few months for Twitter which has seen its share price drop to an all-time low.

7. At least 19 people died after a massive blizzard struck the US East Coast, bringing major cities like Washington and New York to a standstill. The storm was the second-biggest in New York City history.

8. Britain's Chancellor George Osborne and tech billionaire Bill Gates have unveiled a plan to spend billions to defeat "the world's deadliest killer" malaria.

9. Facebook has announced it plans to open a new data centre in Ireland. The centre will run on 100% clean, renewable wind power and will also be powered by Open Compute Project technology.

10. A large chunk of metal that could be from an aircraft washed ashore in southern Thailand, but Malaysian authorities have cautioned against speculation of a link to MH370, which vanished nearly two years ago.

And finally ... Ignore the doubters: Here's why the iPhone 7 is going to be absolutely huge.