France's far-right National Front (FN) on Monday stood at the gates of power in several regions after record scores in the first round of elections, held just three weeks after the Paris attacks.

Marine Le Pen's party finished top in six of 13 regions on Sunday, from the economically depressed north where she is standing, to the sun-drenched south where her 25-year-old niece is in poll position.

The Islamic State (IS) group harms Islam through its intolerance, but "dialogue" with the jihadists is vital, the Dalai Lama said in an interview reported on Monday by the Italian daily La Stampa.

"Islam is a religion of peace. Those who are intolerant harm their own faith and their own brothers," the Tibetan spiritual leader was quoted as saying in Bangalore, southern India, where he took part in a seminar on peace and the economy.

Germany registered 964,574 new asylum seekers in the first 11 months of the year, putting Europe's top economy on track for a million arrivals in 2015, official figures showed Monday.

Some 206,101 migrants arrived in November alone, a new monthly record, up from a previous high of 181,166 in October, according to the interior ministry.

Armenians voted to curb presidential powers in a disputed referendum, official results showed Monday, sparking calls for protests from the opposition which says the reforms are aimed at keeping the ruling elite in power.

Around two-thirds (63 percent) backed the constitutional changes in Sunday's referendum, with 32 percent voting against, according to preliminary results from the election commission.

A powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck eastern  Tajikistan on Monday, U.S. experts said, and state television said one person was killed ten were injured.

The tremor hit at 7:50 GMT in the Central Asian country, some 109 kilometers (67 miles) west of the town of Murghob at a depth of 28 kilometers, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Latvia's Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma announced her resignation on Monday after less than two years in office, saying there was a need for "new ideas" following serious infighting within her center-right party.

"I have informed the president of the government's resignation," Straujuma told reporters.

Japan is launching a new diplomatic unit this week to collect and analyze information on international terrorism, the government said Monday, in light of attacks on its citizens overseas and global assaults including those last month in Paris.

The beheading of two Japanese citizens earlier this year, claimed by the Islamic State group, and the deaths of 10 others in a hostage crisis in Algeria in 2013 have highlighted the vulnerability of Japanese people abroad.

Venezuela's opposition won control of congress for the first time in 16 years Monday as voters punished the socialist government for an economic crisis and insecurity in the oil-rich nation.

President Nicolas Maduro promptly accepted the defeat, a blow to his leadership and the "revolution" of "21st century socialism" launched by his late predecessor Hugo Chavez.

Arson attacks on refugee shelters, assaults, swastikas sprayed on walls -- as Germany has taken in record numbers of asylum seekers, it has been rocked by a xenophobic backlash which authorities have appeared unable to stop.

With one million arrivals expected in the EU's most populous nation this year, about half of them from Syria, Chancellor Angela Merkel has rallied Germans to welcome the newcomers and vowed to crack down on hate-mongers.

Greece is under growing pressure over its handling of the migrant crisis -- but on Lesbos island, swift registration procedures are still seeing thousands of new arrivals packed off promptly to elsewhere in Europe.

After revelations that two jihadists involved in the Paris terror attacks slipped into Europe through another Greek island, posing as refugees, Athens has faced heavy scrutiny over its screening of more than 750,000 people who have landed on its shores this year.