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German Foreign Minister to Tour Middle East From Sunday

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock speaks during a joint press statement with the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the end of a joint press statement at the foreign ministry in Berlin, Germany, 15 November 2022. (EPA)
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock speaks during a joint press statement with the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the end of a joint press statement at the foreign ministry in Berlin, Germany, 15 November 2022. (EPA)
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German Foreign Minister to Tour Middle East From Sunday

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock speaks during a joint press statement with the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the end of a joint press statement at the foreign ministry in Berlin, Germany, 15 November 2022. (EPA)
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock speaks during a joint press statement with the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the end of a joint press statement at the foreign ministry in Berlin, Germany, 15 November 2022. (EPA)

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will travel to Israel Sunday for her fourth visit since the outbreak of the Gaza war, a ministry spokesman said.

Baerbock will hold talks with Israel's new Foreign Minister Israel Katz, as well as President Isaac Herzog, foreign ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer told a regular press conference on Friday.

She will also meet with Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas and foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki.

Baerbock will subsequently travel to Egypt to meet with her counterpart Sameh Shoukry and also planned to visit Lebanon, according to AFP.

The talks would focus on the "dramatic humanitarian situation in Gaza, the situation in the West Bank and the extremely volatile situation on the Israel-Lebanon border", as well as efforts to secure the release of more Hamas hostages, Fischer said.

Baerbock said at a Berlin press conference on Friday that the Israelis and Palestinians would "only be able to live side by side in peace if the security of the one means the security of the other".

"Our position on the so-called day after is very clear," she said, speaking alongside her counterpart from Luxembourg.

"There must be no occupation of the Gaza Strip, no expulsions and no reduction in the size of the territory. And at the same time there must be no more danger to Israel from the Gaza Strip," Baerbock said.

Fears have grown that the conflict between Israel and Hamas could spread, after one of the militant group's leaders was assassinated in the Beirut suburbs.

In addition to the killing, widely assumed to have been carried out by Israel, the Israeli army has for months traded tit-for-tat fire across the border with Hezbollah militants.

The risk of escalation was "very real", Fischer said. Germany on Wednesday urged its citizens to leave Lebanon as quickly as possible.

Relentless Israeli bombardment and its ground invasion in Gaza after Hamas's October 7 attack have killed at least 22,438 people, most of them women and children.

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World

Somaliland Denies It Will Host Palestinians, Israeli Base

This picture taken on November 7, 2024 shows a general view of the city of Hargeisa, capital and largest city of the self-proclaimed Republic of Somaliland. (AFP)
This picture taken on November 7, 2024 shows a general view of the city of Hargeisa, capital and largest city of the self-proclaimed Republic of Somaliland. (AFP)
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Somaliland Denies It Will Host Palestinians, Israeli Base

This picture taken on November 7, 2024 shows a general view of the city of Hargeisa, capital and largest city of the self-proclaimed Republic of Somaliland. (AFP)
This picture taken on November 7, 2024 shows a general view of the city of Hargeisa, capital and largest city of the self-proclaimed Republic of Somaliland. (AFP)

The breakaway region of Somaliland on Thursday denied allegations by the Somali president that it would take resettled Palestinians or host an Israeli military base in exchange for Israel recognizing its independence.

Israel last week became the first country to recognize Somaliland as an "independent and sovereign state", triggering protests across Somalia.

On Wednesday, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, citing intelligence reports, told Al Jazeera that Somaliland had accepted three conditions from Israel: the resettlement of Palestinians, the establishment of a military base on the Gulf of Aden, and joining the Abraham Accords to normalize ties with Israel.

Somaliland's foreign ministry denied the first two conditions.

"The Government of the Republic of Somaliland firmly rejects false claims made by the President of Somalia alleging the resettlement of Palestinians or the establishment of military bases in Somaliland," it said in a statement on X.

It said the deal was "purely diplomatic".

"These baseless allegations are intended to mislead the international community and undermine Somaliland's diplomatic progress," it added.

But analysts say an alliance with Somaliland is especially useful to Israel for its strategic position on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, close to the Iran-backed Houthi in Yemen, who have struck Israel repeatedly since the start of the Gaza war.

Somaliland unilaterally declared independence in 1991 and has enjoyed far more peace than the rest of conflict-hit Somalia, establishing its own elections, currency and army.

Its location alongside one of the world's busiest shipping lanes has made it a key partner for foreign countries.

World

Flash Floods Triggered by Heavy Rains in Afghanistan Kill at Least 17 People

Smog is seen over Kabul, Afghanistan, 31 December 2025. (EPA)
Smog is seen over Kabul, Afghanistan, 31 December 2025. (EPA)
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Flash Floods Triggered by Heavy Rains in Afghanistan Kill at Least 17 People

Smog is seen over Kabul, Afghanistan, 31 December 2025. (EPA)
Smog is seen over Kabul, Afghanistan, 31 December 2025. (EPA)

The season’s first heavy rains and snowfall ended a prolonged dry spell but triggered flash floods in several areas of Afghanistan, killing at least 17 people and injuring 11 others, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s national disaster management authority said Thursday.

The dead included five members of a family in a property where the roof collapsed on Thursday in Kabkan, a district in the Herat province, according to Mohammad Yousaf Saeedi, spokesman for the Herat governor. Two of the victims were children.

Most of the casualties have occurred since Monday in districts hit by flooding, and the severe weather also disrupted daily life across central, northern, southern, and western regions, according to Mohammad Yousaf Hammad, a spokesman for Afghanistan's National Disaster Management Authority.

Hammad said the floods also damaged infrastructure in the affected districts, killed livestock, and affected 1,800 families, worsening conditions in already vulnerable urban and rural communities.

Hammad said the agency has sent assessment teams to the worst-affected areas, with surveys ongoing to determine further needs.

Afghanistan, like neighboring Pakistan and India, is highly vulnerable to extreme weather events, particularly flash floods following seasonal rains.

Decades of conflict, poor infrastructure, deforestation, and the intensifying effects of climate change have amplified the impact of such disasters, especially in remote areas where many homes are made of mud and offer limited protection against sudden deluges.

The United Nations and other aid agencies this week warned that Afghanistan is expected to remain one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises in 2026. The UN and its humanitarian partners launched a $1.7 billion appeal on Tuesday to assist nearly 18 million people in urgent need in the country.

World

Thousands Stage Pro-Gaza Rally in Istanbul

Demonstrators gather on the Galata Bridge holding Palestinian and Turkish flags during a pro-Palestinian rally in Istanbul, Türkiye, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Demonstrators gather on the Galata Bridge holding Palestinian and Turkish flags during a pro-Palestinian rally in Istanbul, Türkiye, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
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Thousands Stage Pro-Gaza Rally in Istanbul

Demonstrators gather on the Galata Bridge holding Palestinian and Turkish flags during a pro-Palestinian rally in Istanbul, Türkiye, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Demonstrators gather on the Galata Bridge holding Palestinian and Turkish flags during a pro-Palestinian rally in Istanbul, Türkiye, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Thousands joined a New Year's Day rally for Gaza in Istanbul Thursday, waving Palestinian and Turkish flags and calling for an end to the violence in the tiny war-torn territory.

Demonstrators gathered in freezing temperatures under cloudless blue skies to march to the city's Galata Bridge for a rally under the slogan: "We won't remain silent, we won't forget Palestine," an AFP reporter at the scene said.

More than 400 civil society organizations were present at the rally, one of whose organizers was Bilal Erdogan, the youngest son of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Police sources and Anadolou state news agency said some 500,000 people had joined the march at which there were speeches and a performance by Lebanese-born singer Maher Zain of his song "Free Palestine".

"We are praying that 2026 will bring goodness for our entire nation and for the oppressed Palestinians," said Erdogan, who chairs the board of the Ilim Yayma Foundation, an educational charity that was one of the organizers of the march.

Türkiye has been one of the most vocal critics of the war in Gaza and helped broker a recent ceasefire that halted the deadly war waged by Israel in response to Hamas' unprecedented attack on October 7, 2023.

But the fragile October 10 ceasefire has not stopped the violence with more than more than 400 Palestinians killed since it took hold.