Illegal Israeli settlers damage Palestinian properties in West Bank attacks

3 vehicles burned, house doors stolen by illegal settlers, according to local sources

Aysar Alais and Betul Yilmaz |28.12.2025 - TRT/AA

Occupied West Bank (Photo by Mamoun Wazwaz)

RAMALLAH, Palestine / ISTANBUL

Illegal Israeli settlers attacked and damaged Palestinian properties in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, local sources said.

The sources told Anadolu that a group of settlers stormed two houses in Hawara town, south of Nablus in the northern West Bank, and spray-painted threatening messages on walls.

Two Palestinian vehicles were also burnt in the attack.

According to the official news agency Wafa, a third car was burned by illegal Israeli settlers in the Al-Jaba town of Bethlehem in the southern West Bank.

Another group of illegal settlers raided Turmus Aya town in northeastern Ramallah, attacking private property and stealing doors of houses under construction, Wafa said.

In the town of Mukhmas, northeast of East Jerusalem, illegal settlers uprooted 40 olive trees, according to the agency.

Recently, a settlement outpost was established near the town, where illegal settlers gather and plan attacks targeting Palestinian farmers, Wafa added.

On Thursday, the Palestinian Agriculture Ministry said the Israeli army and illegal settler attacks have destroyed over 8,000 olive trees in the occupied West Bank in one week, causing nearly $7 million in losses.

According to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, an official body, illegal Israeli settlers carried out 621 attacks against Palestinians and property in the occupied West Bank in November.

The number of Israeli settlers in the West Bank reached about 770,000 in more than 180 settlements and 256 settlement outposts by the end of 2024, official Palestinian data showed.

In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

A GLOBAL CRISIS

‘Hope of having a lot of money’: Desperate youngsters drive gambling surge in African countries

The lure of hitting it big in a continent where many are out of work drives many gamblers online.

Samuel Comé, Thomson Reuters Foundation

A young man walks past a defaced advertisement for a sports betting company in Nairobi, Kenya in 2019. | AFP

Sitting on the veranda of his home on the outskirts of Mozambique’s capital, João Vasco held a framed photo of his younger brother Pinto, who died by suicide this year after losing around $850 gambling.

“I helped him with school fees and everything I could,” João, 37, recalled, pausing to fight back tears.

Pinto, 21, was in his second year at university, studying to become a history teacher, when João learned he was gambling and confronted him. He thought he had gotten through to Pinto.

“Two months later, I found out that he was no longer going to university. He told me, embarrassed, that he had debts because he had lost the tuition money.”

One Sunday morning in May, Pinto hung himself at home.

“When I saw the boy hanging from the rafter, I nearly collapsed,” João said.

A photograph of Pinto Vasco, who died by suicide after incurring high gambling debts, held by his brother, João Vasco, Maputo, Mozambique, November 8, 2025. Credit: Thomson Reuters Foundation/Samuel Comé.

Police data showed at least 10 mostly young people died of suicide last year in cases linked to gambling in Mozambique.

Pinto’s losses exceeded the country's average income of $650 a year.

On the outskirts of Maputo, billboards have sprouted up, promising big wins in a country where about 20 million people live in poverty, according to the World Bank.

Some 25,000 people place a bet every hour on websites and mobile apps, according to the country’s General Inspectorate of Games, which is responsible for licensing betting companies.

Minimum stakes on most online sites range from $0.15 to $0.30, and many gamblers are young in a country where 60% of the population of 35 million people is under the age of 24.

 
Debt trap

The lure of hitting it big in a country where nearly a fifth of the population is out of work drives many gamblers online.

“I’ve been gambling since 2021. I don’t stop, because I still hope that one day I’ll win a lot of money,” said 26-year-old Osvaldo Assane, who works odd jobs in construction and was forced to sell his motorbike last year to cover gambling losses.

“But what can I do? I need something that gives me hope of having a lot of money.”

Across Africa, online gambling, particularly sports betting, is soaring.

Six African operators rank among the world’s top 20 most-visited gambling websites, according to online sports publisher Tribuna, and their rise is being fuelled almost entirely by mobile users in Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya and East Africa.

Almost a quarter of Mozambique’s population, or about 8 million people, are online.

Betting platforms pay digital influencers handsome fees to promote their sites and spend big on television adverts and text message campaigns sent to thousands of people.

A billboard advertising a betting company in Maputo, Mozambique. November 17, 2025. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Samuel Comé

But influencer Ângelo do Rosário has bucked the trend to speak out against gambling, after previously promoting a betting company and then deciding the activity was penalising the poorest in the country.

“The money the state earns does not match the harm that gambling causes,” he said, calling for regulations to limit the operations of betting companies.

The Centre for Community Development in Health and Environment works with people addicted to gambling, helping about 300 people across the country.

It also gives talks at universities and other institutions to discourage young people from taking up the habit.

“One of the people we are currently supporting is a woman who worked at a bank and who, since she started gambling in 2020, has already lost more than $31,000 ... (and) lost her job,” Centre for Community Development in Health and Environment’s technical director Arlindo Covane said.

Another gambler fell into a depression after losing more than $1,550 in a single day, he added.

The Centre for Community Development in Health and Environment also offers support to those in debt, including debt restructuring plans and advice on employment.

It wants the government to implement stronger regulations, better protection for players and public awareness campaigns, particularly targeting young people.

Existing regulations require online betting companies to provide on their websites control mechanisms that allow players to set limits, contact details of organisations that offer support to people with gambling addiction and warnings against excessive gambling.

But the Centre for Community Development in Health and Environment says these rules are not always enforced and it would like to see legislation requiring betting companies to introduce automatic exclusion mechanisms for people who show a pattern of consecutive losses.

A billboard advertising a betting company in Maputo, Mozambique. November 10, 2025. Credit: Thomson Reuters Foundation/Samuel Comé.

Reinforcing inequality

According to the General Inspectorate of Games, Mozambique has 30 betting operators, of which 21 are active and nine are waiting for their licences.

Deputy inspector Macário Gusse said most operators were foreign-owned but with some Mozambican participation.

Betting companies paid approximately $17 million in direct tax revenue this year, Gusse told Context, compared to around $18 million last year.

“The media says gambling causes more suicides, but for us, people take their lives because of pressure from loan sharks, where they borrowed money to gamble - this is not directly linked to betting companies,” said Gusse.

But sociologist Vasco Adão said gambling is a symptom of persistent inequalities and the lack of social inclusion policies, youth employment and financial literacy.

“Many young people use family savings, informal income or even take loans to keep gambling, entering a cycle of loss and attempted recovery,” he said.

And the hope of winning against the odds blinds vulnerable people to the consequences of their habit, said clinical psychologist Mario Ngulele.

That was the case for 24-year-old Zacarias Mathe, who stood outside a betting shop in Maputo where people who do not have smartphones can place bets online.

“I hope to win some money, maybe to start a business, because I have no job and no secure source of income,” he said.

This article first appeared on Context, powered by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

MUSK PUTIN ALLIANCE

Why Russia Is Equipping Its Drones with Starlink Terminals

December 28, 2025
By: Brandon J. Weichert

NATIONAL INTEREST


Russia’s use of Starlink terminals on its drones has complicated Ukraine’s efforts at electronic anti-drone warfare—and raised a difficult conundrum for Elon Musk.

At the start of the Ukraine War, the Russian Armed Forces were intent on cutting the Ukrainians off from the outside world. They targeted the country’s telecommunications network, destroying key land-based communications arrays. But the Russians discovered that the Ukrainians were unaffected by these attacks—specifically because Elon Musk initially allowed Ukraine to use his dynamic Starlink satellite network for free.

This kept the Ukrainians going, as they were able to use the Starlink systems to evade Russian disruptions across the electromagnetic (EM) field and continue running their drone attacks against Russian lines

Moscow naturally protested. The Americans praised Musk. That is, until Musk realized the dangers to his investment.

Russia Is Adapting Starlink for Its Own Purposes

As the war went on, the Russians (and Chinese) began focusing their efforts on developing countermeasures against Starlink. Moscow and Beijing both made it clear that if SpaceX continued allowing for its supposed civilian satellite constellation, Starlink, to be used in combat they would attack the Starlink system.

That attack has yet to occur.

Interestingly, the Russians have chosen to simply use the strange loophole the Americans created that allows for one of their companies—SpaceX—to engage in combat operations without being considered a combatant. Reasoning that Starlink could hardly protest if Ukraine was already using its services, the Kremlin began to place Starlink aboard its own drones. This has allowed for Russian forces to evade much of the EM jamming that the Ukrainians have deployed to stunt the effectiveness of Russian drones against their lines.

And Starlink cannot shut down Russia’s access to their system now without also degrading Ukraine’s access to that system. It’s a giant mess.

Understanding Russia’s Molniya-2 DroneYear Introduced: August 2025
Number Built: Unknown (likely many thousands)
Length: 8.2 ft (2.5 m)
Wingspan: 5 ft (1.5 m)
Weight: 110–150 lb (50–70 kg)
Engines: Electric motors with propellers
Top Speed: 60–120 mph (100–200 km/h)
Range: 19 mi (30 km)
Service Ceiling: Over 18 mi (30 km)
Loadout: Carries a fragmentation or explosive warhead

There are also reports that the Russians integrated powerful processors (such as the NVIDIA Jetson Orin) along with high-quality sensors, like the Sony IMX477, for autonomous target detection, recognition, and attack.

Ukrainian sources have been monitoring the progress that the Russians have made at using makeshift Starlink interfaces with their drones. Initially, they were haphazard and poorly installed. According to the Ukrainians, though, the Russians have now fully integrated Starlink terminals into their offensive drones—and the lethality of those systems has increased tenfold.

One of the Russian Molniya-2 loitering munitions that was successfully downed by Ukrainian defenders was displayed for Western journalists. The crashed drone had a Starlink satellite terminal directly installed to ensure the system had constant contact with its operator as it traversed the battlefield to its intended target.


Starlink Isn’t Designed for War—but It’s Used for It Anyway

Starlink was designed by SpaceX to bring wireless internet connectivity to regions of the world that had little or no reliable internet or wider telecommunications infrastructure—giving places like Sub-Saharan Africa the benefits of access to the internet. Meanwhile, in places, like the United States, users could link up to the internet via Starlink satellites in orbit from anywhere.


The money made from Starlink usage globally, according to Musk, will be used to directly fund SpaceX’s larger mission of getting people to Mars.

Now that Ukraine (and Russia) have weaponized the system, though, Musk and SpaceX find themselves in a bind.

This system was never meant to be used militarily. Musk understands that the longer the system is used in a military capacity, the more likely it is to be targeted—and if the Starlink system becomes the first victim of a major war, then the entire economic model undergirding SpaceX is put at risk.

In response to the development of people weaponizing Starlink, Musk has created a separate but similar system designed specifically for military use. It’s called Starshield. The US military is the primary customer. It remains to be seen if other countries, like Ukraine, will be given direct access to that network or if it will remain an exclusively American military project.

Reciprocity is a key principle in both international relations and warfare.

Or “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.” The Ukrainians deftly utilized a workaround for preventing their electronic isolation at the start of the war. The Russians figured out that workaround and shoved it down the Ukrainians’ throats.

Now, if NATO wants Russia’s drone systems to be degraded, they are in the uncomfortable spot of having to insist Musk terminate Starlink usage over Ukraine—which means ending Ukraine’s Starlink usage, too. And that would further stymie whatever combat effectiveness remains in the Ukrainian defense.

About the Author: Brandon J. Weichert

Brandon J. Weichert is a senior national security editor at The National Interest. Recently, Weichert became the host of The National Security Hour on America Outloud News and iHeartRadio, where he discusses national security policy every Wednesday at 8pm Eastern. Weichert hosts a companion book talk series on Rumble entitled “National Security Talk.” He is also a contributor at Popular Mechanics and has consulted regularly with various government institutions and private organizations on geopolitical issues. Weichert’s writings have appeared in multiple publications, including The Washington Times, National Review, The American Spectator, MSN, and the Asia Times. His books include Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His newest book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine is available for purchase wherever books are sold. He can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.


Image: Shutterstock / Jose HERNANDEZ Camera 51.

Russia Bypasses Ukrainian Air Defenses via Belarus, Zelensky Says

Vladyslav Khomenko
December 28, 2025

militaryi.com


The Shahed kamikaze drone. Photo credits: IMAGO/Andreas Stroh via Reuters Connect
News

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian drones are attempting to bypass Ukraine’s air defense and interception systems by using Belarusian territory.

He said this explains the recent increase in Shahed drone attacks on western regions of Ukraine, RBC-Ukraine reported.

Zelensky mentioned attacks on the city of Kovel, which were discussed during a meeting of the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.

“They see our interceptor lines and try to bypass them. They do this using Belarusian territory and the technical capabilities that Belarus provides,” the president said.

He added that on December 26, he convened a Headquarters meeting focused on countering Russian drones and developing appropriate defensive measures.A mobile fire group fires at air targets. Photo credits: Air Command South

It was reported that the Defense Forces are expected to receive Swedish Kreuger interceptor drones ‘this winter,’ Zelensky said earlier.

After receiving feedback from Ukrainian military units, the manufacturer is ready to move to mass production, potentially producing thousands or even tens of thousands of drones per month.

Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council says close to declaring statehood in south

‘The south is approaching a decisive moment embodied by the declaration of a state, and this hope has become nearly complete,’ says head of STC’s National Assembly

Mohammed Sameai and Betul Yilmaz

 |28.12.2025 - TRT/AA

Yemen (Photo by Said Ibicioglu)

SANAA, Yemen/ ISTANBUL

Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council (STC) said that it is getting closer to declaring an independent state in the south.

“The south is approaching a decisive moment embodied by the declaration of a state, and this hope has become nearly complete,” Ali al-Kathiri, head of the STC’s National Assembly, said on Saturday during a meeting with local dignitaries and tribal figures from Hadramout, as cited by the council’s official website.

He called for “fortifying the internal front against any chaos or divisions in order to preserve the achievements made,” he added.

Addressing local and regional calls for the withdrawal of STC forces from Hadramaut and Al-Mahra provinces in eastern Yemen, Kathiri claimed that the STC “has not attacked anyone.”

“The people of the south are defending their land, which they liberated,” he said.

Kathiri expressed willingness to “maintain relations with brothers in the Arab Coalition countries, foremost among them Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.”

He, however, expressed rejection of “any attempts to break the will of the people of the south by parties that failed to liberate their own areas and are seeking to liquidate the cause of the southern people,” in reference to the internationally recognized government fighting the Houthi group.

There was no immediate comment from the Yemeni government, Saudi Arabia or the UAE on the comments.

On Friday evening, Hadramout witnessed a new military escalation that resulted in casualties during clashes between STC forces and the Hadramout Tribes Alliance, which calls for self-rule in the province.

Subsequently, Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council Chairman Rashad al-Alimi called on the Saudi-led coalition to take all necessary measures to protect civilians in Hadramout and support the army in enforcing de-escalation.

He also renewed his demand for the immediate withdrawal of STC forces from Hadramout and Mahra.

Since Dec. 3, the STC forces have taken control of parts of Hadramout following clashes with the Hadramout Tribes Alliance and government-aligned First Military Region forces. Four days later, STC forces expanded their control to Mahra, which had been under government authority.

The STC repeatedly claims that successive governments have politically and economically marginalized southern regions and calls for their separation from the north—claims rejected by the Yemeni authorities, as they insist on preserving the country’s territorial unity.

On May 22, 1990, the Yemen Arab Republic (North) unified with the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (South) to form the Republic of Yemen.

Saudi coalition will counter Yemen separatists undermining de-escalation

Saudi defence minister urges Yemen’s STC to withdraw “peacefully” from seized provinces, Hadramout and al-Mahra.

Forces of Yemen's main separatist group, the Southern Transitional Council, arrive in a mountainous area where they are launching a military operation in the southern province of Abyan, Yemen [File: Reuters/Stringer]

By Al Jazeera and News Agencies
Published On 27 Dec 2025

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen says it will respond to any separatist military movements that undermine de-escalation efforts in the southern region, as Riyadh doubles down on calls for the group to “peacefully” withdraw from recently seized eastern provinces.

Saudi Arabia’s Defence Minister Khalid bin Salman said on X on Saturday that “it’s time” for troops from the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) to “let reason prevail by withdrawing from the two provinces and doing so peacefully”.

Brigadier General Turki al-Maliki, the spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, said “any military movements that violate these [de-escalation] efforts will be dealt with directly and immediately in order to protect civilian lives and ensure the success of restoring calm,” according to the Saudi Press Agency.

Al-Maliki also accused the STC separatists of “serious and horrific human rights violations against civilians”, without providing evidence.

The statements came a day after the STC accused Saudi Arabia of launching air strikes on separatist positions in Yemen’s Hadramout province, and after Washington called for restraint in the rapidly escalating conflict.

Earlier this month, forces aligned to the STC took over large chunks from the Saudi-backed government in the provinces of Hadramout and al-Mahra. The STC and the government have been allies for years in the fight against the Iran-allied Houthi rebels.

Abdullah al-Alimi, a member of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council, the governing body of the internationally recognised government, welcomed the Saudi defence minister’s remarks, considering them to “clearly reflect the kingdom’s steadfast stance and sincere concern for Yemen’s security and stability”, he said on X.

Rashad al-Alimi, the head of the Presidential Leadership Council, said after an emergency meeting late on Friday that STC movements posed “serious violations against civilians”.

The STC, which has previously received military and financial backing from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is seeking to revive the formerly independent state of South Yemen. The group warned on Friday that they were undeterred after strikes it blamed on Saudi Arabia hit their positions.

Diplomacy, de-escalation?

In Washington, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said: “We urge restraint and continued diplomacy, with a view to reaching a lasting solution.”

Azerbaijan, meanwhile, said it welcomed efforts led by both Saudi Arabia and the UAE to de-escalate ongoing tensions in Yemen.

Following Friday’s raids, Yemen’s government urged the Saudi-led coalition to support its forces in Hadramout, after separatists seized most of the country’s largest province.

The government asked the coalition to “take all necessary military measures to protect innocent Yemeni civilians in Hadramout province and support the armed forces”, the official Yemeni news agency said.

A Yemeni military official said on Friday that about 15,000 Saudi-backed fighters were amassed near the Saudi border but had not been given orders to advance on separatist-held territory. The areas where they were deployed are at the edges of territory seized in recent weeks by the STC.

Separatist advances have added pressure on ties between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, close allies who support rival groups within Yemen’s government.

On Friday, the UAE welcomed Saudi efforts to support security in Yemen, as the two Gulf allies sought to present a united front.

Yemen’s government is a patchwork of groups that includes the separatists, and is held together by shared opposition to the Houthis.

The Houthis pushed the government out of Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in 2014, and secured control over most of the north.

'Make emitters responsible': Thailand's clean air activists


By AFP

Dec 28, 2025

Skyscrapers are seen amidst high air pollution levels in Bangkok, Jan. 20. AFP-Yonhap

BANGKOK — A finance specialist who struggled after running in smog and a doctor who fears for the health of his children are among the activists spearheading landmark air pollution legislation in Thailand despite political uncertainty.

Each winter, large parts of Thailand are plagued by haze caused by weather patterns, seasonal burning, vehicle exhaust and industrial emissions.

Years of efforts to tackle the problem, including work-from-home policies and rules on crop stubble burning, have done little to alleviate the issue.


Now, there is a glimmer of hope for fresh action in the form of the Clean Air bill, which would enshrine the right to breathable air, tax emitters and offer public information on the sources of pollution.

Wirun Limsawart, who has helped lead the push for the measure as part of the Thailand Clean Air Network (CAN), grew up in southern Nakhon Si Thammarat.

But it wasn't until he returned to Thailand in 2018 after a decade abroad that he realised the scale of the country's pollution problem.

He began to worry about the impact of the dirty air on his three children.

"It made me question my role as an anthropologist and a doctor," he told AFP.

"What can I do?"

Medical anthropologist and physician Dr. Wirun Limsawart, one of the co-founders of Thailand Clean Air Network poses at Thailand's Parliament complex in Bangkok. AFP-Yonhap

The son of a seamstress and a mechanic, Wirun was a straight-A student who studied at one of Thailand's top medical schools.

"My parents always showed me what it meant to genuinely care for others in their work, so that kind of embedded in me," the 49-year-old said.

"I chose a career path that allowed me to help people."

His life has been marked by illness.

In his early twenties, Wirun collapsed on a bus and was diagnosed with a brain tumour.

After chemotherapy and years of follow-up tests, the experience deepened his desire to better understand patients.

"My role was switched to become a patient... I wanted to genuinely understand patients from a doctor's perspective."

After eight years as a general practitioner in some of Thailand's poorest and most remote regions, he obtained a master's degree and PhD in anthropology at Harvard University.

He now works at the Ministry of Public Health as an anthropological doctor, blending medical research with studying human behaviour.

'My problem, too'

Wirun's pollution worries led him to a panel discussion in Bangkok on the issue in 2019, and the conversations evolved into CAN, which has spent several years advancing clean air legislation.

More than 20,000 people backed the group's call for action — surpassing the threshold for public-initiated legislation — and a draft bill passed the Thai parliament's lower house in October.

"We need to make emitters responsible," Wirun said.

But that goal is facing a new hurdle after Thailand's prime minister dissolved parliament this month, putting the bill on hold.

Still, the measure could be brought back after general elections early next year, if there is political will, according to Weenarin Lulitanonda, CAN's co-founder.

"In Thailand, and particularly in the very highly uncertain political environment, one of the things that Thais are certain of is a huge amount of uncertainty," she said.

"Right now, honestly, it's anyone's guess. We really don't know until general elections are held."

An outdoor run in 2018 drew Weenarin into clean air activism. The experience left her with a piercing headache she later learned was caused by Bangkok's seasonal smog.

More than 10 million people required treatment for pollution-related health problems in Thailand in 2023, according to the health ministry.

Weenarin had previously lived in New Zealand and never worried about air quality, but the more she looked into the issue, the more she was determined to do something about it.

"How is it possible that (in Thailand) someone has no information about what they are breathing?" she said, recalling the question that pushed her into activism.

Having studied finance and worked at the World Bank, Weenarin began contacting experts to understand the problem before helping establish CAN.

She said her motivation is simple: "If there were an alternative to breathing, I wouldn't care."

Clean-air reforms rarely start with governments or businesses, Weenarin said, and she worries too few Thais see the crisis as their problem.

"Don't vote for anybody who doesn't have clean air legislation as a key political manifesto and a commitment ... follow them, become the political watchdog that we all need to be," she said.

She is determined to keep fighting though, so "enough Thais wake up and say this is my problem, too."

Crucial power line repairs begin at Zaporizhzhia plant under IAEA truce

28/12/2025, Sunday


The International Atomic Energy Agency has announced the start of critical repairs to a damaged power line near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, facilitated by a local ceasefire brokered by the UN watchdog. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi thanked both Russia and Ukraine for agreeing to a temporary 'window of silence' for the work, which aims to prevent a nuclear accident. The repairs are expected to last several days.

Critical repair work has commenced at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) in Ukraine under a temporary local ceasefire arranged by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The UN nuclear watchdog announced on Sunday that the repairs to a crucial external power line, expected to last a few days, are part of ongoing efforts to avert a potential nuclear disaster amid the continuing military conflict.

A Temporary 'Window of Silence'

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi stated that the agency's team on the ground is monitoring the repairs, which aim to restore power transmission between switchyards at the ZNPP and the nearby Zaporizhzhia Thermal Power Plant. Grossi expressed gratitude to both Russian and Ukrainian authorities for agreeing to what he termed a new temporary "window of silence," describing it as essential for strengthening nuclear safety and security at the facility, which has been under Russian military control since March 2022.

Damage Attributed to Military Activity

The need for the urgent repairs stems from damage detected earlier this month to a transmission line connecting the two power plants. The IAEA reported on December 19 that the damage, located between an autotransformer and the thermal plant's switchyard, was "reportedly due to military activity." Initially, the plant's management—operating under Russian occupation—stated that access to the affected area could not be granted for security reasons, delaying the repair assessment. The newly brokered ceasefire has now allowed technicians to access and fix the critical infrastructure.

Persistent Risks at Europe's Largest Nuclear Plant

The Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe's largest nuclear power station, has been a persistent point of international concern since the war began. Both Moscow and Kyiv have repeatedly accused each other of shelling and endangering the facility, raising fears of a catastrophic nuclear incident. IAEA experts have been stationed at the site since September 2022 to monitor safety and provide technical assistance. The current repair operation underscores the fragile state of the plant's external power supplies, which are vital for cooling and other essential safety functions, especially during wartime.

BB EXITS STAGE RIGHT

Muslims are...: When Brigitte Bardot was fined for anti-Islam remarks

Brigitte Bardot's career was not only marked by stardom and animal-rights activism, but also by repeated convictions for "inciting racial hatred". French courts fined her repeatedly for remarks in which she accused Muslims of "destroying" France and "imposing" their practices.

French film actor Brigitte Bardot appears at the Mount Royal Hotel in London on April 9, 1959. (File photo/AP)


India Today World Desk
New Delhi,

Dec 28, 2025 
Written By: Anuja Jha


French film icon Brigitte Bardot, who died aged 91 on Sunday, was not only remembered for redefining female stardom in post-war cinema but also for a long trail of court cases over remarks targeting Muslims, immigrants and minority communities.

Bardot, who rose to global fame with the 1956 film And God Created Woman, was fined six times between 1997 and 2008 alone for controversial statements about Islam and its followers.

One of the most prominent cases dates back to 2008, when a Paris court fined her for describing Muslims as “this population that is destroying us, destroying our country by imposing its acts,” remarks prosecutors said went far beyond free speech.


“I am fed up with being under the thumb of this population which is destroying us, destroying our country and imposing its acts,” Bardot had written, a passage that became central to the case.

She also said France was being “invaded by sheep-slaughtering Muslims” and warned of the “Islamisation of France” in her writings, according to Reuters. The court later fined her €15,000, while prosecutors sought a tougher punishment, saying she was a repeat offender.

'MANIA FOR THROAT-CUTTING'

Bardot’s legal troubles over Islam-related remarks dated back decades. In 1998, she faced charges of “provocation of hatred and racial discrimination” after linking Islamic rituals to violence, as per a report by The Independent.

“Islamists have a mania for throat-cutting,” Bardot said at the time. “I’m not making it up. You just have to look at the television.”

She also wrote that Muslims were “cutting the throats of women and children” and warned that “they’ll cut our throats one day and it will serve us right.” An appeals court later fined her for describing France as being “invaded” by Muslims.

LETTERS ATTACKING RITUAL SLAUGHTER

Bardot repeatedly framed her remarks around animal welfare, particularly ritual slaughter associated with Islam and Judaism. In a letter to then French president Nicolas Sarkozy that later became public, she attacked Eid al-Adha practices.

Brigitte Bardot gestures during a demonstration to protest the duration of the transport of animals for butchery in Paris, Feb. 26, 1995. (AP photo/ file)

In 2014, she published an open letter in several leading French newspapers calling for a ban on halal and shehita, or Jewish ritual slaughter, referring to them as “ritual sacrifice,” according to The Times of Israel.

The letter drew condemnation from Jewish organisations. The European Jewish Congress said her depiction of shehita was “deeply offensive” and showed “clear insensitivity for minority groups.”

REUNION ISLAND CASE

In 2021, a French court fined Bardot €20,000 over a 2019 open letter targeting residents of Runion Island, a French territory in the Indian Ocean.

According to Agence France-Presse, cited by Vanity Fair and the New York Post, Bardot described the island’s residents as “natives [who] have kept their savage genes” and a “degenerate population still soaked in barbarous ancestral traditions.”

She accused locals, particularly the Hindu Tamil community, of inhumanely slaughtering goats and invoked “the cannibalism of past centuries.”

APOLOGIES WITHOUT RETREAT

While Bardot occasionally expressed regret in court, she rarely withdrew her positions. During a 2004 hearing, she apologised but said, “I never knowingly wanted to hurt anybody. It is not in my character,” according to the BBC. She added, “Among Muslims, I think there are some who are very good and some hoodlums, like everywhere.”

Brigitte Bardot with the Pope at the Vatican. (File photo/Reuters)

FAR-RIGHT TIES

Bardot’s views often intersected with far-right politics. She married Bernard d’Ormale, a former adviser to France’s National Front, in 1992 and later publicly supported Marine Le Pen, once calling her “the Joan of Arc of the 21st century.”
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Though she insisted her comments were driven by concern for animals, French courts repeatedly ruled that Bardot’s language constituted racial hatred — cementing a legacy that remained as polarising as her cinematic fame.

- Ends

(With inputs from Reuters, AP)

How frogs went from right-wing meme to anti-ICE protest symbol

Laura Blasey
Max Matza

BBC

Getty Images
Immigration agents in Portland spraying crowd control chemicals into a protester's frog costume went viral in October


The revolution will not be televised, but it might have webbed feet and bulging eyes.

It also might have a unicorn's horn or a chicken's feathers.

As protests against the Trump administration continue in US cities, demonstrators are adopting the energy of a community costume parade or block party. They've taught salsa lessons, handed out snacks and ridden unicycles as armed law enforcement look on.

Mixing humour and politics - a tactic social scientists call "tactical frivolity" - is not new. But it has become a defining feature of American protest in the Trump era, embraced by both left and right.

And one symbol has emerged as particularly salient - the frog. It began when video footage of a confrontation between a man in a frog suit and immigration enforcement agents in Portland, Oregon went viral, and has since spread to protests across the country.

"There's a lot going on with that little inflatable frog," says LM Bogad, a professor at University of California, Davis and a Guggenheim Fellow who specialises in performance art.

From Pepe to Portland


It's hard to talk about protests and frogs without talking about Pepe, a cartoon character embraced by far-right groups during Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

When the meme first took off online, the image was used to signal certain emotions. Later, it was deployed to show support for Trump, including one notable meme retweeted by Trump himself, depicting Pepe with Trump's signature suit and hair.

Pepe was also depicted in right-wing online communities on 4chan, 8chan and Reddit in darker contexts, as Adolf Hitler or a member of the violent white supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan. Online conservatives traded "rare Pepes" and set up cryptocurrency in his name. His catchphrase, "feels good, man", was deployed as an inside joke.

But Pepe didn't start out so controversial

A man seen wearing a Pepe shirt during the 6 January 2021 riot at Capitol Hill, where Trump supporters attempted to prevent his loss to Joe Biden

Its creator, artist Matt Furie, has been vocal about his distaste for how the image has been used. Pepe was supposed to be simply a "chill frog-dude" in this artist's universe of characters.

The frog first appeared in a series of comics in 2005 - apolitical and best known for pulling his pants all the way down to pee. In the 2020 documentary Feels Good Man, which chronicles Mr Furie's efforts to wrest back control of his work, he said his Pepe drawing was inspired by his experiences with friends and roommates in his 20s.

Early in his career, Mr Furie experimented with uploading his work to the nascent social web, where other users began to borrow, remix and reinvent his character. As Pepe spread into the more extreme corners of the internet, Mr Furie tried to disavow the frog, even killing him off in a comic strip.

But Pepe lived on.

"It shows you that we don't control symbols," says Prof Bogad. "They can change and shift and be reworked."

Until recently, the popularity of Pepe meant that frogs were largely associated with the right. But that changed on 2 October, when the confrontation between a protester dressed in an inflatable frog costume with a blue neck scarf and an immigration officer went viral.

The moment came just days after Trump ordered the National Guard to Portland, calling the city "war-ravaged". Protesters began to gather in droves on a single block just outside an immigration enforcement facility.

Tensions were high and an immigration officer sprayed a chemical agent at a protester, aiming directly into the air intake fan of the puffy frog costume.

The protester, Seth Todd, responded with a joke, saying he had tasted "spicier tamales". But the incident went viral nonetheless.

Mr Todd's attire was not too unusual for Portland, known for its quirky culture and left-wing protests that revel in the absurd - public yoga and 80s-style aerobics lessons, and nude cycling groups. The city's unofficial motto is "Keep Portland Weird".

The frog even played a role in the ensuing legal battle between the Trump administration and the city, which argued the National Guard deployment was unlawful.

While the court ruled in October that Trump had the right to deploy troops, one judge dissented, referencing in her minority ruling the protesters' "well-known penchant for wearing chicken suits, inflatable frog costumes, or nothing at all when expressing their disagreement with the methods deployed by ICE".

"Observers may be tempted to view the majority's ruling, which accepts the government's characterisation of Portland as a war zone, as merely absurd," Judge Susan Graber wrote. "But today's decision is not merely absurd."

Trump's deployment was "permanently" blocked by courts just a month later, and troops have reportedly departed the area.

But by then, the frog had become a potent anti-administration symbol for the left.

The costume was spotted across the country at No Kings protests last autumn. There were frogs - and unicorns and axolotls and dinosaurs - in San Diego and Atlanta and Boston. They were in small towns like Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and big international cities like Tokyo and London.

The frog costume was back-ordered on Amazon and rose in price.

Controlling the optics


What brings both frogs together - Pepe and the Portland frog - is the interplay between the humorous, benign cartoon amphibian and a deeper political meaning. This is what political scientists call "tactical frivolity".

The strategy rests on what Prof Bogad calls the "irresistible image" - often silly, it's a "disarming and charming" display that calls attention to your ideas without obviously explaining them to a viewer. It's the goofy costume you wear, or the symbol you draw, or the meme you share.

Prof Bogad is both an expert in the subject and a veteran practitioner himself. He's written a book on the subject, Tactical Performance: The Theory and Practice of Serious Play, and taught workshops around the world.

"You could go back to the Middle Ages - when people are dominated, they use absurdity to speak the truth a little bit and still have plausible deniability."

The idea of this approach is three-fold, Prof Bogad says.

As protesters take on a powerful opposition, a silly costume takes control of the optics. "It makes it look worse if you respond with violence," he says.

Second, an image can set a certain tone for those within the movement and would-be supporters. In Portland "it was like a radical costume ball and we all got invited", Prof Bogad says.

Crucially, this kind of tactic can offer political cover for criticism. Sometimes that shows up in claims of political memes as "just a joke" - a defence against critics who would brand your views as dangerous. But it's especially useful in circumstances where government criticism can be dangerous, Prof Bogad says.

EPA
A frog costume spotted in Berlin during the No Kings protests

The costumes have been frequently seen at protests in Washington DC


He points to Otpor, the Serbian pro-democracy protest movement that supported efforts to overthrow Yugoslav dictator Slobodan Milosevic in 2000 through pranks and street comedy. For years, critics of Chinese President Xi Jinping have shared images of Winnie the Pooh to signal their opposition online, where more bold-faced criticism could face censorship.

Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong have also embraced Pepe, unaware of its political affiliations in the US.

"Of course, authoritarians don't like to be laughed at," Prof Bogad says. This kind of symbolism works because "without even giving a speech, you are undermining the authoritarian script".

At home in Oregon, a group of Portlanders doubled down on the viral fame and banded together to form "Operation Inflation", which collects and distributes inflatable costumes to protesters.

They started a website where supporters can donate $35 to buy suits "for community members to wear at ICE protest sites to help deflate (pun intended) the tensions surrounding protests".

Brooks Brown, a co-founder of Operation Inflation, says the point is to "shift the story that's being told" by the Trump administration that all protesters are part of a violent mob.

"Our job is to build a different stage, and to force them onto ours," he says.

Mr Brown says the inflatables bear similarities with the Civil Rights era of the 1960s, when protesters would often dress in their Sunday finest and sit motionless as they were harassed by counter-protesters and arrested by aggressive police.

Pepe, Mr Brown says, "was a fascist symbol for 4chan. And now we're being reclaimed. Feels good, man."

By late October, his group had bought more than 350 outfits and is planning a "pipeline" to send supplies to other cities where inflatables have been used at protests.

Once synonymous with the right, the Portland frog has now been sometimes dubbed the "Antifa Frog" online - referencing the decentralised, leftist movement that opposes far-right causes and has been designated a domestic terrorist group by Trump.

Memes depict him fighting Pepe - two frogs battling for national attention.

Trump’s inner circle is filled with architects of Project 2025. Here are the policies they have implemented so far

About half of the policies in the ultra-conservative manifesto have been implemented by the Trump administration, writes Ariana Baio

Ariana Baio
Sunday 28 December 2025 

THE INDEPENDENT


Approximately half of the recommendations in Project 2025 have become official policies, presidential directives or overall goals of the Trump administration in the first 12 months of President Donald Trump’s second term.

The nearly 1,000-page ultra-conservative policy blueprint emerged from the Heritage Foundation think tank in 2023 and was widely seen as a possible manifesto for a second Trump turn despite denials by the candidate himself and many of those around him.

Filling the federal workforce with political appointees, phasing out the Department of Education, rolling back major Biden administration-era policies on climate change, axing diversity polices and offices, as well as ramping up immigration deportations, were some of the major policy changes that aligned with the conservative mandate.

It’s an unsurprising finding, given that major Trump administration officials are authors or contributors to Project 2025, including Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought, border czar Tom Homan, FCC chairman Brendan Carr, CIA director John Ratcliffe, trade adviser Peter Navarro, SEC chairman Paul Atkins and many more.

Yet, the president appeared to downplay his understanding of it in June 2024 when he declared, “I know nothing about Project 2025” and “I have no idea who is behind it.”


Many of Trump’s executive orders appear to align closely with Project 2025’s recommendations (Getty Images)

Here are the areas where The Independent found Trump administration polices that reflected ideas set out in the 887 pages of Project 2025.

The federal workforce

Project 2025’s recommendations regarding the restructuring of the executive office and federal workforce have some of the most significant overlap with the Trump administration’s agenda.

The overall goal for the federal workforce, specifically within the executive branch, was to remove career civil servants and ensure that most employees are aligned with the president’s agenda while also reducing the size of the workforce by making cuts to grants and funding.


Project 2025 called for reinstating Trump’s first-term executive order, making 50,000 employees easier to dismiss by classifying them under Schedule F, designating them as at-will roles which made it easier to fire them. Trump did that on day one. Also successfully implemented was Project 2025’s call for the Office of Personnel Management to take more control over the federal workforce hiring process.


Thousands of federal employees have been forcibly removed from their positions through reductions-in-force at the hands of the Trump administration – though Project 2025 does encourage the president to be ‘wary’ of such (AFP via Getty Images)

While the Department of Government Efficiency was not part of Project 2025, its swift efforts to make sweeping cuts have helped cut down the workforce. Approximately 317,000 employees have left government jobs.


In addition, Project 2025 calls for the president to exert more authority over the executive branch by pushing for the Supreme Court to overturn a precedent that prohibits the president from firing individuals. The high court is currently considering this case.

Cuts to grants and funding

Project 2025 recommends that nearly every government department and agency conduct thorough reviews of grants and contracts to ensure no money is being allocated to projects that do not align with the president’s agenda.

Trump has fulfilled that goal, first by attempting to freeze all grants and then by taking a steadier approach to cutting back funding for polices or projects he does not agree with. Much of that impacted the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Throughout the year, the administration has cut funding to nonprofits or organizations embarking on green energy projects, as well as scrapping research projects aimed at renewable energy.

Project 2025 explicitly asks the administration to cut funding to public media such as NPR, PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting – all of which the president has done.


rump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon have vowed to shut down the Department of Education and move its functions to separate departments – a suggestion from Project 2025 (REUTERS)

Education

Trump and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon have made it clear they intend to phase out the Department of Education – a suggestion Project 2025 clearly recommends.

While completely shutting down the department requires an act of Congress, Project 2025 lists ways the administration can reduce the department’s powers. The Trump administration has turned many of those suggestions into policy.

That includes getting rid of Biden’s student loan forgiveness policy, removing protections for transgender or nonbinary students, scrapping diversity initiatives, and promoting parents’ choice.

Trump also implemented Project 2025’s call for the administration to withhold or review accreditation for colleges and universities that adopt DEI policies or are not deemed to be doing enough to protect religious freedom.

Immigration

Project 2025’s policies on harsher immigration policies are synonymous with the Trump administration and, if anything, the president has taken further steps to crack down on legal and nonlegal immigration than the mandate suggests.


Cracking down on immigration has been a staple policy of the administration – both a promise from Trump’s campaign and a suggestion from Project 2025 (Getty Images)

The president has tightened restrictions on foreign-born worker visas, penalized “sanctuary” cities, directed harsher penalties against undocumented immigrants with criminal records, expanded countries with travel bans and sought to redefine birthright citizenship (though Project 2025 does not call for that.)

Project 2025 asks the president to consider utilizing the National Guard or other military personnel to assist in immigration operations along the border and to consider increasing federal law enforcement presence in “sanctuary” cities.

Trump has taken up both suggestions and also combined them to deploy the National Guard in cities conducting immigration operations.

DEI and protections for LGBTQ+

The Trump administration quickly fulfilled Project 2025’s goal of removing all mentions of diversity, equity and inclusion in department policies, but it has also taken up suggestions to punish those who participated in promoting DEI.

Trump also removed protections for transgender individuals by redefining “sex” and “gender” to no longer include nonbinary or trans people, which Project 2025 calls for.

The administration also restored a former Trump administration policy that prohibits transgender individuals from serving in the military and eliminated a Biden-era policy to protect transgender student-athletes.



Democrats including Colorado governor Jared Polis used warnings about Project 2025 to try to sway voters away from Trump – however, the president distanced himself from the Heritage Foundation’s mandate (AFP/Getty)

The administration has taken up other specific suggestions in Project 2025, such as eliminating Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood, modernizing nuclear facilities, and removing environmental protections to increase oil and gas drilling.

Going into 2026, the administration is likely to take up other suggestions in Project 2025 that it wasn’t able to implement swiftly – namely, implementing policies and goals that combat China.

‘Does anyone know what Somaliland is?’ Trump responds after Israel’s sudden move

Ryan Prosser
Published December 27, 2025

METRO UK

Reports suggest Trump is not interested in acknowledging Muslim-majority Somaliland 

Donald Trump has indicated he is not yet prepared to fully recognise Somaliland.

On Friday, Israel broke ranks to become the first state to formally support the breakaway republic.

Somaliland is located on the Horn of Africa and shares borders with Djibouti to the north, Ethiopia to the south and west, and Somalia, from which it has broken away, to the east.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to bring up the subject during his scheduled meeting with the US president on Monday.

However, the New York Post reported Trump was not interested in acknowledging the Muslim-majority state.

‘Does anyone know what Somaliland is, really?’, he is quoted as asking at his West Palm Beach golf course.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu became the first world leader to formally recognise Somaliland on Friday (Picture: Reuters)

Somaliland, a former British protectorate, has offered to join the Abraham Accords, which comprises Arab nations that have normalised relations with Israel.

It has successfully held democratic elections and is viewed as a stable entity, in contrast with unstable Somalia.

It has also extended an offer of land for a possible US naval base in the Gulf of Aden in the Red Sea.

However, Trump seemed largely dismissive of both suggestions. He remarked, ‘big deal’ and added that all proposals were ‘under study’.

‘I study a lot of things and always make great decisions and they turn out to be correct,’ he said.

Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi has been the president of Somaliland since 2024 (Picture: Reuters)

The president further suggested his talks with Netanyahu would be dominated by the situation in the Gaza Strip rather than other affairs.

Among US proponents for Somaliland is arch Trump loyalist Congressman Scott Perry, who has submitted an act to recognise the nation.

A former British protectorate, Somaliland gained de facto independence from its civil war-torn neighbour in 1991.

While it enjoys strong relations with neighbouring Ethiopia and some Arab nations including the UAE, other countries in the region advocate against its independence, including Egypt and Turkey.

Somali president condemns Israel's Netanyahu for ‘blatant attack’ on Somalia’s sovereignty

In his address to special joint session of federal parliament, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud warns that Israel's recognition of breakaway Somaliland region risks further destabilizing the Horn of Africa region

Mohamed Dhaysane |28.12.2025 - TRT/AA

President of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud


MOGADISHU, Somalia

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Sunday condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his "blatant attack" on Somalia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as his "disregard for international law and established norms" during the joint parliament's special session to discuss the issue.

In his address to a special joint session of the federal parliament in the capital, Mogadishu, Mohamud strongly condemned Israel's recognition of the breakaway Somaliland region.

“Such null and void actions risk further destabilizing the Horn of Africa region and reviving extremist elements, undermining the significant gains made in the fight against international terrorism,” the president warned.

He said his country is committed to defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

He added that the breakaway Somaliland region will “remain an inseparable part of the Federal Republic of Somalia.”

Mohamud also held a consultative meeting with former national leaders and opposition figures as part of ongoing efforts to strengthen national cohesion and unity in the face of Israel’s violations of the sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Israel became the world’s first country to recognize Somaliland as a sovereign state on Friday, drawing condemnation from Türkiye, a close ally of Somalia, and countries in Africa and the Middle East, among others.

Somaliland, which has lacked official recognition since declaring independence from Somalia in 1991, operates as a de facto independent administrative, political, and security entity, with the central government struggling to assert control over the region and its leadership unable to secure international recognition of independence.

EU backs Somalia’s unity after Israel's Somaliland recognition

The EU said it encourages meaningful dialogue between Somaliland and the Federal Government of Somalia.

The European Union has said respecting Somalia’s unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity is “key for the peace and stability of the entire Horn of Africa region,” following Israel’s recognition of Somaliland as an independent state a day earlier.

In a statement on Saturday, the bloc said it “reaffirms the importance of respecting the unity, the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Somalia,” in line with its constitution and the charters of the African Union and the UN.

The EU said it “encourages meaningful dialogue between Somaliland and the Federal Government of Somalia to resolve long-standing differences.”

The recognition of the Somaliland region by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is against international law, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said.

“The illegal aggression of PM Netanyahu in recognising a part of Somalia’s northern region is against international law,” Mohamud wrote on X.

“Meddling with Somalia’s internal affairs is contrary to established legal & diplomatic rules. Somalia & its people are one: inseparable by division from afar,” he added.

Israel became the world’s first country on Friday to recognise Somaliland as a sovereign state, drawing condemnation from Türkiye and countries in Africa and the Middle East, among others.

Arab-Islamic Statement Rejects Link Between Israel’s Recognition of Somaliland and Attempts to Expel Palestinians

People walk along a street before the opening of polling stations for voting in the municipal elections in Hodan district of Mogadishu, Somalia December 25, 2025. REUTERS/Feisal Omar

Asharq Al Awsat
28 December 2025 

AD ـ 08 Rajab 1447 AH

A growing number of countries are rejecting Israel's recognition of Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland as an independent nation, the first by any country in more than 30 years.

A joint statement by more than 20 mostly Middle Eastern or African countries and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Saturday rejected Israel's recognition “given the serious repercussions of such unprecedented measure on peace and security in the Horn of Africa, the Red Sea and its serious effects on international peace and security as a whole.”

The joint statement also noted “the full rejection of any potential link between such measure and any attempts to forcibly expel the Palestinian people out of their land.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Friday that he, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and Somaliland’s president, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, signed a joint declaration “in the spirit of the Abraham Accords.”

Somalia’s federal government on Friday strongly rejected what it described as an unlawful move by Israel, and reaffirmed that Somaliland remains an integral part of Somalia’s sovereign territory.

African regional bodies also rejected Israel's recognition. African Union Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf said that any attempt to undermine Somalia’s sovereignty risks peace and stability on the continent.

East African governing body IGAD said in a statement that Somalia’s sovereignty was recognized under international law and any unilateral recognition “runs contrary to the charter of the United Nations” and agreements establishing the bloc and the African Union.

The US State Department on Saturday said that it continued to recognize the territorial integrity of Somalia, "which includes the territory of Somaliland.”