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Israel becomes first country to recognise Somaliland as sovereign state

Israel has become the first country to recognise Somaliland as a sovereign state, a breakthrough in its quest for international recognition since it declared independence from Somalia 34 years ago. The Israeli foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, announced on Friday that Israel and Somaliland had signed an agreement establishing full diplomatic relations, which would include the opening of embassies and the appointment of ambassadors. The recognition is a historic moment for Somaliland, which declared its independence from Somalia in 1991 but until now had failed to be recognised by any UN member states. Somaliland controls the north-west tip of Somalia, where it operates a de facto state, and is bordered by Djibouti to the north-west and Ethiopia to the west and south. The Israeli prime minister’s office said the declaration was “in the spirit” of the Abraham accords, a series of normalisation agreements between Israel and mostly Arab states signed in 2020. It posted a video of Benjamin Netanyahu speaking via video call with Somaliland’s president, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, in which he invited him to visit Israel and described the friendship between the two countries as “historic”. Abdullahi said he would be “glad to be in Jerusalem as soon as possible”. Donald Trump said he opposed US recognition of Somaliland in an interview with the New York Post published on Friday, adding: “Does anyone know what Somaliland is, really?” The US administration is reportedly split over the recognition of Somaliland, with some fearing such a move could endanger military cooperation with Somalia. The US has troops deployed there, where it supports Somali forces in their fight against the Islamist movement al-Shabaab. Somalia’s foreign ministry said in statement the decision was a “deliberate attack” on its sovereignty that would undermine peace in the region, a sentiment echoed by the African Union (AU). The AU said it “firmly rejects” Israel’s move, warning: “Any attempt to undermine the unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Somalia ... risks setting a dangerous precedent with far-reaching implications for peace and stability across the continent.” The pan-African body’s head, Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, said Somaliland “remains an integral part of the Federal Republic of Somalia”, which is a member of the AU. Israel’s move was also condemned by Egypt and Turkey, which said in a statement: “This initiative by Israel, which aligns with its expansionist policy and its efforts to do everything to prevent the recognition of a Palestinian state, constitutes overt interference in Somalia’s domestic affairs.” Sa’ar said the recognition came after a year of talks between the two countries and that he had instructed Israel’s ministry of foreign affairs to immediately “institutionalise ties between the two countries”. Israeli analysts have said recognition of the breakaway state could be in Israel’s strategic interest, given Somaliland’s proximity to Yemen, where Israel has conducted extensive airstrikes against the Houthi rebels over the past two years. A report in November by the Institute for National Security Studies, an Israeli thinktank, said: “Somaliland’s territory could serve as a forward base for multiple missions: intelligence monitoring of the Houthis and their armament efforts; logistical support for Yemen’s legitimate government in its war against them; and a platform for direct operations against the Houthis.” The Somaliland authorities already host a military base operated by the United Arab Emirates in Berbera, which has a military port and an airstrip for fighter jets and transport aircraft. Analysts have suggested that the base is a key part of the UAE’s anti-Houthi campaign in Yemen. Somaliland’s president revealed in May that US military officials, including the most senior officer in the Horn of Africa, had visited Somaliland and that another US delegation was expected to visit soon. “It’s a matter of time. Not if, but when and who will lead the recognition of Somaliland,” Abdullahi told the Guardian. Project 2025, which was published in 2023 and is alleged to have guided much of the doctrine of Donald Trump’s second administration, called for the recognition of Somaliland as a “hedge against the US’s deteriorating position in Djibouti”, where Chinese influence is growing. This August, the Texas Republican senator Ted Cruz wrote to Trump asking him to recognise Somaliland. Cruz said Somaliland was an ally of Israel and that it had expressed support for the Abraham accords. Somaliland has a population of a little more than 6.2 million. The breakaway state has a democratic system that has had peaceful transfers of power, though the Washington-based non-profit organisation Freedom House noted an “erosion of political rights and civic space” in recent years, with journalists and opposition figures facing repression from authorities.

Zelenskyy to travel to US for Trump meeting amid push for Ukraine deal

Volodymyr Zelenskyy is to travel to the US for a planned meeting with Donald Trump on Sunday, as Washington continues to push for a possible peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow. The Ukrainian president said the visit would take place at a location in Florida – widely expected to be Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort – in what would be the latest development in a diplomatic push that began in November with the circulation of a 28-point US plan shaped with input from Russian officials. “We are not losing a single day. We have agreed on a meeting at the highest level – with President Trump in the near future,” Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X on Friday, adding that “a lot can be decided before the New Year”. Early on Saturday, several powerful explosions rocked Kyiv as authorities warned that the Ukrainian capital was under threat of missile attack and that air defences were in operation. Ukraine’s air force also announced a countrywide air alert, saying on social media that drones and missiles were moving over several Ukrainian regions, including the capital. Zelenskyy told journalists the high-stakes meeting with Trump would focus on some of the most sensitive parts of the peace talks, including Ukrainian security guarantees and reconstruction, plus territorial discussions regarding the Donbas region and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. “This meeting is specifically intended to refine things as much as we possibly can,” Zelenskyy said. He added that the proposed 20-point peace plan was “90% ready”. “Our goal is to bring everything to 100%,” Zelenskyy said. He later added: “As of today, our teams – the Ukrainian and American negotiating teams – have made significant progress.” The plan is considered an updated version of an earlier 28-point document agreed several weeks ago between the US envoys and Russian officials, a proposal widely viewed as skewed towards the Kremlin’s demands. Ukraine has pushed for security guarantees modelled on Nato’s Article 5 mutual defence pledge under any proposed peace deal with Russia, though it remains unclear whether Moscow would accept such terms. “Russia constantly looks for reasons not to agree” to the peace proposals, Zelenskyy told reporters. In an interview with Politico on Friday, Trump said he anticipated a “good” meeting with the Ukrainian leader, though he offered no endorsement of Zelenskyy’s plan. “He doesn’t have anything until I approve it,” Trump told the news website. “So we’ll see what he’s got.” The announcement follows a burst of diplomatic activity last weekend in Miami, where Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff met separately with Russian and Ukrainian representatives, as well as Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. US officials described the discussions as “constructive”, though Moscow has played down expectations of progress and there are few signs that Vladimir Putin is prepared to soften his maximalist demands to end the full-scale invasion. Trump in the interview with Politico said he expected to speak with Putin “soon, as much as I want”. At a closed-door meeting with Russia’s business elite on Wednesday evening, the Russian president reportedly reiterated his demand that Ukraine hand over the entire eastern Donbas region as part of any peace deal. According to Kommersant, one of Russia’s best-connected newspapers, Putin also indicated openness to a limited territorial exchange with Ukraine, with Moscow potentially exchanging small areas of land Russian forces occupy in Ukraine’s northern Kharkiv and southern Zaporizhzhia regions. Zelenskyy has previously said Ukraine would be open to withdrawing “heavy forces” from parts of Donbas it still controls, but only if Russia mirrored the move as part of a US-backed initiative to create a “free economic zone” in the region. It remains highly uncertain that Moscow would accept either a suggested demilitarised buffer zone or a withdrawal of its forces, even as other sticking points remain, including control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant that Kyiv says should be jointly managed by the US and Ukraine. On Friday, the Kremlin said Putin’s top foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, had held a call with the US administration after Moscow received an updated US proposal on a potential peace deal, although there were no signs that a breakthrough had been reached. The Russian deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, used a Russian television appearance on Friday to criticise Zelenskyy and European allies. “Our ability to make the final push and reach an agreement will depend on our own work and the political will of the other party,” Ryabkov said. “Especially in a context where Kyiv and its sponsors – notably within the European Union, who are not in favour of an agreement – have stepped up efforts to torpedo it.” He said the proposal drawn up with Zelenskyy’s input “differs radically” from points initially drawn up by US and Russian officials in contacts this month. “Without an adequate resolution of the problems at the origin of this crisis, it will be quite simply impossible to reach a definitive accord,” Ryabkov added. Russia has repeatedly said it was prepared to continue fighting in Ukraine if no peace deal were reached, saying it was confident it could achieve its war aims through military means. Yet while Moscow has made slow, grinding progress on the battlefield, Ukrainian forces have in recent days pushed Russian troops out of the city of Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region. It marked a rare successful Ukrainian counteroffensive, prompting frustration among pro-war Russian bloggers over what many described as overly upbeat and unrealistic battlefield briefings. “On the Kupyansk front, large-scale territorial losses have come to light, caused by the systematic submission of false reports that exaggerated the Russian armed forces’ successes in the battle for Kupyansk and surrounding settlements,” the popular Telegram channel Rybar, which has close links to the defence ministry, wrote. In late November, senior Russian generals briefed Putin that Russian troops had “completed the liberation of Kupyansk”, prompting Zelenskyy to travel to the city’s outskirts to “show the world that Putin is lying”. Lauren Gambino contributed reporting

Cyclones, floods and wildfires among 2025’s costliest climate-related disasters

Cyclones and floods in south-east Asia this autumn killed more than 1,750 people and caused more than $25bn (£19bn) in damage, while the death toll from California wildfires topped 400 people, with $60bn in damage, according to research on the costliest climate-related disasters of the year. China’s devastating floods, in which thousands of people were displaced, were the third most expensive, causing about $12bn in damage, with at least 30 lives lost. The 10 worst climate-related disasters of 2025 amounted to more than $120bn in insured losses, according to an annual report from the charity Christian Aid. The true losses are likely to be much higher, as only the insurance costs could be reliably measured. The human costs, in lives, displacement and lost livelihoods, are uncounted. Devastating events such as these are often grouped together as “natural disasters”, as if they were simply the consequences of normal weather variation. But this is a misperception, according to the report’s authors. Joanna Haigh, emeritus professor of atmospheric physics at Imperial College London, said damaging events were increasing in frequency and intensity owing to the human-made climate crisis. “The world is paying an ever-higher price for a crisis we already know how to solve. These disasters are not ‘natural’ – they are the inevitable result of continued fossil fuel expansion and political delay,” she said. While the economic cost of disasters is often accounted as greater in developed countries, where people and businesses can afford insurance, the true toll in developing countries can be much higher. Mohamed Adow, director of the Power Shift Africa thinktank, said: “While wealthy nations count the financial cost of disasters, millions of people across Africa, Asia and the Caribbean are counting lost lives, homes and futures. In 2026, governments must stop burying their heads in the sand and start responding with real support for people on the frontlines.” The top 10 list is far from the whole of the damage to the planet: a further 10 major extreme weather events that each came in at less than $1bn in damage were also examined in the report, and many less costly examples did not make either list. The report also highlighted the series of typhoons in the Philippines, where more than 1.4 million people were displaced, and $5bn incurred in damages. All regions of the world were hit, as disasters piled up through the year. Drought in Iran threatens the 10 million inhabitants of Tehran with evacuation. Floods hit Democratic Republic of the Congo in April, then Nigeria followed in May, with 700 deaths. Floods in India and Pakistan killed more than 1,860 people, cost about $6bn, and affected more than 7 million people in Pakistan alone. In the developed world, record-breaking fires raged across the Iberian peninsula, droughts hit Canada, and there were record heatwaves in Scotland. At this year’s UN climate summit, Cop30 in Belém in November, rich countries agreed to triple the amount of finance available to help poor countries adapt to the impacts of extreme weather. But the tripling, expected to reach $120bn by 2035, will still be nowhere near enough to fund all the protection needed in developing countries. The bill for extreme weather damages will continue to rise until the world slashes greenhouse gas emissions and phases out fossil fuels, added Christian Aid’s chief executive, Patrick Watt. “These climate disasters are a warning of what lies ahead if we do not accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels,” he said. “They also underline the urgent need for adaptation, particularly in the global south, where resources are stretched and people are especially vulnerable to climate shocks.” At Cop30, an attempt to start work on roadmaps for countries to phase out fossil fuels was relegated to the status of a voluntary initiative, rather than a compulsory task for all countries. However, work will begin on it this year, led by Cop30 host Brazil, and at a special conference on fossil fuels to be held by Colombia in April, expected to be attended by the more than 80 countries supporting the roadmap effort.

Labour’s animal welfare strategy does not go far enough | Letters

The government’s strategy for animal welfare offers substantial improvements in the lot of kept animals but, in keeping with precedent, free-living wildlife is sold short (Editorial, 23 December). The law protecting wildlife is outdated and, as recommended by the Law Society, is ripe for review. Why, for example, have comprehensive protection for four of our native mustelids and almost nothing for the remaining two? Further, the recent Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act requires the government to consider sentience when framing policy. Against this background, one would have thought a review of outdated wildlife legislation would be a priority. Instead, the edges are tinkered with yet again. The government’s strategy includes a proposal for a close season for hares. It is claimed that fewer young hares will be left vulnerable to starvation and predation. All well and good, unless you happen to be a stoat, a weasel, a carrion crow or a mole – native species which enjoy almost no protection, meaning that thousands of their offspring will continue to die when their parents are killed during the breeding season. Alick Simmons UK deputy chief veterinary officer, 2007-15 • The animal welfare strategy sets out a promising plan for raising the welfare of millions of animals that suffer unnecessarily (Hen cages and pig farrowing crates to be outlawed in England, 22 December). However, to achieve its ambitious vision of ensuring that as many animals as possible have a good life, the strategy must go further to tackle factory farming. Every year, millions of animals are confined on UK factory farms in abysmal conditions. The strategy has taken crucial steps towards protecting farmed animals from the most cruel aspects of factory farming. Hens will no longer be caged for their eggs and mother pigs will no longer be confined in small crates where they are unable to turn around. However, there are few indications that the strategy will seek to halt the expansion of the factory-farming systems driving such cruelty and threatening our climate, environment and health. The strategy’s announcement comes ahead of the government’s national food strategy and farming vision in 2026. I urge the government to prioritise a shift away from factory farming and support a just transition to nature-friendly farming that benefits animals, farmers and the planet. Ruth Tanner UK country director, World Animal Protection • The proposed ban on electric collars for dogs and cats would result in many more deaths and injuries for cats, if implemented. Electric collars for cats are not for training; they are for containment, and prevent cats straying on to roads and getting run over. We lost many cats to painful, unnecessary deaths on roads, until we installed a containment system. The collars issue a warning bleep if the cat gets close to the perimeter wire, and only give a small electric pulse if the cat moves closer; they soon learn not to get too close. We have not had a cat run over in the 20 years we have had such a system, and have never experienced our cats upset or traumatised by the collars. Another benefit is that containment limits the cats’ exposure to wildlife. Banning these containment systems would be a cruel removal of cats’ safety. David Sutton Salisbury, Wiltshire • It’s welcome news that Labour is bringing in legislation to protect animal welfare (Boiling lobsters alive to be banned in UK animal cruelty crackdown, 22 December). If humans stop being cruel to animals, then possibly humans will also stop being cruel to other humans. You can but dream. Ann Newell Thame, Oxfordshire • I’ve always felt sorry for lobsters, especially as it’s easy to dispatch them instantly. But what are we going to do about mussels? David Helliwell Oxford • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.

Report on Israeli settlements plan is all too brief | Brief letters

It must be a long time since such a brazen flouting of international law was announced simply in an “In brief” paragraph in the print edition of the Guardian (Israel green-lights 19 new Jewish settlements, 22 December). Already Palestinian Christians describe living there as like being in a small prison inside a larger one. When will the international community wake up to the fact that Israel will continue to flagrantly face down international law until serious sanctions are brought to bear? Rev David Haslam Evesham, Worcestershire • Thank you, Jacqueline Noble, for reminding us that “If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?” (Letters, 17 December). Shelley’s line, from Ode to the West Wind, was quoted by Alan and Marilyn Bergman in their lyric for You Must Believe In Spring, to music by Michel Legrand. I recommend the recording by Tony Bennett and Bill Evans – an utterly convincing vocal, and a solo piano evocation of a frozen stream, melting and skipping down a mountainside. Tim Sanders Leeds • Regarding the anonymous letter about those who don’t do Christmas gifts (19 December), for some of us, a gift carries real meaning; my gifts are always my time, and my ears. Listen to others and give them your time to do whatever it is they wish to do. David Wheatley Ramsgate, Kent • Comparative weights are so hard to imagine. Thanks, Guardian, for giving us a reference point that we have all experienced, and can relate to, in reporting that a fatberg was “a third more than the heaviest of the British army’s battle tanks” (Fatberg weighing 100 tonnes discovered in east London sewer, 22 December). Ian Saville London • Years ago, when I was driving in Clackmannanshire, the road sign for the village of Crook of Devon had this written underneath: “Twinned with The Thief of Bagdad” (Letters, 23 December). Catherine Waterson Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.

Former Malaysian PM Najib Razak jailed for 15 more years in 1MDB graft scandal

The jailed former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak has been sentenced to an additional 15 years after he was found guilty of abuse of power, in the biggest trial yet in the multibillion-dollar fraud scandal related to the state fund 1MDB. Najib’s conviction substantially increases the six-year prison term he is already serving for a separate case related to the 1MDB graft scandal, one of the world’s biggest financial frauds in which billions were plundered from the now defunct sovereign wealth fund. In the latest case, Najib had been charged with four counts of corruption and 21 counts of money laundering for receiving illegal transfers of about 2.2bn ringgit ($544.15m) from 1MDB. He has consistently denied wrongdoing in the scandal, which dented Malaysia’s image abroad. Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah, who was presiding, convicted Najib, 72, on all four counts of abuse of power. The former PM will also face a verdict on 21 counts of money laundering linked to the fund, which prompted investigations in several countries, from Singapore to the US. The judge said in his verdict: “The contention by the accused that the charges against him were a witch-hunt and politically motivated were debunked by the cold, hard and incontrovertible evidence against him that pointed towards the accused having abused his own powerful position in 1MDB, coupled with the extensive powers conferred upon him.” Malaysian and US investigators say at least $4.5bn was stolen from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a state fund Najib co-founded in 2009 while in office. More than $1bn allegedly made its way into accounts linked to Najib, who has denied wrongdoing. The ruling could add to tensions in the prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim’s, governing alliance, which includes the once dominant United Malays National Organisation, over which Najib, its former leader, has retained significant influence. Najib has been in prison since August 2022, when Malaysia’s top court upheld a corruption conviction for illegally receiving funds from a 1MDB unit. His 12-year jail sentence in that case was halved last year by a pardons board. Najib is the son of one of the country’s founding fathers and was groomed for leadership from a young age until his spectacular fall from power. He had been seen as untouchable until public anger over the 1MDB corruption scandal led to the 2018 election defeat of his ruling party, which had governed since Malaysia gained independence from Britain in 1957. Prosecutors say Najib abused his positions as prime minister, finance minister and 1MDB advisory board chair to move large amounts of money from the fund into his personal accounts more than a decade ago. According to investigators, proceeds from the state fund were used to bankroll high-end real estate, a luxury yacht and precious artworks. Najib has repeatedly said he was misled by 1MDB officials and the fugitive financier Jho Low, who has been charged in the US for his central role in the case. Low, whose whereabouts are unknown, has denied wrongdoing. The judge dismissed several of the defence lawyers’ arguments, including that Najib was duped by Low, his close associate. He also dismissed arguments that the money flowing into Najib’s accounts was “donations” from Middle East funders, calling it a “tale that surpassed even those from the Arabian Nights”. The prosecution presented bank records, testimony from more than 50 witnesses and documentary evidence. Najib “paints himself as a victim of rogue subordinates, when in truth, he was the single most powerful decision maker”, the deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib told the court during closing arguments. “The accused wielded absolute financial, executive and political control,” he said. Najib has apologised for allowing the 1MDB scandal to happen during his tenure, but maintains he knew nothing about illegal transfers from the fund. His legal battle was dealt a blow on Monday after he lost an application to serve the remainder of his first jail term at home rather than the Kajang prison, outside Kuala Lumpur. Agence France-Presse, Reuters and Associated Press contributed reporting

China imposes sanctions on US defence firms over Taiwan arms deal

China’s foreign ministry has hit US defence companies including Boeing with sanctions after Donald Trump approved a large package of arms sales to Taiwan. The ministry said on Friday that the measures – against 10 individuals and 20 US firms including Boeing’s production hub at St Louis in Missouri – would freeze any assets the companies and individuals hold in China and bar domestic organisations and individuals from doing business with them. It comes after the Trump administration last week announced a package of arms sales to Taiwan valued at more than $10bn, including medium-range missiles and drones. It was the largest weapons sale in the history of the bilateral relationship. China’s stance on Taiwan, which is that it must merge with the People’s Republic of China – something that the democratically governed Taipei rejects – has been a pinch point in its relations with the US, already worn thin over trade and tariff issues. Individuals on the Chinese sanctions list, including the founder of the defence firm Anduril Industries and nine senior executives from the sanctioned firms, are banned from entering China, the ministry added. Boeing produces fighter jets in St Louis, where more than 3,000 union workers went on strike over pay this year. Other companies targeted by the sanctions include Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation and L3Harris Maritime Services. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement on Friday: “The Taiwan issue is the core of China’s core interests and the first red line that cannot be crossed in China-US relations. Any provocative actions that cross the line on the Taiwan issue will be met with a strong response from China.” They urged the US to cease “dangerous” efforts to arm the island. The US is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, although such arms sales are a persistent source of friction with China. The eight arms agreements that comprised the total sale included 420 army tactical missile systems, or Atacms. The systems are similar to those sent to Ukraine under the Biden administration for its defence against Russia. The state department said at the time of the Taiwan arms sale that it served “US national, economic and security interests by supporting the recipient’s continuing efforts to modernise its armed forces and to maintain a credible defensive capability”. “The proposed sale[s] will help improve the security of the recipient and assist in maintaining political stability, military balance and economic progress in the region,” various similar statements issued on each of the agreements said. Reuters contributed reporting