Last week, Israel became the first country to recognize the independence of Somaliland, angering international powers who bemoaned the move at the United Nations Security Council. Somalia’s claim that Somaliland traded recognition from Israel in exchange for accepting Palestinians displaced from Gaza is false, Somaliland’s Foreign Ministry asserted on Thursday, denying rumors that the newly recognized state would accept Palestinians or become a hub for a military base.

Brazilian authorities on Tuesday railed against comments by Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz in which he appeared to look down on Belem, a city on the edge of the Amazon rainforest where the United Nations' Climate Summit is taking place. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Para state Gov. Helder Barbalho, Belem Mayor Igor Normando, and several lawmakers have pushed back against Merz, who traveled to Brazil earlier in November to discuss climate measures with other leaders.

By Will Dunham Dec 10 (Reuters) - Scientists have discovered the oldest-known evidence of fire-making by prehistoric humans in the English county of Suffolk - a hearth apparently made by Neanderthals