OSLO, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Iranian human rights ​activist and Nobel Peace ​Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi was arrested in ⁠a "brutal" manner in Iran and must be released immediately,the Norwegian Nobel Committee, whichawards the ​prize, said on Friday.

Mohammadi has ‍previously served multiple sentences ​on charges including spreading propaganda against the Islamic Republic. Late last year, she was released from Tehran's Evin prison after ⁠the suspension of her jail term to undergo medical treatment.

In the Nile Delta village of Nagrig, residents love local son Mohamed Salah from a distance, with ructions between the Egyptian super striker and long-time English club Liverpool doing little to dim his lustre at home.

"Thanks to him I can dream," 16-year-old Mohamed Ahmed told AFP as he stepped onto a pitch at the Nagrig sports complex where Salah first honed his talents before making his improbable journey to some of football's most dizzying heights.

Iranian security forces on Friday detained the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi along with at least eight other activists in an arrest condemned as "brutal" by the Norwegian Nobel committee.

Mohammadi, who was granted temporary leave from prison in December 2024, was detained along with eight other activists at the ceremony for lawyer Khosrow Alikordi, who was found dead in his office last week, her foundation wrote on X.

JERUSALEM, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Israel's cabinet has decided to give legal ​status to 19 settlements in the ​occupied West Bank, including two that were vacated 20 years ago under ⁠a pullout aimed at boosting the country's security and the economy, Israeli media reported.

The Palestinian Authority on Friday condemned the move, announced ​late on Thursday.

Some of the settlements are newly established, ‍while others are older, Israeli ​media said.

Gaza's civil defence agency on Friday said at least 16 people had died in the last 24 hours, including three children who died from exposure to the cold, as a winter storm batters the territory.

Heavy rain from Storm Byron has flooded tents and temporary shelters across the Gaza Strip since late Wednesday, compounding the suffering of the territory's residents, nearly all of whom were displaced during more than two years of war.

A raft of proposed measures from Israel's ruling coalition targeting the media has sparked outrage, with critics warning the planned reforms would deliver a blow to press freedom.

Suggested changes to public broadcasting, coupled with a bid to give permanent powers to the government to ban foreign TV channels which are deemed a threat, come as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to seek another term next year.

Iranian authorities have freed a woman who was condemned to hanging over the killing of her husband who she married while a child, in a case that sparked international concern over the plight of women sentenced to death in the Islamic republic, rights activists said on Friday.

Iranian authorities confirmed the freeing of Goli Kouhkan from prison in the northern Golestan province after her death sentence was revoked earlier this week under an accord with the dead man's family.

By Steve Holland and Michelle Nichols

WASHINGTON/UNITED NATIONS, Dec 12 (Reuters) - International troops could be deployed in the Gaza Strip as early ​as next month to form a U.N.-authorized stabilization force, two ​U.S. officials told Reuters, but it remains unclear how Palestinian militants Hamas will be disarmed.

BEIJING, Dec 12 (Reuters) - China said on Friday it had ​driven away a Philippine aircraft ​and multiple vessels near disputed atolls in South China Sea, ⁠in the latest in a series of confrontations in the strategic waterway in recent years.

The Chinese military said it ​issued strong warnings and "expelled" a Philippine aircraft ‍that "invaded" airspace above the Scarborough ​Shoal, without giving a date for the incident.

By Dave Sherwood and Marianna Parraga

HAVANA/HOUSTON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - A U.S. move this week to seize an oil tanker out of ​Venezuela is poised to make a bad situation worse for a ​crisis-stricken Cuba already struggling to source enough oil to power its ailing economy and electrical grid.

The Communist-run nation, a nearby neighbor and ⁠long-time foe of the United States, suffers daily, hours-long rolling blackouts that have decimated productivity and tested the patience of its exhausted residents.