Visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Monday urged Kurdish-led forces to integrate into Syria's army and not obstruct the country's stability, as the deadline for implementing a deal between Damascus and the Kurds approaches.

Turkey and Syria have developed close ties since the toppling of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year and Ankara, a key supporter of the new authorities, sees the presence of Kurdish forces on its border with Syria as a security threat.

New rules in Israel for registering non-governmental organisations, under which more than a dozen groups have already been rejected, could have a catastrophic impact on aid work in Gaza and the West Bank, relief workers warn.

The NGOs have until December 31 to register under the new framework, which Israel says aims not to impede aid distribution but to prevent "hostile actors or supporters of terrorism" operating in the Palestinian territories.

ANKARA, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Turkey expects the second phase of a Gaza ceasefire deal to begin early in 2026, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Monday, following talks with U.S., Qatari and Egyptian officials in Miami over the weekend.

Speaking at a press conference in Damascus, Fidan said the discussions focused on obstacles to advancing the deal to its next phase, adding that the priority was for Gaza’s governance to be taken over by a Palestinian-led group.

(Reporting by Tuvan GumrukcuEditing by Ece Toksabay)

By Maayan Lubell and Emily Rose

JERUSALEM, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Israel's cabinet voted on Monday to shut down a popular national radio station, one in a series of measures by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing coalition that critics see as blows to democracy.

Defence Minister Israel Katz had proposed that Army Radio, broadcasting since the early days of the state, will be shut down by March 1, 2026, in what he described as an attempt to preserve the military’s nonpartisan character.

By Ali Sawafta

QABATIYA, West Bank, Dec 22 (Reuters) - The Israeli military said it was reviewing an incident in the occupied West Bank in which soldiers shot dead a 16-year-old Palestinian who they said had thrown a brick at them, after CCTV footage appeared to show he was not doing so when shot.

Asked about the video, an Israeli military spokesperson said: "A Palestinian suspected of hurling a block at IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) soldiers was shot. The incident is under review."

Israeli bulldozers tore through a four-storey building in east Jerusalem on Monday, leaving scores of Palestinian residents unsure where to go after their doors were broken down in the middle of the night by authorities enforcing hasty evictions.

The building was the latest in a series of residential structures to be razed as Israeli officials target what they describe as unauthorised construction in the city's annexed east -- a campaign that local Palestinian officials characterised as a "systematic policy" to displace residents.

ANKARA, Dec 22 (Reuters) - A high-level Turkish delegation will visit Damascus on Monday to discuss bilateral ties and the implementation of a deal for integrating the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) into Syria's state apparatus, a Turkish Foreign Ministry source said.

The visit by Turkey's foreign and defence ministers and its intelligence chief comes amid efforts by Syrian, Kurdish and U.S. officials to show some progress with the deal. But Ankara accuses the SDF of stalling ahead of a year-end deadline.

Dec 22 (Reuters) - The U.S State Department's independent watchdog is reviewing a request from two Democratic senators to investigate whether Trump officials Steve Witkoff and David Sacks broke ethics rules in connection with deals involving the United Arab Emirates, Semafor reported on Monday.

Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.

(Reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Alison Williams)

By Renju Jose

SYDNEY, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Australia's New South Wales state parliament was recalled on Monday to vote on proposed new laws that would impose major curbs on firearm ownership, ban the display of terror symbols and restrict protests, following a mass shooting at Bondi Beach.

The state parliament was recalled for two days from Monday to debate the firearm legislation, which would cap the number of firearms a person can own at four, or up to 10 for certain groups, such as farmers.

Iranians of all religions and walks of life mark the ancient Persian festival of Yalda Sunday, though many say economic hardships fanned by international sanctions will put a damper on this year's celebrations.

Yalda falls on the winter solstice and is characterised by family gatherings and the eating of nuts, sweets and fruits.

"We mostly spend time with our families, our grandparents, aunts, cousins," Maral Bagherpour, a smiling 16-year-old student, told AFP in northern Tehran's Tajrish Bazaar.