STOCKHOLM, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The number of people applying for asylum in Sweden dropped by 30% in 2025 to the lowest level since 1985, with the right-of-centre government saying it planned to further tighten rules this year ahead of an election in September.

The ruling minority coalition, which is supported by the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, has made cutting the number of asylum seekers a key policy platform since taking power in 2022.

By Olivia Le Poidevin

GENEVA, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Women are bearing the brunt of the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, with the majority of female-headed households not having enough food to eat, the U.N. said on Friday.

"Female-headed households are now three times more likely to be food insecure. Three quarters of these households report not having enough to eat," Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told reporters in Geneva.

By Mahmoud Hasano and Orhan Qereman

ALEPPO, Syria, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Kurdish groups in Aleppo vowed to defend their neighbourhoods from government forces on Friday, rejecting ceasefire terms declared by Damascus that demand Kurdish fighters withdraw from the Syrian city where clashes have raged this week.

The violence in Aleppo has exposed a deep faultline between President Ahmed al-Sharaa's Islamist-led government and Kurdish forces, which have resisted its efforts to bring their fighters under centralised authority.

Tear gas burning his eyes, his voice hoarse from shouting anti-government slogans as cars honked around him, Majid joined crowds of Iranians taking to the streets in defiance of a crackdown on a swelling protest movement.

He used a pseudonym for security reasons and like all those who spoke about the protests was reached by AFP journalists outside Iran.

Majid described how he rallied with hundreds of others in the streets of eastern Mashhad on Wednesday night, even as police tried to disperse the crowd that nonetheless kept reforming.

Jan 9 (Reuters) - Somalia's foreign affairs ministry said on Friday that China's top diplomat Wang Yi had postponed his planned visit to the East African country.

Top officials from the ministry told Reuters that the reason for the postponement and a future schedule would be provided later.

(Reporting by Abdi Sheikh;Additional reporting by Sfundo Parakozov;Writing by Vincent Mumo NzilaniEditing by Philippa Fletcher)

By Ali Sawafta and Rami Ayyub

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The former U.N. envoy expected to help lead Donald Trump's so-called Board of Peace for Gaza met a top Palestinian Authority official on Friday as the U.S. president pushes ahead with his plan for the enclave's future.

Trump is expected to announce the composition of the board this month, possibly as early as next week, a U.S. official said. Portrayed as part of a transitional government, the board is an important component of Trump's phased plan to halt the war between Israel and Hamas.

DUBAI, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Yemen's main southern separatist group has decided to disband, one of its members said in a statement broadcast on state media on Friday in Saudi Arabia, where a delegation from the group, which appears to be splitting, has been attending peace talks.

There was no immediate comment from those members of the separatist group - the Southern Transitional Council (STC) - who are not taking part in the Riyadh talks, which were aimed at ending a crisis between Gulf powers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates over developments in Yemen.

Iranians took to the streets in new protests Friday to press the biggest movement against the Islamic republic in more than three years, as authorities sustained an internet blackout as part of a crackdown that has left dozens dead.

On Friday, US President Donald Trump said it looked like Iran's leaders were "in big trouble" and repeated an earlier threat of military strikes if peaceful protesters are killed.

"It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really possible just a few weeks ago," Trump said.

Jan 9 (Reuters) - Kurdish councils in Syria's Aleppo said on Friday they would not evacuate neighbourhoods under their control as part of a ceasefire deal to end days of fighting between Kurdish forces and Syrian government fighters.

In a statement published by Syrian Kurdish outlets, the local councils of the Ashrafiyah and Sheikh Maksoud districts said calls to leave Aleppo were "a call to surrender" and that Kurdish forces would instead "defend their neighbourhoods".

(Reporting by Orhan Qereman; Writing by Maya Gebeily; Editing by Alison Williams)

By Parisa Hafezi

DUBAI, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Iran was largely cut off from the outside world on Friday after authorities blacked out the internet to curb expanding protests, with phone calls not reaching the country, flights cancelled and online Iranian news sites only intermittently updating.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused protesters of acting on behalf of U.S. President Donald Trump, saying rioters were attacking public properties and warning that Tehran would not tolerate people acting as "mercenaries for foreigners".