It took Egyptian actor Mona Zaki more than a year's preparation to take on the hardest role of her career -- the iconic singer Umm Kulthum, a legend in the Arab world.

Marwan Hamed's "El Sett" ("The Lady") premiered this week at the Marrakech International Film Festival, where Zaki told AFP about the daunting task she faced.

"I was very scared at the beginning," she said. "I didn't know where to start."

Zaki is one of Egypt's more recognisable actors but her fears were not unfounded.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz flew into Israel Saturday for his first visit since taking office, and reaffirmed Berlin's support after traditionally solid ties between the countries were shaken by the Gaza war.

Merz landed at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport just before 8:00 pm (1800 GMT) and was met by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, who called him "a friend of Israel". Germany, he added, was "an important partner".

Merz met Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem later Saturday.

By Thomas Suen

NONG KHAI, Thailand, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Two years after Thai worker Sudthisak Rinthalak was killed by Hamas militants, his family in northeastern Thailand is preparing to welcome his remains home and hold a Buddhist ceremony they believe will bring his spirit peace.

Sudthisak was among 47 hostages whose bodies Hamas has returned under the current ceasefire agreement. The handover of deceased hostages was a key condition of the initial phase of the deal aimed at ending the war in Gaza.

DOHA, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said Saturday that negotiations on the war in Gaza were at a "critical" moment.

Mediators are working together to force the next phase of ceasefire forward, he said during a panel at the Doha Forum conference in Qatar.

(Reporting by Andrew Mills; Editing by Aidan Lewis)

SYDNEY, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Australia on Saturday imposed financial sanctions and travel bans on four officials in Afghanistan's Taliban government over what it said was a deteriorating human rights situation in the country, especially for women and girls.

Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the officials were involved "in the oppression of women and girls and in undermining good governance or the rule of law" in the Taliban-run country.

OTTAWA, Dec 5 (Reuters) - The Canadian government said on Friday that it has removed Syria from its list of foreign state supporters of terrorism and removed Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the group that spearheaded the rebel alliance that helped oust President Bashar al-Assad, from its list of terrorist entities.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Friday told a United Nations Security Council delegation his country does not want war with Israel, days after civilian representatives from both sides held their first talks in decades.

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem, whose militant group refuses to disarm, on Friday backed Lebanon's pursuit of diplomacy but called the inclusion of a civilian representative in talks with Israel a "misstep".

A treasure trove of 225 funerary figurines have been discovered inside a tomb in the ancient Egyptian capital of Tanis in the Nile Delta, a rare find that has also solved a long-running mystery.

"Finding figurines in place inside a royal tomb has not happened in the Tanis necropolis since 1946," French egyptologist Frederic Payraudeau told reporters in Paris on Friday.

The Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry said that Israeli forces killed a man in the northern occupied West Bank on Friday.

"Bahaa Abdel-Rahman Rashid (38 years old) was killed by Israeli fire in the town of Odala, south of Nablus," the health ministry said in a statement.

Shortly before, the Palestinian Red Crescent said its teams handled the case of a man "who suffered a critical head injury during clashes in the town of Odala near Nablus, and CPR is currently being performed on him".

By Olivia Le Poidevin, Johnny Cotton and Cecile Mantovani

GENEVA, Dec 5 (Reuters) - The Eurovision Song Contest was facing a potential budget squeeze after Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland and Slovenia said they would withdraw from next year's competition in protest at Israel's participation.

The planned boycott brought to a head a row that has overshadowed the past two contests, and followed threats by the four they would pull out if the organiser did not exclude Israel over the conduct of its war against Hamas in Gaza.