Israel became the first country to formally recognise the self-declared Republic of Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state on Friday - a decision that could reshape regional dynamics and test Somalia's longstanding opposition to secession.

A Palestinian attacker rammed his car into a man and then stabbed a young woman in northern Israel on Friday afternoon, killing both, police said. The Israeli military swiftly launched an operation in the assailant's hometown in the occupied West Bank.