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A NEW earthquake has hit western Afghanistan – several days after two large tremors in the region killed more than 1,000 people. The US Geological Survey (USGS) says the magnitude 6.3 quake struck near the city of Herat. It was at a depth of 6.3km (four miles). So far there have been no reports of any casualties. More than 90% of those who died in the earlier quakes were women and children, the UN’s children agency Unicef said. In its report, the USGS said the epicentre of the latest tremor was 30km north-west of Herat, Afghanistan’s third-largest city close to…

SAUDI Arabia has suspended talks on potentially normalising ties with Israel, a source told AFP on Saturday, amid the war raging between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Hamas launched a large-scale attack on Israel on October 7 which killed 1,300 people, sparking a retaliatory bombing campaign that has killed at least 2,215 in the Gaza Strip ahead of a potential Israeli ground invasion of the territory. “Saudi Arabia has decided to pause discussion on possible normalisation and has informed US officials,” a source familiar with the discussions told AFP. The news came as US Secretary of State Antony…

AFTER a court hearing on Thursday, a judge ordered that jailed Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko be reinstated on the electoral roll. Mr Sonko’s name was struck off the list of those eligible to vote after he was handed a two-year jail sentence in August. He was found to have acted immorally towards an individual younger than 21, but denied the allegation, arguing that the case was politically motivated. Mr Sonko’s lawyers said the judge’s decision on Thursday paved the way for him to run in next February’s presidential elections. However, this has not been confirmed. In a press release…

TWO South Africans have been killed in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) announced the news on Friday, but did not reveal the identity of those who had died. “The Department of International Relations and Cooperation can confirm that we have been notified that two South African nationals have died in this ongoing conflict between Palestine and Israel,” said Dirco spokesperson Clayson Monyela. “The verification process is currently under way because one of the individuals is reported to have an Israeli ID number, so we need to determine whether there…

CHELSEA legend Didier Drogba has picked Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen as his favourite active footballer snubbing some high-profile names like treble winner Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe. The 45-year-old retired striker was asked some quick-fire questions while at an award show in France on a wide range of topics, including his favourite teammate when he was at Chelsea. Despite playing alongside legends like Mikel Obi, Michael Ballack, and William Gallas, Drogba picked Frank Lampard as his favourite teammate. Drogba’s choice is however warranted as the retired England midfielder is only one of two players who have outscored him in the…

FRANCE forward Kylian Mbappe scored twice as his side held off the Netherlands to qualify for next summer’s European Championship with two matches to spare. Mbappe opened the scoring after seven minutes in Amsterdam and netted his second early in the second half. Quilindschy Hartman pulled a goal back for the hosts with seven minutes remaining. But France held on to maintain their perfect record in Group B. Didier Deschamps’ side have won all six of their European Championship qualifying matches and join Belgium, Portugal and hosts Germany in securing their spot at Euro 2024. The Netherlands sit third in…

IRISH Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has criticised the Israeli military for its ongoing bombardment of the Gaza Strip. Varadkar called the strikes and the blockade of the Palestinian territory a form of “collective punishment”, CBS reports. “Israel is under threat. They do have a right to defend themselves, but they don’t have the right to breach international humanitarian law,” Varadkar said in a Thursday interview with Irish state broadcaster RTÉ. The Irish leader said Israel faces legitimate threats as a nation “surrounded by these brutal, savage, groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, countries like Iran, often supported by Islamic fundamentalists and…

THE French prime minister has put the country on its highest state of counter-terrorism alert after an assailant fatally stabbed a teacher and seriously wounded two others. Witnesses say the knifeman shouted “Allahu Akbar”, or “God is greatest”, during the attack at a school in Arras, northern France. He is now in custody. The “attack emergency” level has been used in previous counter-terror cases. The alert can trigger extra security deployments and public warnings. The attack at Gambetta high school in the northern city, at about 11:00 local time (09:00 GMT), came amid rising tensions in France’s sizeable Muslim and…

MORE than 4,000 residents in Ghana’s south-east have had to flee their homes because of flooding. As a result of the Akosombo Dam overflowing, homes and farms have been destroyed by raging waters along the banks of the River Volta. Essential services have been disrupted, with water and electricity cut off in some of the areas. On Friday, the Ghanaian government said thousands of people, “in at least nine districts”, had been displaced. Elsewhere, the UN-affiliated Global Disaster and Coordination System said it had recorded seven injuries. Ghana’s Volta River Authority had previously asked residents to move to higher ground…

AL-QAEDA’s West African branch has announced the death of a Malian hostage in its custody, naming him as Idriss Sanogo, and saying he died of an unspecified illness. The Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) group extended its condolences to the man’s family. JNIM also laid the blame on the Malian government, saying the state had failed to negotiate Mr Sanogo’s release. The group relayed the news in a brief statement on Thursday via social media. It gave little information about Mr Sanogo, apart from saying he was born in 1952 and had been captured by JNIM militants in the Malian…

WAYNE Rooney believes Birmingham City belong in the Premier League and says that his aim is to “make that happen”. The former England captain, 37, was appointed the Championship club’s new manager on a three-and-a-half-year contract on Wednesday. Rooney said he was “intrigued” and “excited” by the opportunity he now has at St Andrew’s. He told BBC Radio WM: “I want to build Birmingham back up – really get it back to where it belongs. It’s a huge club.” “It hasn’t been where I think I should it have been over the last 10 years and now this is a…

THE Israeli military has told the UN that everyone living north of Wadi Gaza should relocate to southern Gaza in the next 24 hours, says a UN spokesperson. The UN says this amounts to approximately 1.1 million people – about half the population of the entire Gaza Strip. The affected area includes densely populated Gaza City. The alert was given just before midnight, Gaza and Jerusalem time (23:00 GMT). “The United Nations considers it impossible for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences,” the UN said in a statement. Israel has been preparing for a ground offensive,…

A PROMINENT Italian journalist has been found guilty of libel after insulting Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in a television interview. Roberto Saviano used a swear word to describe Ms Meloni while attacking her stance on migration in December 2020. He has been handed a suspended fine of 1,000 euros (£864). Though he will only have to pay it if he repeats the offence,campaignerssaid the verdict sent a “chilling message” about press freedom. Speaking to reporters outside the court, Mr Saviano said Ms Meloni’s government had sought to “intimidate” him for calling out “lies” about migrants, news agency AFP reported. Ms…

BURKINA Faso and Russia are on Friday due to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the construction of a nuclear power plant in the west African nation, according to the state-run AIB news agency. The agreement will be a culmination of talks the Burkinabe military ruler, Capt Ibrahim Traore, had with Russian president Vladimir Putin in July during the Russia-Africa summit in Moscow. “The MoU will be signed between Rosatom, the Russian federal atomic energy agency, and the Burkinabe ministry of energy, on the sidelines of Russian Energy Week 2023,” the report further said. Burkina Faso is one of…

WHILE Liberians await the results of Tuesday’s general election, a top EU observer has accused politicians who are already in office of overspending on their electoral campaigns and using government resources for them. Neither President George Weah nor other incumbent politicians have commented on the claim. Andreas Schieder, who’s heading the EU’s election observation mission, told the BBC these actions flouted the rules of Liberia’s electoral code. “During the campaign we observed a lot of issues – and one of such major issues was the lack of level playing fields as it relates the economic side, they used financial supremacy…

ISRAELI strikes targeted Syria’s two main airports on Thursday, Syrian state television said, in the first such attack since a HAMAS assault on Israel at the weekend triggered fierce fighting. “Israeli aggression targets Damascus and Aleppo airports,” the state television reported on the messaging app Telegram, without providing additional details. Israeli strikes have repeatedly caused the grounding of flights at the airports in Aleppo and the capital Damascus, both of which are controlled by the government of war-torn Syria. The latest strikes came as Hamas and Israel traded heavy fire for a sixth day after hundreds of Hamas gunmen stormed…

HARRY Maguire has thanked David Beckham after the former Manchester United star contacted the troubled England defender to offer support when he was booed by Scotland fans earlier this season. Maguire has endured abuse from supporters across the country during his difficult spell at Old Trafford, but the penchant for picking on the centre-back reached a crescendo during England’s friendly in Scotland last month. The 30-year-old was mercilessly goaded at Hampden Park after scoring an own goal in England’s 3-1 win. Maguire laughed it off as a “little bit of banter” immediately after the match but his mother publicly came…

OVER 260,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in the Gaza Strip, as heavy Israeli bombardments from the air, land and sea continue to hit the Palestinian enclave, the United Nations said. Fierce fighting has left thousands dead on both sides since Hamas launched a surprise assault on Saturday, spurring Israel’s reprisal bombing campaign. “Over 263,934 people in Gaza are believed to have fled their homes,” said UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in an update Tuesday, warning that “this number is expected to rise further”. It said that around 3,000 people had been displaced “due to previous escalations”,…

THE United Auto Workers (UAW) union has expanded its ongoing strike by shutting down Ford’s biggest plant. The UAW said 8,700 workers walked out of the truck plant in Kentucky, in response to Ford refusing to move further in contract bargaining. It is a sharp escalation of its strike against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, which began last month. The UAW is pressuring the carmakers to grant higher pay and make other improvements in new labour agreements. It is the first in the union’s 88-year history to target the Detroit Three automakers, which collectively employ more than 140,000 UAW members,…

THE FBI and the Office of Ghana’s Special Prosecutor (OSP) are looking into the assets and financial transactions of embattled former minister Cecilia Abena Dapaah and her associates in the US. In a post on social media app X, the OSP said: “This collaborative effort is to ascertain the lawfulness of Ms Dapaah and her associates’ wealth, both in the context of their funds transitioning from Ghana to the United States and vice versa.” The former sanitation minister is currently under investigation by the OSP on allegations of corruption and corruption-related offences stemming from the discovery of over $1m (£813,300)…