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SAUDI Arabia’s de facto ruler on Monday called on Israel to respect Iran’s sovereignty and refrain from attacking Iranian soil, highlighting warming ties between the Middle East rivals. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told a summit of Arab and Muslim leaders that the international community should oblige Israel “to respect the sovereignty of the sisterly Islamic Republic of Iran and not to violate its lands”. Sunni Muslim-majority Saudi Arabia and Shiite-majority Iran have often found themselves on opposing sides of regional conflicts including Syria’s. In 2015, Saudi Arabia mobilised a military coalition to support Yemen’s internationally recognised government after Iran-backed…

THE Philipines government on Sunday ordered the evacuation of 2, 500 villages in the wake of the fourth major storm that hit the country. According to AFP, thousands of people sought shelter, ports were shut down and landslides blocked mountain roads in the Philippines on Monday, as the disaster-weary nation was struck by a fourth cyclone in less than a month. Typhoon Toraji hit near Dilasag town, about 220 kilometres (140 miles) northeast of the capital in the morning, the national weather agency said. “We’re getting hit with strong winds and heavy rain. Some trees are being toppled and power…

THE prime minister of Mauritius has accepted that his coalition, L’Alliance Lepep, has suffered a “huge defeat” following Sunday’s parliamentary election. “The population has decided to choose another team,” Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth, 62, told journalists on Monday. Jugnauth was seeking a second five-year term, but his main rival, Navin Ramgoolam, 77, leader of the Alliance of Change coalition, looks set to become the next leader of the Indian Ocean archipelago. Mauritius is known as one of Africa’s most stable democracies, but this election was tainted by a phone-tapping scandal, with leaked recordings of public figures posted online. In response,…

BURKINA Faso’s armed forces say they are investigating a gruesome video that purports to show military volunteers hacking apart a dead body with machetes, while gloating to the camera. Work is under way to verify the video and the people shown in it “so that they can be held accountable for their actions, if the facts are proven,” the general staff said in a statement. The West African nation is ruled by the military, who seized power almost three years ago promising to end the chronic insecurity that has forced two million people from their homes. But efforts to defeat…

MANCHESTER United signed off Ruud van Nistelrooy’s temporary stint in charge with a 3-0 win over Leicester on Sunday as Ipswich stunned Tottenham 2-1 for their first Premier League victory in 22 years. Third-placed Nottingham Forest’s fine run came to an end in a 3-1 home defeat to Newcastle. Arsenal are aiming to kickstart their faltering title challenge later away at London rivals Chelsea. Ruben Amorim will be in charge for the first time when United returns from the international break. But Van Nistelrooy was able to hand over the reins with a four-game unbeaten run since stepping up to…

ISRAELI attacks have killed at least 38 people across Lebanon on Sunday, including 23 in an air attack on the Lebanese village of Almat, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health. The Shia Muslim majority village of Almat in the Jbeil district is about 30km (19 miles) north of the capital Beirut and is located in a mostly Christian area. The village is outside Hezbollah’s traditional strongholds of south Beirut and south and east Lebanon, which Israel has heavily bombed since late September in its war against the Iran-backed group. “The Israeli enemy strike on Almat in the Jbeil district killed…

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has signed off on a landmark defence pact with North Korea, a deal that comes amid reports that Pyongyang has despatched thousands of troops to fight against Ukraine. Putin struck the deal during a visit to North Korea in June, but it had to pass through Russia’s parliament and signed by the Kremlin leader to come into force. The Kremlin published the signed law ratifying the treaty on its website on Saturday evening. The agreement formalises months of deepening security cooperation between the two nations, which were Communist allies throughout the Cold War. North Korea has…

POLICE in Ivory Coast’s largest city Abidjan have opened an investigation after two dead babies were found in a landfill alongside human remains, according to officials. The bodies of two stillborn infants were found Sunday morning at a landfill site in Akouedo, east Abidjan, along with “medical equipment and fibroids that had apparently been dumped by a clinic or by a hospital”, said the city’s chief of police Kollo Roger Yeo. Deputy Director-General for Public Safety Siaka Dosso also confirmed the presence of “human waste, including fibroids and umbilical cords”. He said police had launched an investigation. “Mothers sometimes abandon…

NUMEROUS Chad troops have been killed in a clash with Boko Haram Insurgents in the Lake Chad region, the latest such incident in the central African nation, officials said on Sunday. “I present my sincere condolences to the families of the martyrs who fell defending the homeland during this clash and I wish a speedy recovery to the wounded”, President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno said in a post on Facebook, without providing any other details. The clash was the latest since late October, when an attack by Boko Haram Insurgents on a Chadian military base killed at least 40 people.…

PEP Guardiola suffered four consecutive defeats for the first time in his managerial career as Manchester City’s dismal spell hit a new low with a late collapse in their 2-1 loss at Brighton on Saturday. With just 12 minutes left, Guardiola’s troubled side were clinging onto the lead given to them by Erling Haaland in the first half. But they collapsed in the closing stages as Joao Pedro equalised before Matt O’Riley bagged Brighton’s winner seven minutes from full-time. For the first time in his glittering career as a manager with City, Bayern Munich, and Barcelona, Guardiola has been beaten…

THE Israeli military has killed several dozen Palestinians across the Gaza Strip in a string of attacks as it allowed a small amount of aid into the northern part of the enclave, the first after over a month of intensified siege. Medics quoted by the Palestinian Wafa news agency said Friday evening that at least 40 people were killed across Gaza since dawn, including 24 in the north. At least six Palestinians were killed in the targeting of the Fahd al-Sabah school sheltering displaced people in the Tuffah neighbourhood on Saturday, according to the Al Jazeera team on the ground…

THOUSANDS of people have demonstrated in Spain’s eastern city of Valencia to protest the authorities’ handling of one of Europe’s deadliest natural disasters in decades and call for accountability. Large crowds gathered in the central part of the city on Saturday night, with some clashing with riot police in front of Valencia’s city hall. Police were filmed using batons to beat back protesters who were marching towards the seat of the regional government. In Spain, regional governments are charged with handling civilian protection and can ask for extra resources from the national government in Madrid. The current regional leader is…

DEVASTATING flooding in South Sudan is affecting around 1.4 million people, with more than 379,000 displaced, according to a United Nations update that warned about an upsurge in malaria. Aid agencies have said that the world’s youngest country, highly vulnerable to climate change, is in the grip of its worst flooding in decades, mainly in the north. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said about 1.4 million people were affected by floods in 43 counties and the disputed Abyei region, which is claimed by both South Sudan and Sudan. “Over 379,000 individuals are displaced in…

WHAT the rest of the world sees as a sex tape scandal could in fact be the latest episode in the real-life drama over who will become Equatorial Guinea’s next president. Over the past fortnight, dozens of videos – estimates range from 150 to more than 400 – have been leaked of a senior civil servant having sex in his office and elsewhere with different women. They have flooded social media, shocking and titillating people in the small central African country and beyond. Many of the women filmed were wives and relatives of people close to the centre of power.…

MIKEL Arteta expects Arsenal to bounce back from their nightmare spell in Sunday’s crucial clash with Chelsea after sensing his players’ hunger during a team meeting this week. Arteta’s side are without a victory in their last three Premier League games and have won just three of their last eight in the competition. Beaten 1-0 by Inter Milan in the Champions League on Wednesday, hot on the heels of last weekend’s loss at Newcastle, the north Londoners are desperate to end their slump in this weekend’s London derby at Stamford Bridge. Arsenal were expected to challenge for the title after…

UNITED Nations human rights chief Volker Turk has condemned Israel’s “apparent indifference” to the killing of civilians in Gaza, after a new report from his agency showed that nearly 70 percent of verified deaths were of women and children. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) published the report on Friday, having verified 8,119 of the more than 34,500 people reportedly killed during the first six months of Israel’s war in Gaza, finding that a high proportion were women and children – the youngest just one day old. Turk blasted Israel’s “wanton disregard” for the “rules…

NORTH Korea has staged a Global Positioning System (GPS) jamming attack, Seoul’s military has said, an ongoing disruption operation that has impacted several ships and dozens of civilian aircraft in South Korea. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) on Saturday warned ships and aircraft operating in the West Sea area, also known as the Yellow Sea, to be cautious of North Korea’s GPS signal jamming. “North Korea conducted GPS jamming provocations in Haeju and Kaesong yesterday and today [November 8-9],” the JCS said in a statement, adding that several vessels and dozens of civilian aircraft were experiencing “some operational…

SOUTH Africa’s radical opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), appears to be on a downward spiral after another high-profile member defected to ex-President Jacob Zuma’s party. Dali Mpofu, an advocate and former EFF chairperson, told local media that after much “soul-searching” he had decided to join uMhkonto weSizwe (MK), or Spear of the Nation. “I believe it [MK] is the vehicle which will achieve the much needed black and progressive unity,” he said. Led by the firebrand Julius Malema, the EFF had strong support among South Africa’s burgeoning young population frustrated with the slow pace of political and economic…

BOTSWANA’s new president has told the BBC that he wants undocumented Zimbabweans to be legalised by granting them temporary work and residence permits. “They do jobs that would otherwise not get done,” Duma Boko told the BBC Africa Daily podcast before his historic inauguration on Friday. Botswana hosts the world’s second-largest community of Zimbabweans fleeing their country’s economic woes – and they are often resented, with deportations taking place daily. The decision is not likely to be popular in the diamond-rich southern African nation, but Boko, 54, who has just unseated the ruling party that was in power for 58…

VICTOR Osimhen scored twice as Galatasaray inflicted a first Europa League defeat of the season on Tottenham to move top of the table with a 3-2 victory in Istanbul on Thursday. The Turkish champions have 10 points from four games and have all but secured qualification for at least the knock-out play-off round, while Spurs sit in fifth place after losing their 100-percent record. Galatasaray took an early lead when Yunus Akgun smashed a sensational long-range volley into the top corner in the sixth minute. But the visitors hit back just 12 minutes later as teenage striker Will Lankshear marked…