International News
Afghanistan Earthquake: Death Toll Rises To More Than 800 — Taliban Authorities
A massive rescue operation was underway in Afghanistan on Monday, after a strong earthquake collapsed homes onto sleeping families in a remote, mountainous region, killing more than 800 people with the toll expected to rise, Taliban authorities said.
The 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck just before midnight, rattling buildings from Kabul to neighbouring Pakistan’s capital Islamabad.
Casualties and destruction swept across at least five provinces and rescuers were still pulling people from destroyed homes and evacuating the injured by helicopter as evening approached.
“The search operation is still going on. Many people are stuck under the rubble of their roofs,” the disaster management head in eastern Kunar province, Ehsanullah Ehsan, told AFP, warning the death toll could rise.
Around 800 people were killed and 2,500 injured in Kunar alone, near the epicentre, Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.
Another 12 people were killed and 255 injured in neighbouring Nangarhar province, while 58 people were injured in Laghman province.
In Wadir village in Kunar’s Nurgal district, dozens of residents of the surrounding area helped rescuers to pull people from the rubble of flattened homes, sometimes with their bare hands, AFP journalists saw.
Many injured were transported to hospitals in Jalalabad city in Nangarhar province, such as 22-year-old Zafar Khan Gojar, who was evacuated from Nurgal along with his brother whose leg was broken.
“The rooms and walls collapsed… killing some children and injuring others,” he told AFP.
The earthquake epicentre was about 27 kilometres (17 miles) from Jalalabad, according to the USGS, which said it struck about eight kilometres below the Earth’s surface.
‘Fear and tension’
Relatively shallow quakes can cause more damage, especially since the majority of Afghans live in low-rise, mud-brick homes vulnerable to collapse.
Some of the most severely impacted villages in Kunar “remain inaccessible due to road blockages”, the UN migration agency warned in a statement to AFP.
Roads remained blocked nearly 20 hours after the earthquake, despite resident efforts to clear the way.
“There is a lot of fear and tension… Children and women were screaming. We had never experienced anything like this in our lives,” a member of the agricultural department in Nurgal Ijaz Ulhaq Yaad told AFP.
He said that many living in quake-hit villages were among the more than four million Afghans who have returned to the country from Iran and Pakistan in recent years.
“They wanted to build their homes here.”
Nangarhar and Kunar provinces border Pakistan, with the Torkham crossing the site of many waves of Afghan returnees deported or forced to leave, often with no work and nowhere to go.
UN chief Antonio Guterres added his condolences to those shared by the Taliban government and several nations.
“I stand in full solidarity with the people of Afghanistan after the devastating earthquake that hit the country earlier today,” he said.
In a post shared by the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV said he was “deeply saddened by the significant loss of life caused by the earthquake in the area of eastern Afghanistan”.
Frequent quakes
Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, near the junction of the Eurasia and India tectonic plates.
Since 1900, there have been 12 earthquakes with magnitudes greater than seven in northeast Afghanistan, according to Brian Baptie, a seismologist at the British Geological Survey.
“This scale of the seismic activity, the potential for multi-hazard events and the construction of structures in the region can combine to create significant loss of life in such events,” he said.
In October 2023, western Herat province was devastated by a 6.3-magnitude earthquake, which killed more than 1,500 people and damaged or destroyed more than 63,000 homes.
A 5.9-magnitude quake struck the eastern province of Paktika in June 2022, killing more than 1,000 people and leaving tens of thousands homeless.
Ravaged by four decades of war, Afghanistan is already contending with a series of humanitarian crises.
Since the return of the Taliban in 2021, foreign aid to Afghanistan has been slashed, undermining the impoverished nation’s already hamstrung ability to respond to disasters.
Around 85 percent of the Afghan population lives on less than one dollar a day, according to the UN Development Programme.
AFP
Norway said Friday it will present a bill this year making it the latest country seeking to ban social networks for under 16s, adding that technology companies will be responsible for verifying the age of its users.
“We are introducing this legislation because we want a childhood where children get to be children. Play, friendships, and everyday life must not be taken over by algorithms and screens,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said in a statement.
“This is an important measure to safeguard children’s digital lives,” he added.
Several European countries, such as France, Spain, and Denmark have already said they will introduce a digital age of majority for social networks and others like Australia and Türkey have already done so.
The European Commission has also made clear its determination to take action to protect children and adolescents, notably by unveiling in mid-April an age-verification app that will soon be made available to European citizens.
“I expect technology companies to ensure that the age limit is respected. Children cannot be left with the responsibility for staying away from platforms they are not allowed to use,” added Norwegian Minister of Digitalisation and Public Governance Karianne Tung.
“That responsibility rests with the companies providing these services. They must implement effective age verification and comply with the law from day one”.
The government said the number of children with phones or using social media had declined due to a host of measures it had already taken, including “national screen-time guidelines and recommendations for mobile-free schools.”
An envoy to US President Donald Trump has asked world football’s governing body FIFA to replace Iran with Italy at the World Cup, according to the Financial Times.
US special envoy Paolo Zampolli told the FT it would be a “dream” to see four-time World Cup winners Italy at the finals in the United States, Mexico and Canada despite the fact they lost in a qualification playoff last month.
The suggestion was an effort to repair ties between Trump and Giorgia Meloni after the Italian prime minister fell out with the president after criticising his attack on Pope Leo XIV over the Iran war, the newspaper reported.
“I confirm I have suggested to Trump and (FIFA President Gianni) Infantino that Italy replace Iran at the World Cup. I’m an Italian native, and it would be a dream to see the Azzurri at a US-hosted tournament. With four titles, they have the pedigree to justify inclusion,” Zampolli told the FT.
Italy missed out on the World Cup for the third successive time after losing a penalty shootout to Bosnia and Herzegovina in their qualifying playoff final.
Iran’s participation in the World Cup has been thrown into doubt by the war with the US and Israel that broke out on February 28.
The Iranian football federation (FFIRI) had said in April it was “negotiating” with FIFA to relocate the country’s World Cup matches from the United States to Mexico.
But Infantino told AFP last month, while attending Iran’s friendly against Costa Rica in Turkey, that Iran will be at the World Cup and that they will play “where they are supposed to be, according to the draw”.
Zampolli is an Italian-American socialite, businessman and former modelling agent who claims to have introduced Trump to his current wife, Melania Trump.
Barcelona are set to let five key players leave the club this summer, as they plan a squad overhaul, according to reports.
The Blaugrana are currently sitting nine points clear at the top of LaLiga, and are set to romp to a second consecutive title ahead of rivals Real Madrid.
However, after more disappointment in the Champions League, in which they were dumped out by Atletico Madrid, Hansi Flick and the board at Barcelona are preparing to rebuild their squad at the end of the campaign.
Spanish media outlet Marca are reporting that there are five players who have ‘completed a cycle at the club’ and will likely be moved on come the summer.
Marcus Rashford is one of those players. Barcelona can buy the 28-year-old, who is on loan from Manchester United, for £26million under the terms of the deal, but reports have emerged that they are not willing to exercise that option.
The 28-year-old has contributed 12 goals and 13 assists this season to help the Catalan giants run rampant in LaLiga, and as recently as last week, it was believed that Barca would like to keep him.
However, they have made a failed bid to renegotiate the £26m fee with United, who are refusing to budge on the clause which expires on June 15 – four days after the World Cup kicks off in North America.
It means there is a strong chance that Rashford will be forced to return to his boyhood club following England duty if he is selected for the tournament this summer.
Another attacker who seems set for the exit door is none other than Robert Lewandowski.
The Pole, who joined Barcelona from Bayern Munich in 2022, is out of contract in the summer, and there has been little indication that he will sign a new deal at the club.
It is believed that both Lewandowski’s ‘age and recent physical problems’ have thrust his future at Barca into doubt.
Barcelona are said to be looking at freeing up some financial legroom, and for that reason, they want to offload stars on big wage packets.
One of those players is Frenkie de Jong, who is understood to be on just under €400,000 (£348,000) per week, and Marca suggest that he could be sold to ‘ease the financial burden’ on the Spanish giants.
Former Chelsea defender Andreas Christensen and La Masia graduate Marc Casado are also said to be on the proverbial chopping block.
Christensen played 161 games in six seasons with the Blues before making the move to Catalonia in 2022 on a four-year deal. That deal is now set to expire, and there are no plans for an extension at this moment in time.
Casado, however, still has two years left on his contract, but due to a lack of minutes, could be forced to find a new club.
The defensive midfielder has failed to break into the team ahead of Pedri, Eric Garcia, and Gavi, and has started only one of the last eight LaLiga games.
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