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A low-magnitude tremor hit Bangladesh on Saturday, the national meterological service said, a day after a powerful earthquake struck outside the capital Dhaka and killed at least 10 people.Updating earlier tolls from Friday’s 5.5-magnitude quake, disaster management official Ishtiaqe Ahmed told AFP that “the number of casualties has reached 10, while a few hundreds were injured”.The first earthquake was felt in Dhaka and neighbouring districts, causing widespread destruction.Toriful Newaz Kabir of the Bangladesh Meterological Department said Saturday’s 3.3 magnitude jolt was recorded in the town of Palash, Narsingdi district, 29 kilometres (18 miles) from Dhaka.The met office had earlier said its epicentre was in Ashulia, just north of the capital.”There was a mistake while analysing the data,” Kabir told AFP, adding they had revised the epicentre location.Aftershocks are common after major earthquakes, but for some in Bangladesh it has added to fears of an even greater disaster.”I don’t feel safe yet, as there was another jolt this morning in Ashulia. Maybe we are next,” said Shahnaj Parvin.The 44-year-old, who lives near the epicentre of Friday’s earthquake, told AFP she had never experienced such a tremor.Cracks have developed in dozens of houses in her area, she said.”I was hanging my children’s clothes on the washing line when the tremor struck,” added Parvin.”I held onto a mahogany tree, and when I returned home, I found my glassware broken.”The government has activated Bangladesh’s emergency operation centre to assess the scale of the damage and to coordinate relief and rescue operations.Rubayet Kabir of the Meteorological Department’s Earthquake Observation and Research Center said Bangladesh’s geography makes the country of 170 million people prone to quakes.”That’s why we experience earthquakes quite frequently, though they are not as strong as the one” on Friday, he told AFP.”Some small tremors are expected after any major earthquake,” Kabir said.”There has been no massive earthquake in the last 100 years or more, but Bangladesh has been vulnerable for quite some time.”

Spinner Kuldeep Yadav took three wickets as India rattled South Africa with late strikes to leave the tourists 247-6 at stumps on the first day of the second Test on Saturday.Tristan Stubbs, who made 49, and skipper Temba Bavuma (41) put on 84 runs for the third wicket after South Africa elected to bat in their bid for a first Test series win in India in 25 years.The World Test champions won the first Test of the two-match series by 30 runs at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens.Ravindra Jadeja sent back Bavuma with his left-arm spin in the final session before Kuldeep denied Stubbs his fifty to raise the noise of a large weekend crowd in Guwahati.Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep (3-48) dismissed Wiaan Mulder for 13 and pace bowler Mohammed Siraj ended Tony de Zorzi’s defiance on 28 with the second new ball to further dent South Africa.Left-hander Senuran Muthusamy, on 25, and wicketkeeper-batter Kyle Verreynne, on one, were batting when bad light forced stumps with only 81.5 overs possible, fewer than the usual 90 overs in a day.Aiden Markram, who scored 38, and Ryan Rickelton (35) fell either side of the first break to Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep after an opening partnership of 82.Bavuma and Stubbs, promoted to number three in the batting order, then got to the grind and slowly took the attack to the hosts with regular boundaries as the pair used their feet against the Indian spinners.Jadeja broke through with his left-arm spin to dismiss in-form Bavuma, who scored the only fifty in the opener in Kolkata, after the batter chipped to mid-off.Stubbs attempted to keep up the tempo as he hit Jadeja for a six but soon Kuldeep had him caught at slip.Play started 30 minutes earlier than usual, with the order of the session breaks reversed, meaning tea came before lunch at India’s newest Test venue, which attracted an opening-day crowd of over 15,000 fans.Bumrah had Markram bowled at the stroke of tea when the batsman inside-edged a delivery on to his stumps.Kuldeep struck on the third ball after the break to cut short Rickelton’s 82-ball stay.The openers had started cautiously and Markram got off the mark on his 17th ball with a crunching cover drive for four off Bumrah.Bumrah nearly had his revenge next ball only for KL Rahul to drop a regulation chance at second slip. The bowler covered his face in dismay.South Africa, who recently drew 1-1 in Pakistan, are chasing a first series win in India since Hansie Cronje’s team triumphed there in 2000.

Aiden Markram fell bowled to Jasprit Bumrah after a strong start as South Africa reached 82-1 at the first break of the second Test against India on Saturday in Guwahati.World Test champions South Africa chose to bat in their bid to clinch their first series on Indian soil in 25 years.After an earlier scare, Markram dragged a fuller delivery from pace spearhead Bumrah on to his stumps at the stroke of the interval. He made 38.Left-handed Ryan Rickelton was batting on 35.Play started 30 minutes earlier than usual because of early sunsets, with the order of the session breaks reversed, meaning tea before lunch.The openers started cautiously and Markram got off the mark on his 17th ball with a crunching cover drive for four off Bumrah.The bowler nearly had his revenge next ball only for KL Rahul to drop a chance at second slip.Bumrah covered his face in dismay with Rahul spilling a regulation catch on a pitch which looks good to bat on.Spin was introduced in the 14th over with Washington Sundar given the ball as India rotated their bowlers in search of a wicket.India are led by wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant after regular skipper Shubman Gill was forced out with the neck injury he suffered in the first Test.South Africa, who recently drew 1-1 in Pakistan, are chasing a first series win in India since Hansie Cronje’s team triumphed there in 2000.They won the first Test by 30 runs at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens.

On a lush cricket ground outside Colombo the sharp jingling of a ball cuts through the afternoon air. Every rattle is a pushback against the stigma of disability.Sri Lanka and India are co-hosting the first T20 World Cup for visually impaired women.The semi-finals are on Saturday between India and Australia and Pakistan and Nepal, followed by the final on Sunday.India manager Shika Shetty told AFP that the sport has transformed lives and helped change attitudes.”I think this (world cup) is one of the biggest opportunities for our visually impaired girls,” said Shetty, who is not blind.India captain T.C. Deepika recalled the disbelief she faced when she first picked up the bat.”People were saying, ‘How do they do it? They must be lying,'” she said in a video posted by the Cricket Association for the Blind in India.”(Later) they realised I can do something. People began to see that I have ability,” Deepika added.- Playing by the ear -While able-bodied cricket requires players to keep an eye on the ball at all times, blind players must have sharp ears. The white plastic ball, the size of a tennis ball, is packed with ball bearings that rattle as it rolls.The bowler must ask the striker if he or she is ready and then yell “play” as the jingling ball is delivered underarm with at least one bounce.Like a regular cricket match, each side has 11 players, but at least four must be totally blind. They are required to wear blindfolds for fairness.Fielders clap once to reveal their positions.Others are partially sighted, classified by how far they can see — two metres for B2 players, six for B3. Each team can have up to eight B1, or totally blind, players. Any run scored by a B1 player is counted as two.- ‘Liberating’ -Chaminda Karunaratne says cricket has been both a refuge and a way to prove that blindness cannot impede his sporting ambitions.The blind 40-year-old Sri Lankan school teacher has represented his country in international tournaments and now wants women to share that space.”Cricket has done wonders, especially for my mental health,” Karunaratne said as the Indian and Pakistan women’s teams battled it out on the ground.”When you get into a sport like this it boosts your self-confidence, you can move more freely and you tend to take part in community activities,” he said. “That is liberating.”Karunaratne, a key member of the Sri Lanka Cricket Association for the Visually Handicapped, added: “I appeal to parents to send their blind girls to take up cricket. It is an opportunity to interact with others.””You can show that you are not helpless, not dependent,” he said.Association president Sudesh Tharanga admitted forming a women’s team had been a challenge, although nearly a million Sri Lankans are estimated to have some form of visual impediment.”We started assembling a team only after we were asked in September if we could co-host the T20 tournament in November,” Tharanga told AFP.Despite limited preparations Sri Lanka managed to field one of the tournament’s youngest squads.

Miss Mexico was crowned Miss Universe in Thailand on Friday, strutting to victory after several dramatic missteps before the final round, including staging a walkout when an organiser of the beauty pageant chastised her.Contestants from Ivory Coast, the Philippines, Thailand and Venezuela also made it to the final stage, selected from more than 120 women vying for the title in a contest considered one of the “big four” of global beauty pageants.However, chaos reigned before Miss Mexico Fatima Bosch was crowned, from allegations of an insult to her intelligence to judges quitting and participants falling on and off the stage.Bosch staged a dramatic walkout this month from a meeting where she was lambasted by Miss Universe Thailand director Nawat Itsaragrisil.Nawat appeared in a livestream of the event to single her out during a dispute over her apparent failure to post promotional content on her social media accounts.Bosch, flanked by Miss Iraq, walked out of the room after Nawat called for security to intervene.Others appeared to rise in solidarity with Bosch, before freezing as Nawat warned that those still wanting to participate should “sit down”.”What your director did is not respectful: he called me dumb,” Bosch told reporters at the time. “The world needs to see this because we are empowered women and this is a platform for our voice.”The newly crowned winner told a press conference on Friday that she would like to be remembered as “a Miss Universe that wasn’t afraid to be herself” and “a person that changed, a little bit, the prototype of what is a Miss Universe”.Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum had called Bosch an “example of how we women should speak out” in the face of aggression after the incident with Nawat.”In public events, I say women look prettier when we speak out,” Sheinbaum said.Nawat later apologised.He initially declined to comment when asked about Bosch on Friday, telling reporters he’d “rather not talk about her”.”It’s better to let pageant fans discuss it. I respect the result anyway,” he said.Nawat then congratulated her later in the same news conference.”I do support, and congratulations again to Mexico’s fans,” he said.- ‘Secret’ vote -Mexican media and social networks were awash with coverage of Bosch after the incident, heightening anticipation.In Villahermosa, Bosch’s hometown, thousands of people gathered at a baseball stadium to watch the pageant live.”Mexico, Mexico!” chanted the crowd, which erupted in cheers and applause when she was crowned, while fireworks lit up the sky, according to Mexican media reports.Other drama in the run-up to the final round included two judges quitting this week, one alleging that the contest was rigged by a “secret and illegitimate vote” held without the official jury.”This vote was conducted by individuals who are not recognised members of the official judging panel,” French composer Omar Harfouch wrote in a statement posted on Instagram.The Miss Universe Organization has denied Harfouch’s claim, saying that “no impromptu jury has been created”.Former professional footballer Claude Makelele also withdrew as a judge, citing “unforeseen personal reasons” in a statement on social media.Miss Britain Danielle Latimer tripped and fell flat on the stage during the costume round on Wednesday while wearing an outfit inspired by the Cockney character Eliza Doolittle.And Miss Jamaica Gabrielle Henry was hospitalised after she fell off the main stage during an evening gown showcase, president of the Miss Universe Organization Raul Rocha said in a statement.Miss Universe Jamaica public relations director Shannon-Dale Reid told AFP on Wednesday that Henry was “resting under medical observation” and had not suffered serious injuries.burs-sco/ami

A powerful earthquake struck outside Bangladesh’s crowded capital Dhaka on Friday, killing at least nine people and injuring more than 300, authorities said.The 5.5-magnitude quake struck at 10:38 am (0438 GMT) near the city of Narsingdi, about 33 kilometres (16 miles) from Dhaka, according to the US Geological Survey.The tremor sparked fear and chaos, with many in the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people at home on their day off.AFP reporters in Dhaka saw people weeping in the streets while others looked shocked.The interim government’s press office said at least nine people were killed and more than 300 people injured.At least 14 buildings were damaged, and fire broke out at a power station but was later brought under control.Interim leader Muhammad Yunus expressed in a statement his “deep shock and sorrow over the news of casualties in various districts”.He added that the government was taking “all necessary measures”.Nine people were taken to hospitals in Dhaka with serious injuries, according to the government’s health department.A witness told AFP that masonry from an eight-storey building in Dhaka had fallen onto a busy road below.”Many people had gathered at the butcher” when the rubble fell, said Sakib Hossain, 50, who rushed out after hearing a loud bang.”I saw vans carrying injured people,” he added.Mohammad Sharif, who was in a queue to buy meat, said the debris fell from above on people standing ahead of him.”A child suffered a serious injury on his neck and died immediately,” he told AFP.The shaking lasted for 26 seconds, according to the Bangladesh Meteorological Department, which recorded the magnitude as 5.7.”The situation is being closely monitored, and all relevant departments have been directed to immediately go to the field to assess any possible damages,” Yunus said.The 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner was selected to lead the country after a mass uprising toppled the government last year. Elections are slated for February 2026.The tremors on Friday were felt as far as the Indian city of Kolkata, more than 325 kilometres (about 200 miles) away from the epicentre.AFP reporters there saw people fleeing offices and homes after the sudden jolt.”I felt tremors and my bed moved… I rushed out of my room,” said Sumit Dutta, 66.There were no immediate reports of casualties or significant damage in India.

Afghanistan is scrambling to diversify its trade partners after a deadly border clash with Pakistan last month brought ties to their lowest point in years, affecting people on both sides of the frontier.The South Asian neighbours have been locked in an increasingly bitter dispute since the Taliban took over Kabul in 2021, with Islamabad accusing Afghanistan of harbouring the militants behind cross-border attacks — charges the Taliban government denies.Abdul Ghani Baradar, Afghanistan’s deputy prime minister for economic affairs, urged traders last week to “redirect their trade toward other alternative routes instead of Pakistan”. Pakistan is landlocked Afghanistan’s top trading partner, supplying rice, pharmaceuticals and raw materials, while taking in 45 percent of Afghan exports in 2024, according to the World Bank. More than 70 percent of those exports, worth $1.4 billion, are perishable farm goods such as figs, pistachios, grapes and pomegranates. Dozens of Afghan trucks were stranded with rotting produce when the frontier shut on October 12 due to deadly cross-border fire, which was followed by a fragile truce. Losses have topped $100 million on both sides, and up to 25,000 border workers have been affected, according to the Pakistan Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PAJCCI), which seeks to promote bilateral trade.Baradar warned traders that Kabul would not intervene if they kept relying on Pakistan.Wary of further disruptions, the Taliban government is now hedging its bets with Iran, Central Asia — and beyond.- Pomegranates to Russia -Trade with Iran and Turkmenistan has jumped 60–70 percent since mid-October, said Mohammad Yousuf Amin, head of the Chamber of Commerce in Herat, in western Afghanistan.Kabul also sent apples and pomegranates to Russia for the first time last month. Russia is the only country to have officially recognised the Taliban administration.Taliban leaders crave wider recognition and foreign investment, but sanctions on senior figures have made investors wary.The vast market in India is a prime attraction. On Sunday, state-owned Ariana Afghan Airlines cut freight rates to the country of 1.4 billion people.Two days later, Kabul sent its commerce and industry minister to New Delhi.”Afghanistan has too many fruits and vegetables it cannot store because there are no refrigerated warehouses,” said Torek Farhadi, an economic analyst and former IMF adviser. “Exporting is the only way,” he told AFP. And quickly, before the products spoil.Kabul touts Iran’s Chabahar port as an alternative to Pakistan’s southern harbours, but Farhadi noted it is farther, costlier and hampered by US sanctions on Tehran.- ‘Distraught’ -“It’s better for both countries to end this trade war… They need each other,” Farhadi said.Afghanistan relies on Pakistan’s market of 240 million people and its sea access, while Islamabad wants Afghan transit to reach Central Asia for textile and energy trade. Pakistan says the closure curbs militant infiltration, but its economy is also feeling the pinch.The spokesman for Pakistan’s foreign ministry said on Friday that Islamabad had reached its “threshold of patience” after recent attacks.”Either we get ourselves killed or we undertake very risky trade… This is a difficult choice that we have made,” spokesman Tahir Hussain Andrabi told a weekly briefing.”Can you put a price tag on a human life, on a Pakistani life?” he said.In Peshawar, near the frontier, Afghan produce has all but vanished from markets. Grapes cost four times more and tomatoes have more than doubled to over 200 rupees (70 cents) a kilogram, an AFP correspondent found.On Monday, the PAJCCI urged Islamabad to act, warning of mounting costs as shipping containers bound for Afghanistan and Central Asia remain stuck in Pakistan.Each container is racking up $150–$200 in daily port charges, the group said, adding: “With thousands of containers stuck, the collective economic burden has become unbearable and continues to grow with each passing day.”Truck driver Naeem Shah, 48, has been waiting at the Pakistani border town of Chaman with sugar and cooking oil bound for Afghanistan.”I haven’t been paid for a month. No matter who I call, they say there is no money because the border is closed,” he told AFP.”If it doesn’t reopen, we will be distraught.”

India skipper Shubman Gill will miss the must-win second Test against South Africa on Saturday because of the neck injury he sustained in the opening match.The hosts will be led by wicketkeeper and deputy Rishabh Pant in Guwahati as they attempt to rescue the two-Test series.”He is doing fine, he is getting better,” Pant said on Friday of Gill.”He was keen on playing this Test match but his body didn’t allow it.”The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said Gill “will head to Mumbai for further assessment of his injury”.Batsman Gill suffered neck spasms in the first innings of the opening Test and pulled out of the remainder of the match, spending a night in hospital.He travelled with the team to Guwahati but was forced out as the medical staff believed playing him would risk aggravating the injury.”From a captaincy point of view, when you see his resilience that even when your body is not supporting, but you want to push it for your team, that’s the kind of mindset we want to inculcate and he did it from the front,” said Pant.Top-order batter Sai Sudharsan is expected to replace Gill in the team, which will be announced at the toss.India lost a low-scoring opener after they were bundled out for 93 in a chase of 124 at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens.It was India’s fourth Test defeat in six matches at home after New Zealand registered a rare 3-0 whitewash on Indian soil last year.”It’s been a tough Test match, the last one, and coming out of it we just want to do whatever is required to win this Test match,” said Pant.A flamboyant left-hand batter, Pant returned to India’s squad for the South Africa Tests after missing the home series against the West Indies last month as he recovered from a foot fracture.The deputy captain said: “One-off matches is not the best scenario as a captain… but whenever you are leading your country it is the proudest moment especially in Test cricket.”At the same time I don’t want to think about it too much. I do not want to take that undue pressure of captaincy in my mind.”The Kolkata pitch drew criticism — it had turn and inconsistent bounce, the Test ending inside three days.The best individual score was South African skipper Temba Bavuma’s unbeaten 55 in the second innings.”This wicket will play better. Definitely it is a better wicket to bat on,” said Pant.”Obviously it will eventually turn after a few days but it is going to be a good contest.”South Africa are chasing a first series win on Indian soil since Hansie Cronje’s team triumphed there in 2000.

Dev Karan recalls the first time he saw a purple pond, “filled with dyes and chemicals, and choked with plastic”.”It was heart-wrenching,” the 17-year-old from Haryana state in northern India told AFP in an interview.That sight during a school trip two years ago made him realise that “the climate crisis is happening everywhere”.He decided he had to act.Speaking on the sidelines of the annual Young Activists Summit (YAS) at the United Nations in Geneva, Karan described his path to becoming the youngest of five laureates at this year’s event.He won on Thursday for his efforts to restore India’s traditional ponds, which help prevent floods and soil erosion by storing water.Ponds are “often used by villages as a source of drinking water during droughts, help in carbon sequestration, nourish groundwater and they are biodiversity hotspots”, he said.- ‘Climate literacy’ -Yet there is far less attention on protecting and preserving these vital small water bodies than on oceans and rivers, he said.He and his friends noticed that even when huge investment goes into cleaning up ponds, they often slip back into decay after a few years due to lacking maintenance.Karan co-founded Pondora, an organisation that helps villages monitor their water quality using IT-based sensors and mobile tools.The team visits schools and teaches students how to use their kits, consisting of Bluetooth-connected monitors with sensors registering things like temperature, salinity and pH levels, as well as chemical strips to detect various compounds.They have trained an army of “Pond Ambassadors” to support local maintenance.”We focus on climate literacy and basically show them the importance of preserving such water bodies,” Karan said.”They now go around themselves and take the data from the ponds… (they are) going from being passive observers to activists.”YAS hailed Karan’s “replicable model for water ecosystem restoration — one pond at a time”.- ‘Your voice matters’ -The aspiring engineering student told AFP that exploring how digital technologies could simplify pond monitoring and using social media to spread the word had come naturally to him.”Growing up in a generation which had phones in their hands from a very long time, my thought process always goes to how we can use this as the medium,” he said.Karan said Pondora was currently seeking to create a database for all Indian ponds, pointing out that in New Delhi, half of those on paper had disappeared, with many covered up to make room for an expanding population.The goal is to raise awareness about the need to protect remaining ponds, including through a social media campaign urging people to post their photo with the one nearest them.Karan had one message for other young people: “Your voice matters.””Even if you contribute something which is small, it has ripple effects,” he said.”Everyone can be a leader. You just have to have the courage to start.”

Bangladesh’s Mushfiqur Rahim joined an elite club on Thursday by scoring a century in his 100th Test, achieving the feat against Ireland in Mirpur.Resuming on 99 overnight, Mushfiqur reached his hundred with a single in the second over of the morning session on day two of the second Test.The 38-year-old batsman removed his helmet, raised both hands in the air and dropped to the ground in celebration. His knock placed him among an exclusive group of players to have marked the 100-Test milestone with a hundred.The others are Colin Cowdrey (104 runs), Javed Miandad (145), Gordon Greenidge (149), Alec Stewart (105), Inzamam-ul-Haq (184), Ricky Ponting (120 & 143 not out), Graeme Smith (131), Hashim Amla (134), Joe Root (218) and David Warner (200).It was the 13th Test ton for Mushfiqur, who is now level with Mominul Haque for the highest number of centuries in Test cricket for Bangladesh. He eventually fell to left-arm spinner Matthew Humphreys for 106, edging to second slip where Andy Balbirnie completed a sharp catch.The Ireland team offered warm applause as Mushfiqur left the field to loud cheers from the home crowd at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium. Mushfiqur faced 214 balls and struck five fours during his milestone innings, which helped ease the early pressure after Bangladesh slipped to 95-3 on the opening day.Bangladesh won the first Test by an innings and 47 runs.