- Pakistan 122-1 at lunch in first England Test
- Kazakhs approve plan for first nuclear power plant
- World marks anniversary of Oct. 7 attack on Israel
- 'Second family': tennis stars hunt winning formula with new coaches
- Philippines, South Korea agree to deepen maritime cooperation
- Mexico mayor murdered days after taking office
- Sardinia's sheep farmers battle bluetongue as climate warms
- Japan govt admits doctoring 'untidy' cabinet photo
- Israel marks first anniversary of Hamas's October 7 attack
- Darvish tames Ohtani as Padres thrash Dodgers
- Asian markets track Wall St rally on jobs data
- Family affair as LeBron, Bronny James make Lakers bow
- Cancer, cardiovascular drugs tipped for Nobel as prize week opens
- As Great Salt Lake dries, Utah Republicans pardon Trump climate skepticism
- Amazon activist warns of 'critical situation' ahead of UN forum
- Mourners pay tribute to latest victims of deadly Channel crossing
- Tunisia incumbent Saied set to win presidential vote: exit polls
- Phillies win thriller to level Mets series
- Yu bags first PGA Tour win with playoff win
- PSG held by Nice to leave Monaco clear at top of Ligue 1
- AC Milan fall at Fiorentina after De Gea's penalty heroics
- Lewandowski treble for leaders Barca as Atletico held
- Fresh Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Sucic stunner earns Real Sociedad draw against Atletico
- PSG draw with Nice, fail to reclaim top spot in Ligue 1
- Gudmundsson downs AC Milan after De Gea's penalty heroics for Fiorentina
- 'Yes' vote prevails in Kazakhstan nuclear plant vote: TV
- 'Difficult day': Oct 7 commemorations begin with festival memorial
- Commemorations begin for anniversary of attack on Israel
- Lewandowski hat-trick powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- 'Nothing gets in way of team,' says Celtics' MVP hopeful Tatum
- India maintain Pakistan stranglehold as Windies cruise at Women's T20 World Cup
- 'We will win!': Mozambique's ruling party confident at final vote rally
- Tunisia voting ends as Saied eyes re-election with critics behind bars
- Florida braces for Milton, FEMA head slams 'dangerous' Helene misinformation
- Postecoglou slams 'unacceptable' Spurs after 'terrible' loss at Brighton
- Marmoush double denies Bayern outright Bundesliga top spot
- Rallies worldwide call for Gaza, Lebanon ceasefire
- Maresca hails Chelsea's 'fighting' spirit after draw with 10-man Forest
- New 'Joker' film, a dark musical, tops N.America box office
- Man Utd stalemate keeps Ten Hag in danger, Spurs rocked by Brighton
- Drowned by hurricane, remote N.Carolina towns now struggle for water
- Vikings hold off Jets in London to stay unbeaten
- Ahead of attack anniversary, Netanyahu says: 'We will win'
- West Indies cruise to T20 World Cup win over Scotland
- Arshdeep, Chakravarthy help India hammer Bangladesh in T20 opener
- Lewandowski's quickfire hat-trick powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Man Utd fire another blank in Aston Villa stalemate
- Lewandowski treble powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Russian activist killed on front line in Ukraine
Ethiopia mourns victims of landslide tragedy
Weeping families packed homes in a southern remote part of Ethiopia on Friday to bid farewell to relatives killed following a devastating landslide, as authorities announced three days of mourning.
Mudslides triggered by heavy rain in the tiny locality of Kencho Shacha Gozdi killed at least 257 people, UN humanitarian agency OCHA, citing local authorities, said on Friday, but warned that the toll could reach 500.
It is already the deadliest landslide on record in the Horn of Africa nation with rescuers continuing the grim search for bodies.
Things may yet worsen, the OCHA said.
"As more rain is expected, we should not be surprised to see more of these kinds of emergencies hitting Ethiopia," OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke said.
"In that context, we need to sound the alarm on the level of funding available to respond.... international support to humanitarian agencies working in Ethiopia is urgent."
A few kilometres from the hillside that came crashing down on the villagers, distraught families washed the bodies of the victims clawed from the mounds of earth, before wrapping them with shawls ahead of the burial ceremony.
"My heart is filled with joy because I found my wife's body," Ketema Kelsaye, 32, told AFP, his clothes and hands still smudged with mud.
"I wept and searched for five days with shovels and my bare hands in the mud but couldn't find" her body, he said. "Properly burying her has brought relief to my grief."
Ethiopia's parliament announced three days of mourning to start on Saturday.
The period of remembrance would allow "comfort to their relatives and all the people of our country", it said in a statement, shared by the state-run Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation.
- Aid operation 'underway' -
The Ethiopian Disaster Risk Management Commission, earlier on Friday, said that humanitarian aid and rehabilitation was "well underway" in the region.
It said a "structure for emergency disaster response coordination and integration" had been established, adding that 6,000 people needed to be relocated.
OCHA had said that more than 15,000 people needed to be evacuated because of the risk of further landslides, including small children and thousands of pregnant women or new mothers.
Aid had begun arriving, it said, including four trucks from the Ethiopian Red Cross Society.
Officials said most of the victims were buried when they rushed to help after a first landslide, which followed heavy rains on Sunday in the area that lies about 480 kilometres (300 miles) from the capital Addis Ababa.
"The bodies recovered on the first day were easily identified because their limbs were intact," 40-year-old Iyasu Zumayunga told AFP on Friday.
"After we dug them out, we washed their faces. Then we asked which families they belonged to."
International offers of condolences have flooded in, including from the African Union, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is Ethiopian.
Africa's second most populous nation is often afflicted by climate-related disasters and more than 21 million people, or about 18 percent of the population, rely on humanitarian aid as a result of conflict, flooding or drought.
strs-rbu-ho/bc
P.Costa--AMWN