Ethiopia experienced a series of earthquakes on Saturday, including a 5.8-magnitude tremor, which has caused widespread alarm and evacuations in the country’s remote northern regions.

The quakes affected the rural areas of Afar, Oromia, and Amhara, following months of heightened seismic activity, according to AFP.

Ethiopia’s government Communication Service reports that approximately 2,000 people have already been displaced, with efforts underway to provide temporary shelter for the most vulnerable among the 80,000 residents in the impacted regions.

It issued a statement warning of an increase in both the frequency and intensity of the earthquakes.

“The occurrences of the earthquakes are increasing in terms of magnitude and recurrences,” it said in a statement, adding that experts had been dispatched to assess the damage.

A 4.7-magnitude quake was the latest in the series, striking just before noon local time near Metehara in Oromia.

The tremors have also raised fears of a volcanic eruption at Mount Dofan in the Afar region, which had previously been dormant.

Although the volcano has ceased emitting smoke, local residents have evacuated in panic.

Ethiopia’s position along the Great Rift Valley, one of the most tectonically active zones in the world, makes it prone to earthquakes.

Geologists attribute the current activity to the expansion of tectonic plates beneath the region.

No casualties have been reported thus far, but authorities continue to monitor the situation closely.

Amid the crisis between Israel and Iran-backed Hamas, the United States government has signalled intent to sell arms worth $8billion to Israel.

This position was made known by the administration of President Joe Biden which notified Congress of the proposed $8 billion arms sale to Israel.

Diplomatic efforts have so far failed to end the 15-month-old Israeli war in Gaza that was triggered after an October 7, 2023 attack by Palestinian Hamas militants that killed 1200 and in which about 250 were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

The deal in which United States wants to sell $8 billion worth arms would need approval from the House of Representatives and Senate committees and includes munitions for fighter jets and attack helicopters as well as artillery shells, Reuters reports.

Other items in the proposed deal includes also includes small-diameter bombs and warheads, according to Axios.

This development comes amid protests in demand for an arms embargo against Israel.

These agitations have however not made United States change its position.

It would be recalled that in August, the United States approved the sale of $20 billion in fighter jets and other military equipment to Israel.

The Biden administration justified its position and moves, noting that it was helping its ally defend against Iran-backed militant groups like Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.

Israel is being accused of genocide that has led to displacement of nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million population.

The crisis has led to death of 45,000 people, with many additional feared buried under rubble.

The situation has also been said to be responsible for a hunger crisis and led to genocide accusations that Israel denies.

Washington, Israel’s biggest ally and weapons supplier, has also previously vetoed U.N. Security Council resolutions on a ceasefire in Gaza.

A nun from Brazil has become the world’s oldest person at the age of 116 years 210 days.

Inah Canabarro Lucas has taken the titles of oldest woman living and oldest person living following the death of Japan’s Tomiko Itooka, as confirmed by LongeviQuest.

Tomiko died at her nursing home in Ashiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, on the night of 29 December 2024, although her death wasn’t confirmed until today.

Inah, who coincidentally is also the oldest nun in the world, was born on 8 June 1908 in Sao Francisco de Assis in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

Born to Joao Antonio Lucas and Mariana Canabarro Lucas, Inah was so skinny as a child that many didn’t think she would survive into adulthood.

Inah was 16 when she began her religious journey.

She studied at the Santa Teresa de Jesus boarding school in Santana do Livramento, and later moved to Montevideo, Uruguay, where she took her vows to become a nun on 27 December 1928.

Two years later, in 1930, she returned to Brazil, where she became a teacher of Portuguese and mathematics at a school in Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro.

Her teaching career took her to many locations and covered many decades.

She eventually took a position at the Provincial House in Porto Alegre in 1980.

Inah was honoured on her 110th birthday, in 2018, when she received an apostolic blessing from Pope Francis.

The Sister is the second oldest nun ever documented, after Lucile Randon, also known as Sister André, who was the world’s oldest person until her death at age 118.

Inah is said to be the last living person who was born in 1908 and one of only three surviving people born in the 1900s.

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Credit: https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com