MIGRATION: At least 49 people have died after a boat carrying migrants from Gambia capsized off the Mauritanian coast this week, authorities said today. 

The coastguard reported 49 bodies had washed ashore near Mheijrat, with just 17 people rescued. 

Officials said dozens remain missing, making it one of the deadliest migrant disasters off west Africa this year.

LEBANON: Two Lebanese soldiers were killed and two others wounded after an Israeli drone exploded during an inspection of its crash site on Thursday. 

The military said today that the blast happened in the Naqoura area near the border with Israel, which has carried out near-daily strikes despite a November ceasefire with Hezbollah. 

The incident came as the UN security council voted to wind down its peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon.

COLOMBIA: Thirty-three soldiers held for three days in a remote Amazonian village have been released, the Ombudsman’s Office said. 

The troops were detained in Nueva York, Guaviare province, after clashes with an armed group killed at least 10 people. 

Villagers then blocked roads and prevented them from leaving, in what President Gustavo Petro’s government described as a kidnapping.

AFGHANISTAN: Air strikes, which the Taliban blamed on neighbouring Pakistan, struck Nangarhar and Khost provinces, killing three people and wounding seven others, it was revealed today. 

The Afghan Foreign Ministry condemned the raids as a “provocative act” and summoned Pakistan’s ambassador in Kabul, while the defence ministry warned the attacks would fuel hatred and carry consequences. 

Neither the Pakistani government nor the military commented on the alleged strikes.