By Nora Buli

OSLO, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Norway's foreign ministry on Sunday said a prominent ambassador, Mona Juul, would step down due to a "serious failure of judgement" over ties to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, part of a growing scandal in the Nordic country and across Europe.

The ministry earlier this week suspended Juul from her position as ambassador to Jordan and Iraq pending an internal inquiry of links to Epstein found in a massive set of files released by the United States government.

Israel's President Isaac Herzog starts a tightly secured visit to Australia on Monday to honour the victims of an antisemitic gun attack on Sydney's Bondi Beach that killed 15 people.

While the head of state seeks to console the Jewish Australian community, his four-day trip has also sparked calls for pro-Palestinian protests in Sydney's streets, where the authorities promised a large police presence.

DUBAI, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Iranian activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi, who has been imprisoned repeatedly in her three-decade campaign for women's rights, was sentenced to a new prison term of 7-1/2 years, a group supporting her said on Sunday.

Mohammadi, 53, was on a week-long hunger strike that ended on Sunday, the Narges Foundation said in a statement. It said Mohammadi told her lawyer, Mostafa Nili, in a phone call on Sunday from prison that she had received her sentence on Saturday.

The death toll in a building collapse in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on Sunday climbed to nine, a civil defence official said -- the second such incident in weeks.

The state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported "the collapse of an old building" in Tripoli's Bab al-Tabbaneh neighbourhood, the poorest in the impoverished city. Rescuers were still searching for survivors.

Security personnel evacuated adjacent buildings fearing further collapses, it added.

JERUSALEM, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Israel's security cabinet approved a series of steps on Sunday that would make it easier for settlers in the occupied West Bank to buy land while granting Israeli authorities more enforcement powers over Palestinians, Israeli media reported.

The West Bank is among the territories that the Palestinians seek for a future independent state. Much of it is under Israeli military control, with limited Palestinian self-rule in some areas run by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA).

MADRID, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has ordered 20 new high-speed trains from Spain's Talgo SA, the company and Spain's transport minister said on Sunday.

In a statement, Talgo said the deal adds 1.33 billion euros ($1.57 billion) to its order backlog, bringing it to a total of nearly 6 billion euros, a record. The contract also covers maintenance for the trains.

It was through a call from her local mosque's loudspeakers that Kasia El Selami learnt it was time to flee as floodwaters rose in her Moroccan village of Ouled Ameur.

Selami is among more than 150,000 people to have been evacuated over the past week as heavy rainfall battered provinces in Morocco's north.

"We felt immense fear... especially for our children", said the 67-year-old while hanging a blanket by the tent in which she now lives.

DUBAI, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Recognition of Iran's right to enrich uranium is key for nuclear talks with the U.S. to succeed, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday.

American and Iranian diplomats held indirect talks in Oman on Friday, aimed at reviving diplomacy amid a U.S. naval buildup near Iran and Tehran's vows of a harsh response if attacked.

"Zero enrichment can never be accepted by us. Hence, we need to focus on discussions that accept enrichment inside Iran while building trust that enrichment is and will stay for peaceful purposes," Araqchi said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday ruled out Tehran ever giving up uranium enrichment in its negotiations with Washington, insisting it will not be intimidated by the threat of war with the United States.

Washington first threatened to intervene over Tehran's deadly crackdown on anti-government protesters, with authorities on Sunday arresting three prominent reformists accused of anti-government rhetoric.

MOSCOW, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Sunday that the man suspected of shooting top Russian military intelligence officer Vladimir Alexeyev in Moscow has been detained in Dubai and handed over to Russia.

Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev, deputy head of the GRU, Russia's military intelligence arm, was shot several times in anapartment block in Moscow on Friday, investigators said. He underwent surgery after the shooting, Russian media said.