Lille, France | AFP | Monday 2/6/2023 A mother and her seven children aged two to 14 died after a fire broke out while they slept in their house in northern France on Monday, police and firefighters said. The raging blaze, the deadliest such fire in France in a decade, broke out shortly after midnight in the family home in the town of Charly-sur-Marne, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) east of Paris. The mother and […]
Europe
In Pictures: 7.8-Magnitude earthquake kills hundreds across Turkey and Syria
A 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and Syria early on Monday, killing hundreds of people as they slept, levelling buildings and sending tremors that were felt as far away as the island of Cyprus, Egypt and Iraq. One of the largest quakes to strike Turkey in a century wiped out entire sections of major cities in a region filled with millions of people who have fled the civil war in Syria and other conflicts. The head […]
Major 7.8M earthquake kills dozens across Turkey, Syria
by Dmitry ZAKS and Aya ISKANDARANI in Beirut A powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and Syria on Monday, killing dozens, levelling buildings while people were still in their sleep, and sending tremors that were felt as far away as the island of Cyprus. Local officials in Turkey put the initial death toll at 53, although it threatened to climb substantially higher because it caught most people while they were still at home asleep. At least […]
DEVELOPING STORY: At least 53 dead in Turkey after quake: officials
At least 53 people died Monday in Turkey when a major 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the southeast of the country, local officials said. Officials said 23 people died in the province of Malatya, 17 in Urfa, seven in Osmaniye, and six in Diyarbakir, although the toll threatened to climb much higher because of the heavy damage. © Agence France-Presse
URGENT: At least 15 dead as 7.8-M quake strikes Turkey: local officials
At least 15 people died in a major 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck southeastern Turkey on Monday, local officials said, although the toll threatened to climb much higher because many buildings were destroyed. Locals officials said five people died in the province of Osmaniye and 10 more in Sanliurfa, which sits near Turkey’s border with Syria. Damaging M7.8 EQ hit southern Turkey near the Syrian border ~4am local time. PAGER is red for this event; […]
US sending longer-range precision rockets to Ukraine
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A new $2.2 billion US arms package for Ukraine includes a new rocket-propelled precision bomb that could nearly double Kyiv’s strike range against the Russians, the Pentagon said Friday. Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said the new package includes the ground-launched small-diameter bombs (GLSDB), a munition that can fly up to 150 kilometers (93 miles), which would threaten Russian positions and depots far behind the front lines. “This gives them a […]
Putin warns West over arms deliveries to Ukraine
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — President Vladimir Putin on Thursday vowed a decisive response to any country threatening Russia and lashed out against Germany for promising tanks for Kyiv. His threats came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that the Kremlin was consolidating its forces for a fresh offensive. Zelensky was speaking in Kyiv beside EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, who said the bloc was looking to finalize fresh sanctions against Russia by February 24, […]
Giving Ukraine jets would need ‘months if not years’ of training: UK PM
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Thursday said sending fighter jets to Ukraine would require “months if not years” of training and that he was looking for the most effective way of helping Kyiv secure victory. In a pre-recorded television interview to mark his first 100 days as leader, Sunak told TalkTV’s Piers Morgan Uncensored the UK was “always talking to the Ukrainians about the right support they need”. “The […]
Strike on residential building leaves 2 dead in Ukraine’s Kramatorsk
KRAMATORSK, Ukraine (AFP) — At least two people were killed Wednesday and eight wounded when a Russian rocket struck a residential building in the center of the eastern city of Kramatorsk, Ukrainian officials said. AFP saw two bodies at the scene as rescue workers cleared the rubble. “Two hours ago, the Russian occupiers hit a residential building in the center of the city with a rocket and completely destroyed it,” regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said […]
‘Mad cow’ disease case identified in Netherlands
Dutch officials have identified a single case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as “mad cow disease”, in a cow carcass, the government said Wednesday. The infected cow “did not enter the food chain and did not pose a risk to food safety,” Agriculture Minister Piet Adema said. BSE is linked to the fatal human condition Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease if contaminated meat is ingested. Dutch officials had sealed off the affected farm, whose location was […]
Half a million strike in UK’s largest walkout in 12 years
Half a million workers went on strike in Britain on Wednesday, calling for higher wages in the largest such walkout in over a decade, closing schools and severely disrupting transport. As Europe battles a cost-of-living crisis, Britain’s umbrella labour organisation the Trades Union Congress (TUC) called it the “biggest day of strike action since 2011”. The latest strikes come a day after more than 1.27 million took to the streets in France, increasing pressure on […]
Netanyahu says considering military aid to Ukraine, mediation
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview aired Tuesday he was considering military aid to Ukraine and was willing to serve as a mediator, following US calls for more active involvement. Netanyahu made no firm commitments to Ukraine and Israel has preserved a relationship with Russia, which controls the skies in neighboring Syria and has turned a blind eye to Israeli strikes on targets of arch-nemesis Iran. Netanyahu […]
