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180 Dead After Powerful Quake In Turkey, Syria, People Were Sleeping

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The 7.8-magnitude earthquake, which had its epicentre in southeast Turkey close to the border between the two nations, left more than 110 people dead Monday in government-held areas of Syria, according to the Syrian health ministry. Turkish emergency service authorities first reported 76 fatalities, but they warned that number might rise sharply because the accident, which occurred at night, had destroyed dozens of apartment buildings around major cities.

“516 injuries and 111 deaths recorded in the provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama and Tartus,” the ministry said in a statement. Earlier, a local hospital told AFP at least eight were killed in the northern areas controlled by pro-Turkish factions — bringing the country’s total to at least 119 dead. 

Television footage showed horrified Turks watching rescuers sift through the wreckage of destroyed homes while standing in the snow in their pyjamas.

According to the US agency, the earthquake occurred at 04:17 local time (0117 GMT) at a depth of roughly 17.9 kilometres (11 miles), and 15 minutes later, a 6.7-magnitude aftershock occurred.

The initial earthquake’s magnitude was estimated by Turkey’s AFAD emergency service centre to be 7.4. The quake was among the strongest to strike the area in at least a century.

The earthquake destroyed scores of structures in important southern Turkish cities as well as in the neighbouring country of Syria, which has been plagued by turmoil for more than ten years and is home to millions of displaced people.

Rescuers were seen sifting through the wreckage of demolished buildings in the cities of Karamanmaras and Gaziantep in images that appeared on Turkish television and social media.

In one of the images from Kahramanmaras, a fire lighted up the night sky, but its source was unknown.

Buildings also collapsed, according to NTV television, in the cities of Adiyaman, Malatya, and Diyarbakir.

The earthquake was reportedly felt in sections of central Turkey including the capital Ankara, according to CNN Turk television. Turkey is located in one of the seismically active regions of the planet.

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16-Year-Old Girl Killed By Shark During Swim With Dolphins in Australia

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In a river near Perth, the state capital of Western Australia, a 16-year-old girl lost her life on Saturday after being attacked by a shark. In the Fremantle port neighbourhood of Perth, police said they were called to the scene of the attack at 3:45 p.m. Saturday (0745 GMT), close to a traffic bridge in the Swan River.

According to a statement from the police, the girl was retrieved from the sea with critical injuries, but she passed away there.

The victim was swimming with a pod of dolphins in the river when the shark attack happened, according to a report on Sunday by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

According to the ABC, authorities are unsure of what kind of shark attacked the girl.

A 57-year-old man was killed by a great white shark at Perth’s Port Beach in November 2021, marking the final fatal shark attack in the waters around Western Australia.

In January 2021, a bull shark attacked a man who was swimming in the Swan River, seriously injuring him.

In the waters around Western Australia, there are more than 100 different kinds of shark, with bull sharks frequently encountered miles upriver.

According to the state administration, which has established a specialised shark response unit to collaborate with first responders on shark events, the danger of shark attacks in the state is low.The first shark attack fatality at the city’s beaches in 60 years resulted in the closure of many Sydney beaches on the east coast, including the famous Bondi and Bronte.

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Paco Rabanne: Celebrated designer dies aged 88

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Famous perfume and clothing designer Paco Rabanne passed away at age 88 in his French home.

The parent business of his brands, Puig, announced his passing and said that he had “marked generations with his bold vision of fashion and his legacy will live on.”

Rabanne’s unusual clothing creations brought him international acclaim. Rabanne’s work, which, in the words of Puig’s fashion president José Manuel Albesa, “made transgression magnetic,” was praised.

Rabanne was hailed as a “important personality in fashion” by Marc Puig, chairman and chief executive officer of Puig, for his “daunting, revolutionary, and provocative perspective, delivered through a unique aesthetic.”

In the Basque area of Spain, not far from the city of San Sebastian, Rabanne was born into a military family. In 1936, during the Spanish Civil War, Gen. Francisco Franco’s nationalist forces assassinated his father, a colonel in the Republican military.

After the Nationalist troops captured Madrid and won the war in 1939, his mother, who had previously worked as a seamstress for fashion designer Cristobal Balenciaga, relocated the family to Paris.

Rabanne was raised in the French capital before enrolling at the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts to study architecture, where he also worked as a freelance illustrator.

His innovations permeated every facet of his enterprise. In the middle of the 1990s, he was one of the first scent creators to introduce a product online.
Rabanne withdrew from the fashion industry in 1999, having spent years as one of the leading pioneers in the sector. He hardly appeared in the media for the next 24 years.

The company praised him as a “visionary” and called him “among the most important fashion figures of the 20th Century” in a statement posted on Paco Rabanne’s official Instagram. It said, “His legacy will continue to serve as a source of inspiration.”

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Bobi breaks Guinness World Record for oldest dog ever

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Guinness World Records has crowned a 30-year-old Portuguese dog as the world’s oldest canine, breaking a record that had stood for a century. Bobi is a purebred Rafeiro do Alentejo, a breed with a 12- to 14-year lifespan on average.

Australia’s Bluey, who passed away in 1939 at the age of 29 years and 5 months, was the previous oldest dog ever. Bobi was 30 years and 226 days old as of February 1 and is considered to be in good health for his age.

According to Guinness World Records, his ripe old age has been confirmed by the pet database of the Portuguese government, which is run by the National Union of Veterinarians.

He was born with three siblings in an outbuilding and has spent his entire childhood with the Costa family in the village of Conqueiros, close to Portugal’s west coast.

Eight-year-old Leonel Costa claimed that even though his parents had to put the puppies to sleep because they had too many pets, Bobi managed to escape.

The dog was kept hidden from Leonel and his brothers’ parents until he was eventually found and adopted by the family, who feed him the same food they do.

Bobi has lived a mostly trouble-free existence, according to Mr. Costa, with the exception of a scare in 2018 when he was hospitalised after abruptly falling from respiratory issues. Mr. Costa attributes Bobi’s longevity to the “quiet, serene atmosphere” he lives in.

Given that Bobi’s mother lived to be 18, it might also run in the family. However, Bobi has suffered the effects of time; he is now having difficulty walking and his vision is deteriorating. Bobi is the “last of a long generation of creatures,” according to Mr. Costa, who calls him “one of a kind.”

Just two weeks prior, Spike the Chihuahua, another dog, was recognised by Guinness World Records as being the oldest living dog at 23 year old.Since then, Guinness has updated its records and declared Bobi to be the oldest dog ever as well as the oldest dog to ever live.

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Ukraine war: Russia planning 24 February offensive, Ukrainian defence minister says

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According to the defence minister of Ukraine, Russia is preparing a significant new offensive that might start as early as February 24. Oleksii Reznikov claimed that Moscow had gathered thousands of soldiers and could “try something” to commemorate the first invasion anniversary last year.

The assault would coincide with Russia’s celebration of the army on February 23, which is Defender of the Fatherland Day. In the meantime, a Kramatorsk attack has claimed the lives of three people.

Eight others were wounded in the city in Donetsk region after a Russian missile struck a residential building, the provincial governor said. The toll is expected to rise as rescuers comb through the wreckage.

The only way to stop Russian terrorism is to defeat it,” Mr Zelensky wrote on social media about the attack. “By tanks. Fighter jets. Long-range missiles.”

Ukraine has recently renewed calls for fighter jets to help protect itself from air attacks after Germany, the US and the UK agreed to send them tanks.

Mr Reznikov said Moscow had mobilised some 500,000 troops for the potential offensive.

In September, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a general mobilisation of some 300,000 conscripted troops, which he said was necessary to ensure the country’s “territorial integrity”.

But Mr Reznikov suggested that the true figure recruited and deployed to Ukraine could be far higher.

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Ukraine billionaire Ihor Kolomoisky targeted in new anti-corruption swoop

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Ihor Kolomoisky, one of the richest individuals in the nation, is among the high-profile targets of a new wave of anti-corruption operations by the Ukrainian government. As part of the sweep, the residence of the former interior minister Arsen Avakov was also searched.

Officials in Ukraine announced that the heads of the customs agency had been sacked as part of an anti-corruption campaign. Ukraine would change during the war, according to the leader of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s party in parliament.

Ukraine is under increased pressure to fight corruption from its Western allies, particularly the EU. In 2019, Mr. Zelensky declared the battle against corruption to be one of his top goals.

This week, Kyiv will host a conference with top EU officials. Ukraine views this meeting as crucial to its efforts to join the 27-member union. Four months after Russia’s invasion, Kyiv was given EU candidate status; nonetheless, it was pushed to do more to combat corruption.

As part of the purge last week, ten prominent Ukrainian leaders, including Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of office for Mr. Zelensky, resigned.

Regional governors and a number of deputy ministers were also forced out. Mr Zelensky said at the time that any internal problems that hindered the state would be cleaned up to help Ukraine’s “rapprochement with European institutions”.

In 2014, the businessman assumed control of the larger Dnipropetrovsk area and was instrumental in providing funds for volunteer battalions in response to Russia’s initial annexation of eastern Ukraine.

However, the US imposed sanctions on him because to allegations of “serious corruption” committed while he was governor. He has said he did nothing wrong.

Mr. Kolomoisky is a successful businessman who works in the banking, energy, and media industries in Ukraine. Before endorsing the former actor’s presidential campaign, his TV network gave Mr. Zelensky his big break with the comedy series Servant of the People.

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French protests intensify against pension age rise

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The president of France, Emmanuel Macron, is facing a second wave of strikes and protests over his proposals to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.

The strike, which has affected schools, public transportation, and oil refineries, is being participated in by eight major unions.  Hundreds of thousands of people are participating in marches around France after the first day of protests drew more than a million participants.

There have been more people in several cities than on January 19. Despite polls showing that two-thirds of French oppose the reforms, which start their journey through the National Assembly next week, the Macron administration is moving on with them.

Without a majority in the legislature, the administration will be forced to rely on the right-wing Republicans just as much as its own legislators from the ruling parties.

Thousands more marchers gathered in Toulouse, Marseille, and Nice in the south, Saint Nazaire, Nantes, and Rennes in the west, hours before the main demonstration in downtown Paris’ Place d’Italie. An estimated 11,000 police officers were stationed to monitor the protests occurring in 200 towns and cities.

Only two of Paris’s driverless metro lines were operating normally, and only one in three high-speed trains were operating. On one of the main overground lines in the capital, there were reportedly large crowds.

The CGT union said at least three-quarters of workers had walked out at the big TotalEnergies oil refineries and fuel depots, although the company said the number was far lower. Power plants reported reduced production after workers went on strike at the main electricity company EDF.

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Poland boosts defence spending over war in Ukraine

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Poland has promised a significant increase in defence budget, citing the conflict in Ukraine as justification. It is the most recent nation in Europe to announce an increase in military spending due to the conflict.

Just under 2.5% of Poland’s GDP is allocated to the military, but the prime minister intends to raise that percentage to 4% this year. Mateusz Morawiecki pleaded with Germany last week to permit the export of Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine.

In addition, he noted that increasing defence spending to 4% “could mean that this will be the highest percentage… among all Nato countries.” Poland, which shares a border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, previously announced that it would purchase 116 US-made Abrams tanks, with the first deliveries scheduled to begin this spring.

Numerous Western nations have reviewed and, in many cases, increased their military spending as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Beginning in 2024, members of the Nato Western military alliance will spend at least 2% of their GDP, a measure of a nation’s economic output, on defence. The alliance has long sought to achieve the percentage of 2%.

Recently, France announced plans for a significant expansion of its armed forces, partially in response to the conflict in Ukraine. France said the next seven-year budget will rise from €295 billion to €413 billion (£360 billion) from 2024 to 2030.

As part of their efforts to join NATO, Sweden and Finland have pledged significant increases in their military spending.

Germany committed an additional €100 billion of the budget to the military forces in the days following the invasion in February 2022.

Additionally, the UK committed to raising spending to 2.5% of GDP in June under former prime minister Boris Johnson.

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Dame Esther Rantzen reveals lung cancer diagnosis

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Dame Esther Rantzen disclosed that she has lung cancer but expressed optimism about her prognosis. The 82-year-old broadcaster and charity founder stated in a statement that she was undergoing testing to determine the best course of action for her ailment.

During her time at the BBC, Dame Esther established herself as a household figure and a trailblazer for female journalists. She stated that after hearing the news, she wanted to give “deep appreciation” to everyone who had contributed to her joyous life.

Dame Esther said in her statement that the cancer had spread and that she had only recently received the diagnosis.

She said, “I would prefer you heard the truth from me” and “because I find it difficult to sneak about numerous clinics wearing an implausible disguise,” explaining why she had chosen to disclose her ailment.

Dame Esther thanked her loved ones, friends, and coworkers and stated that she would be unable to respond to inquiries while awaiting test results.

From 1973 through 1994, the BBC’s consumer rights programme That’s Life included Dame Esther as a presenter. The show typically drew 20 million people because it mixed serious investigations with humorous content.

She started ChildLine, a counselling and support organisation for kids and teens, in 1986.

She also contributed to the establishment of The Silver Line, a nonprofit that supports elderly individuals in the UK who are struggling with loneliness, in 2013. She received a DBE in 2015 in recognition of her work with children and senior citizens.

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Petr Pavel: Ex-general beats populist rival in Czech election

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Petr Pavel, a retired NATO commander, defeated populist Andrej Babis to become the new president of the Czech Republic. According to preliminary data made available by the state statistic office, the 61-year-old received 57.6% of the vote.

Shortly after the results were released, Mr. Babis—who was prime minister from 2017 to 2021—admitted defeat in a speech to his supporters. The second term of Milos Zeman, who will be replaced by the ex-general, expires in March.

Mr. Babis and Mr. Pavel’s second-round runoff was presented as a conflict between populist oligarchy and liberal democracy. The results of the elections come after a divisive campaign marked by alleged threats to kill and false information.

Earlier this week, Mr. Pavel was compelled to use Twitter to refute rumours that he had passed away that had been spread via a phoney website and emails that were stored on a Yandex server in Russia.

Mr. Babis, who recently cancelled all of his remaining in-person campaign appearances out of concern for his safety after receiving an anonymous death threat, denounced the misinformation. After the results were made public on Saturday, Mr. Pavel stated that qualities like honesty, decency, respect, and humility had triumphed.

A deliberate echo of the cries of “Havel na Hrad” that filled the streets and squares of Czechoslovakia in November 1989, there were thunderous chanting of “Pavel na Hrad” (Pavel to the Castle). Indeed Mr Pavel, a firm advocate of Czech membership of Nato and the EU, has often invoked the spirit of Vaclav Havel.

And his victory will be interpreted as a confirmation of the nation’s growing Westernization.

Mr. Pavel has come out strongly in favour of more military assistance for Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression and has favoured keeping the Czech Republic firmly rooted in the European Union and NATO.

In contrast, Mr. Babis was compelled to retract earlier this week after he implied that he would not uphold the nation’s duty to defend a fellow Nato member in the event of an assault.

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