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Turkiye-Syria quake and other major natural disasters this century

Civilians look for survivors under the rubble of collapsed buildings as Mesut Hancer (C, orange suit) holds the hand of his 15-year-old daughter Irmak, who died in the earthquake in Kahramanmaras, close to the quake's epicentre, the day after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the country's southeast, on February 7, 2023. (Photo courtesy: AFP)
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Updated 09 February 2023
Reuters
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Turkiye-Syria quake and other major natural disasters this century

  • Two massive earthquakes across Turkiye and Syria are rapidly becoming one of the worst disasters this century
  • Death toll already more than 16,000, hundreds of thousands of people have been rendered homeless in winter 
Updated 09 February 2023
Reuters

Feb 9 : Two massive earthquakes just hours apart on Monday devastating cities and towns across a huge swathe of southern Turkiye and northwest Syria are rapidly becoming one of the worst disasters this century, with the death toll already more than 16,000.

Below are a list of some of the biggest natural disasters in the 21st century:

INDIAN OCEAN TSUNAMI
A 9.15 magnitude earthquake off Sumatra on Dec. 26, 2004, triggered a tsunami that barrelled into Indonesia, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka and many other countries in the region, killing at least 230,000 people, leaving 43,000 missing and devastating villages and tourist islands.

HAITI 2010 EARTHQUAKE
A 7.0 magnitude earthquake on Jan. 13, 2010, devastated Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince and killed about 316,000 people. The United Nations estimated 80,000 buildings in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas were destroyed.

MYANMAR CYCLONE
Cyclone Nargis swept across the Irrawaddy Delta and southern Yangon, the former capital, on the evening of May 2, 2008, with winds of 240 kph (150 mph). Nearly 140,000 people died and 2.4 million were severely affected.

CHINA QUAKE
A 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit China’s Sichuan province on May 12, 2008, killing about 87,600 people.

PAKISTAN QUAKE
A 7.6 magnitude quake that struck northeast of Islamabad on Oct. 8, 2005, killed at least 73,000 people. The quake also rocked Indian Kashmir, killing 1,244 there.

IRAN QUAKE
A 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit Iran’s southeastern Kerman province on Dec. 26, 2003, and flattened the city of Bam, killing 31,000 people.

JAPAN QUAKE/TSUNAMI
A 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami struck Japan’s northeast on March 11, 2011, killing about 15,690 people. The earthquake also triggered the world’s biggest nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

INDIA QUAKE
A 7.9 magnitude quake struck India’s industrial heartland of Gujarat on Jan. 26, 2001, killing at least 14,000 people, injuring over 150,000 and leaving millions of people homeless.

NEPAL QUAKE
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake hammered Nepal on April 25, 2015, killing nearly 9,000 people and disrupting the lives of more than eight million.

INDONESIA QUAKE/TSUNAMI
A 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck the Indonesian island of Sulawesi on Sept. 28, 2018, resulting in a 1.5 meter (4.9 ft)-high tsunami and killing more than 4,300 people.

HAITI 2021 QUAKE
A 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck southern Haiti on Aug. 14, 2021, killing more than 2,200 people and destroying or damaging about 13,000 homes.

HURRICANE KATRINA
Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans on Aug. 29, 2005, swamping floodwalls, putting much of the city under 15 feet (4.57 m) of water and killing about 1,800 people. Most victims were in Louisiana, but neighboring Mississippi also was hard hit.

Topics: earthquakes Turkey Syria Afghanistan natural disasters

Russian attacks kill two in Ukraine

Updated 4 sec ago
AFP
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Russian attacks kill two in Ukraine

  • Diplomatic efforts to end the war have accelerated in recent weeks, with both sides meeting earlier this month for their first round of direct talks in more than three years
Updated 4 sec ago
AFP
KYIV: Russian shelling and air strikes on southern Ukraine overnight killed a man and a nine-year-old girl in separate attacks, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday.
In the Zaporizhzhia region, “Russians hit a residential area with guided aerial bombs,” killing the girl and wounding a 16-year-old boy, Ivan Fedorov, head of the regional military administration, said on the Telegram platform.
One house was destroyed and several others damaged by the blast, he added.
In a separate assault on the city of Kherson, a “66-year-old man sustained fatal injuries” from Russian shelling, Oleksandr Prokudin, Kherson region’s governor, wrote on Telegram.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, tens of thousands of people have been killed, swaths of eastern and southern Ukraine destroyed, and millions forced to flee their homes.
One person was wounded in a Russian drone strike in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, its mayor said.
In Russia, Ukrainian drone attacks wounded 10 people in the Kursk region overnight, acting governor Alexander Khinshtein said.
Diplomatic efforts to end the war have accelerated in recent weeks, with both sides meeting earlier this month for their first round of direct talks in more than three years.
But the negotiations in Istanbul yielded only a prisoner exchange and promises to stay in touch.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that his government did not expect results from further talks with Russia unless Moscow provided its peace terms in advance, accusing the Kremlin of doing “everything” it could to sabotage a potential meeting.
“There must be a ceasefire to continue moving toward peace. We need to stop the killing of people,” Zelensky added in a statement on Telegram.
The Ukrainian leader also said he had discussed with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “a possible next meeting in Istanbul and under what conditions Ukraine is ready to participate,” with both agreeing that the next round of talks with Moscow “cannot and should not be a waste of time.”
Russia has said it will send a team of negotiators to Istanbul for a second round of talks on Monday, but Kyiv has yet to confirm if it will attend.

Australia’s defense minister urges greater military openness from China

Updated 3 min 21 sec ago
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Australia’s defense minister urges greater military openness from China

Updated 3 min 21 sec ago
SINGAPORE: Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles on Saturday urged greater transparency from China over its military modernization and deployments as Pacific nations brace for a more assertive Chinese presence.
Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue defense meeting in Singapore, Marles said that while China remains an important strategic partner to Australia, more open communication between the two nations is key for a “productive” relationship.
“When you look at the growth in the Chinese military that has happened without a strategic reassurance, or a strategic transparency....we would like to have a greater transparency in what China is seeking to do in not only its build up, but in the exercises that it undertakes,” said Marles.
“We want to have the most productive relationship with China that we can have ... we hope that in the context of that productive relationship, we can see greater transparency and greater communication between our two countries in respect of our defense.”
Both Australia and New Zealand raised concerns in February after three Chinese warships conducted unprecedented live-fire drills in the Tasman Sea.
Both nations complained of late notice over the drills by China, which led to the diversion of 49 commercial flights.
Marles said that while the drills were in accordance with international law, China should have been less disruptive.
He also said Australia was able to closely scrutinize the Chinese task-force.
“It’s fair to say that this was done in a bigger way than they have done before, but equally, that was meant from our point of view, by a much greater degree of surveillance than we’ve ever done,” he said.
“From the moment that Chinese warships came within the vicinity of Australia, they were being tailed and tracked by Australian assets ... we were very clear about what exercises China was undertaking and what capability they were seeking to exercise and to build.”
Chinese officials have signalled that more such exercises could be expected as it was routine naval activity in international waters. Defense analysts say the exercises underscore Beijing’s ambition to develop a global navy that will be able to project power into the region more frequently.
Australia has in recent times pledged to boost its missile defense capability amid China’s nuclear weapons buildup and its blue-water naval expansion, as the country targets to increase its defense spending from roughly 2 percent of GDP currently to 2.4 percent by the early 2030s.
The nation is scheduled to pay the United States $2 billion by the end of 2025 to assist its submarine shipyards, in order to buy three Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines starting in 2032 — its biggest ever defense project.

Germany hopes for EU deal on sending failed asylum seekers to third countries, minister says

Updated 10 min 43 sec ago
Reuters
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Germany hopes for EU deal on sending failed asylum seekers to third countries, minister says

  • The EU’s executive Commission proposed a scheme that would let member states reject asylum applications from migrants who passed through a “safe” third country on their way to the bloc
Updated 10 min 43 sec ago
Reuters

BERLIN: Germany’s interior minister is hoping the European Union can reach a bloc-wide agreement on sending failed asylum seekers who cannot go home to safe countries near their original homelands.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservatives won February’s national election on a promise to bring down immigration levels, which opinion polls showed many voters regarded as being out of control, although numbers have been falling for over a year.
In an interview with the Welt am Sonntag newspaper published on Saturday, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the approach of using third countries could work only if there was a Europe-wide consensus.
“We need third countries that are prepared to take migrants who are objectively unable to return to their home countries,” he told the newspaper.
Earlier this month, the EU’s executive Commission proposed a scheme that would let member states reject asylum applications from migrants who passed through a “safe” third country on their way to the bloc. The proposals, criticized by rights groups, have yet to be adopted by national governments or the European Parliament.
“No individual EU member state can create this model on its own: it will have to happen on an EU level,” Dobrindt said. “We are preparing the foundations for that right now.”
Dobrindt’s initial promises to tighten border controls on taking office angered neighbors who protested at plans to return to their territory those migrants found not to have a right to enter Germany.
An Italian plan to process asylum seekers picked up at sea in Albania has stalled amid Italian court challenges.
A scheme by Britain, which is not an EU member, under its previous Conservative government to send asylum seekers who arrived in Britain without permission to Rwanda was scrapped by Prime Minister Keir Starmer when he took office last year.

Topics: Germany asylum seekers

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US FDA approves Moderna’s next-generation COVID-19 vaccine for adults 65 or older

Updated 38 min 29 sec ago
Reuters
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US FDA approves Moderna’s next-generation COVID-19 vaccine for adults 65 or older

  • The vaccine has also been approved for people aged 12 to 64 with at least one or more underlying risk factors
  • The Moderna vaccine, branded mNEXSPIKE, can be stored in refrigerators rather than freezers
Updated 38 min 29 sec ago
Reuters

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved Moderna’s next-generation COVID-19 vaccine for everyone aged 65 and above, the company said on Saturday, the first endorsement since the regulator tightened requirements.

The vaccine has also been approved for people aged 12 to 64 with at least one or more underlying risk factors, Moderna said in a statement.

The Department of Health and Human Services, under the leadership of long-time vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is increasing regulatory scrutiny on vaccines.

The FDA said on May 20 it planned to require drugmakers to test their COVID booster shots against an inert placebo in healthy adults under 65 for approval, effectively limiting them to older adults and those at risk of developing severe illness.

The Moderna vaccine, branded mNEXSPIKE, can be stored in refrigerators rather than freezers, to offer longer shelf life and make distribution easier, especially in developing countries where supply-chain issues could hamper vaccination drives.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which Kennedy also oversees, said on Thursday that COVID vaccines remain an option for healthy children when parents and doctors agree that it is needed, stopping short of Kennedy’s announcement days earlier that the agency would remove the shots from its immunization schedule.

Topics: Coronavirus COVID-19 moderna

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Musk vows to stay Trump’s ‘friend’ in bizarre black-eyed farewell

Updated 31 May 2025
AFP
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Musk vows to stay Trump’s ‘friend’ in bizarre black-eyed farewell

  • “I look forward to continuing to be a friend and adviser to the president,” Musk said in a press conference
  • Many people were more interested in the black bruise around Musk’s right eye, which he blamed on his son
Updated 31 May 2025
AFP

WASHINGTON: Billionaire Elon Musk bade farewell to Donald Trump in an extraordinary Oval Office appearance Friday, sporting a black eye, brushing aside drug abuse claims and vowing to stay a “friend and adviser” to the US president.

As the world’s richest person bowed out of his role as Trump’s cost-cutter-in-chief, the Republican hailed Musk’s “incredible service” and handed him a golden key to the White House.

But Trump insisted that Musk was “really not leaving” after a turbulent four months in which his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cut tens of thousands of jobs, shuttered whole agencies and slashed foreign aid.

“He’s going to be back and forth,” said Trump, showering praise on the tech tycoon for what he called the “most sweeping and consequential government reform program in generations.”

 

South-African born Musk, wearing a black T-shirt with the word “Dogefather” in white lettering and a black DOGE baseball cap, said many of the $1 trillion savings he promised would take time to bear fruit.

“I look forward to continuing to be a friend and adviser to the president,” he said.

But many people were more interested in the livid black bruise around Musk’s right eye.

Speculation about the cause was further fueled by accusations in the New York Times Friday that Musk used so much of the drug ketamine on the 2024 campaign trail that he developed bladder problems.

‘Go ahead punch me in the face’

The SpaceX and Tesla magnate said that his son was to blame for the injury.

“I was just horsing around with lil’ X, and I said, ‘go ahead punch me in the face,’” 53-year-old Musk said. “And he did. Turns out even a five-year-old punching you in the face actually is...” he added, before tailing off.

Musk, however, dodged a question about the drug allegations.

The New York Times said Musk, the biggest donor to Trump’s 2024 election campaign, also took ecstasy and psychoactive mushrooms and traveled with a pill box last year.

Elon Musk looks on during a news conference with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on May 30, 2025. (AFP)

Musk, who has long railed against the news media and championed his X social media platform as an alternative, took aim at the paper instead.

“Is that the same publication that got a Pulitzer Prize for false reporting on the Russiagate?” said Musk, referring to claims that Trump’s 2016 election campaign colluded with Moscow.

“Let’s move on. Okay. Next question.”

Later in the day, when a reporter asked Trump if he was “aware of Elon Musk’s regular drug use,” Trump simply responded: “I wasn’t.”

“I think Elon is a fantastic guy,” he added.

The White House had earlier played down the report.

“The drugs that we’re concerned about are the drugs running across the southern border” from Mexico, said Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, whose wife works for Musk.

Musk has previously admitted to taking ketamine, saying he was prescribed it to treat a “negative frame of mind” and suggesting his use of drugs benefited his work.

Leaving under a cloud

The latest in a series of made-for-TV Oval Office events was aimed at putting a positive spin on Musk’s departure.

Musk is leaving Trump’s administration under a cloud, after admitting disillusionment with his role and criticizing the Republican president’s spending plans.

It was a far cry from his first few weeks as Trump’s chainsaw-brandishing sidekick.

Elon Musk receives the key to the White House from President Donald Trump during a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House on May 30, 2025. (Reuters)

At one time Musk was almost inseparable from Trump, glued to his side on Air Force One, Marine One, in the White House and at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

The right-wing magnate’s DOGE led an ideologically-driven rampage through the federal government, with its young “tech bros” slashing tens of thousands of jobs.

But DOGE’s achievements fell far short of Musk’s original goal of saving $2 trillion dollars.

The White House says DOGE has made $170 billion in savings so far. The independent “Doge Tracker” site has counted just $12 billion while the Atlantic magazine put it far lower, at $2 billion.

Musk’s “move fast and break things” mantra was also at odds with some of his cabinet colleagues, and he said earlier this week that he was “disappointed” in Trump’s planned mega tax and spending bill as it undermined DOGE’s cuts.

Musk’s companies, meanwhile, have suffered.

Tesla shareholders called for him to return to work as sales slumped and protests targeted the electric vehicle maker, while SpaceX had a series of fiery rocket failures.

Topics: Trump Returns Elon Musk

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