A massive 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked huge swathes of Turkey and parts of Syria on February 6, killing more than 50,000 people in both countries.. Authorities have detained more than 200 people including construction contractors as part of a widening probe.
UN member states finally agreed Saturday, following years of talks, to a text on the first international treaty to protect the high seas, a fragile and vital treasure that covers nearly half the planet.. Following two weeks of intense talks at the United Nations headquarters in New York, including a marathon overnight session Friday into Saturday, delegates finalized a text that cannot be significantly altered.
Students and rail workers were preparing to rally in Athens on Sunday in the latest expression of grief and anger at Greece's worst rail disaster, which killed at least 57 people.. - Grief and anger - The demonstrations and vigils across Greece have expressed a combination of grief and anger at the disaster, which happened when a passenger train and a freight train collided.
Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro won multiple standing ovations Saturday from US conservatives as he offered a glowing endorsement of his ally Donald Trump, sowed doubt over his own election defeat and attacked Covid vaccine mandates. . Dubbed the "Trump of the Tropics" for his brash manner and disdain of the media, Bolsonaro has also echoed his US ally in repeatedly casting doubt on his October election defeat to leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
China's rubber-stamp parliament kicks off nine days of meetings Sunday, with lawmakers set to hand Xi Jinping a third term as president as well as unveil fresh growth targets and an increase in defence spending.. Also on the cards for lawmakers will be China's slowing economy, as well as an increase in the defence budget, the second-largest in the world.
Journalists in Guatemala took to the streets Saturday to warn that free speech was under threat in the Central American country after a judge opened an inquiry into several reporters. . On Tuesday, the judge opened a second criminal proceeding against the founder of that outlet, Jose Ruben Zamora, for conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Iraq's customs department gave orders on Saturday to start enforcing a ban on alcohol imports that became law last month despite divisions over the legislation.. "The General Customs Authority has given orders to all customs centres to ban the entry of all types of alcoholic drink," the authority said in a statement.
Under-fire Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Saturday rejected any responsibility of her government for a devastating shipwreck off Italy's southern coast last weekend which left at least 69 people dead.. The Italian judicial system is investigating the time it took for rescue services to reach the vessel, which left Turkey with some 200 migrants and went down off Steccato in the southern region of Calabria.
The president of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola called on Saturday, during a visit to Ukraine, for the country to be allowed to begin EU membership negotiations this year.. "I am hopeful that accession negotiations can begin already this year," Metsola said in the western city of Lviv.
Russia's defence minister has inspected the front line in eastern Ukraine, the defence ministry said Saturday, with the battle for Bakhmut raging and the US offering to pump more money into Kyiv's survival.. Sergei Shoigu had "inspected a command post on the front" in the direction of the southern Donetsk region, the defence ministry said, without specifying exactly where or when.
