ALXA LEAGUE, China (AP) — Rescuers with backhoes and bulldozers dug through tons of earth and rubble Thursday for 48 people missing after a landslide buried an open-pit mine in northern China. State broadcaster CCTV reported that the confirmed death toll in the disaster rose to five. Conditions in the area remain dangerous, and the search had to be suspended for several hours because of a second landslide at the gigantic facility in Inner Mongolia’s Alxa League.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The death toll from the massive earthquake that hit parts of Turkey and Syria on Feb. 6 continues to rise as more bodies are retrieved from the rubble of demolished buildings. A magnitude 6.4 earthquake that struck the already battered province of Hatay this week damaged or demolished more buildings, compounding the devastation. The combined death toll in Turkey and Syria now stands at 47,244.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Palestinian militants in Gaza launched rockets at southern Israel and Israeli aircraft struck targets in the coastal enclave early Thursday after a gunbattle in the occupied West Bank killed 10 Palestinians. The Israeli military said Palestinian militants fired six rockets and two anti-aircraft missiles from the Gaza Strip toward the country’s south early Thursday. Air defenses intercepted five of the rockets and one landed in an open field, according to the military.
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Security forces in Somalia have ended a siege by al-Shabab extremists that killed 10 people and wounded three others at a home in the capital, Mogadishu. The Information Ministry late Tuesday said the al-Qaida-linked fighters launched the rare attack on a private home with a suicide bombing. Al-Shabab often attacks hotels and government buildings.
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (AP) — A weakened Cyclone Freddy which pummeled Madagascar Tuesday night with heavy rains and strong destructive winds, killing four people, is continuing to wreak havoc in the southwest of the Indian Ocean nation. Freddy battered the western city of Mananjary and left 16,660 people displaced and damaged nearly 5,000 homes in the country, according to the latest provisional assessment by Madagascar's risk and disaster management office.
NABLUS, West Bank (AP) — Israeli troops on Wednesday entered a major Palestinian city in the occupied West Bank in a rare, daytime arrest operation, triggering fighting that killed at least 10 Palestinians and wounded scores of others. The Israeli military said it entered Nablus on Wednesday to arrest three wanted militants suspected in previous shooting attacks in the West Bank. It said it tracked down the men in a hideout.
ANTAKYA, Turkey (AP) — For nearly two weeks, Mehmet Ismet has lived in the ruins of Antakya’s most beloved historic mosque, a landmark in a now-devastated city that was famed for thousands of years as a meeting place of civilizations and revered by Christians, Muslims and Jews. The 74-year-old took refuge in the Habib Najjar mosque after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake killed tens of thousands in Turkey and Syria on Feb. 6. He has slept and prayed under the few arches still standing, mourning the future of a city renowned for its past.
ISTANBUL (AP) — Survivors of the earthquake that jolted Turkey and Syria 15 days ago, killing tens of thousands of people and leaving hundreds of thousands of others homeless, dealt with more trauma and loss Tuesday after another strong quake and aftershocks rocked the region. The 6.4 magnitude earthquake that struck Monday evening had its epicenter in the Defne district of Turkey's Hatay province, which was of the areas most affected by the Feb. 6 magnitude 7.8 quake that killed nearly 46,000 people in the two countries.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — There are reports of more collapsed buildings Turkey in Syria after another 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck Turkey’s Hatay province which was devastated by a massive tremor two week ago. Syria's state news agency, SANA, is reporting six people have been injured in Aleppo from falling debris, while the mayor of Hatay says a number of buildings have collapsed, trapping people inside. Turkey’s disaster management agency, AFAD, said the new quake was centered around the town of Defne, in Hatay province.
SAO PAULO (AP) — Heavy rain caused flooding and landslides that have killed 36 people on the northern coast of Brazil’s Sao Paulo state, officials said Monday, while fatalities could rise. Sao Paulo's state government said in a statement that 35 died in the city of Sao Sebastiao and a 7-year-old girl was killed in neighboring Ubatuba. On Monday morning, more than 500 people were continuing search and rescue efforts.