TURKEY
6.2 quake hits off Istanbul
A magnitude 6.2 earthquake yesterday struck in the Marmara Sea near the western outskirts of Istanbul, officials said, with the impact felt across the country’s largest city where people rushed onto the streets. The initial quake at 12:49pm was followed by three others of magnitudes 4.4 to 4.9, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority posted on social media. There were no immediate reports of anyone being hurt or killed nor of buildings collapsing in the sprawling city of 16 million people, city authorities and the regional governor’s office said. The tremors could be felt as far away as Bulgaria, according to reports from the capital, Sofia.
JAPAN
Fukushima operation done
A tricky operation to remove a second sample of radioactive debris from inside Japan’s stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant has been completed, the site operator said yesterday. Dangerously high radiation levels mean that removing melted fuel and other debris from the plant hit by a huge tsunami in 2011 is seen as the most daunting challenge in the decades-long decommissioning project. The debris was “removed from a different location from the previous sampling location” to better understand the material’s “characteristics and distribution,” government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters. US nuclear expert Lake Barrett, a special adviser to Japan on the cleanup, said that removing more debris would be challenging, but not impossible. “They’ve got to develop robots we’ve never done before, but the fundamentals are there for the technology to do it,” he said.
UNITED STATES
NJ fire forces evacuations
A fast-moving wildfire burning in New Jersey on Tuesday forced thousands of people to evacuate and closed a stretch of a major highway. The Garden State Parkway, one of the state’s busiest highways, was closed between Barnegat and Lacey townships, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said. More than 1,300 structures were threatened and about 3,000 residents were evacuated, it said. Shelters were open at two high schools, the Barnegat Police Department said. The fire in the Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area burned more than 34.2km2 of land, fire officials said, adding it was only about 10 percent contained as of Tuesday night. Debi Schaffer was caught in gridlocked traffic after evacuating with her two dogs while her husband agreed to stay with their 22 chickens, the Press of Atlantic City reported. “I wanted to take them in the car with me; can you imagine 22 chickens in a car?” she told the newspaper.
PERU
Kennedy stages jailbreak
A 22-year-old thief named for the late US president John F. Kennedy caused an uproar by escaping from prison, shouting thanks to God as he dashed to freedom, according to video footage that has gone viral. John Kennedy Javier Sebastian had been one of 10,000 inmates at Lima’s Lurigancho prison — the nation’s most crowded, and built to hold 2,500. On Monday night, he escaped from his cell, and climbed over a perimeter fence and the outer wall — both topped with razor wire and security spikes, the National Penitentiary Institute said. He had been serving a 10-year sentence for theft since mid-2023. “Hallelujah, Christ lives,” the fugitive can be heard shouting as he reaches the main road and darts off, video captured by neighbors showed. Gunshots and dogs could be heard in the background. The head of the prison was dismissed after his escape.
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
CANCER: Jose Mujica earned the moniker ‘world’s poorest president’ for giving away much of his salary and living a simple life on his farm, with his wife and dog Tributes poured in on Tuesday from across Latin America following the death of former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics. He was 89. Mujica, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi wrote on X. “Pepe, eternal,” a cyclist shouted out minutes later,
Myanmar’s junta chief met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for the first time since seizing power, state media reported yesterday, the highest-level meeting with a key ally for the internationally sanctioned military leader. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing led a military coup in 2021, overthrowing Myanmar’s brief experiment with democracy and plunging the nation into civil war. In the four years since, his armed forces have battled dozens of ethnic armed groups and rebel militias — some with close links to China — opposed to its rule. The conflict has seen Min Aung Hlaing draw condemnation from rights groups and pursued by the
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