Israeli President Invites Türkiye’s Erdogan to Visit, Receives Envoy 

Türkiye's ambassador to Israel Sakir Ozkan Torunlar (R), presents his credentials to Israeli President Isaac Herzog, in Jerusalem, on January 11, 2023. (AFP)
Türkiye's ambassador to Israel Sakir Ozkan Torunlar (R), presents his credentials to Israeli President Isaac Herzog, in Jerusalem, on January 11, 2023. (AFP)
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Israeli President Invites Türkiye’s Erdogan to Visit, Receives Envoy 

Türkiye's ambassador to Israel Sakir Ozkan Torunlar (R), presents his credentials to Israeli President Isaac Herzog, in Jerusalem, on January 11, 2023. (AFP)
Türkiye's ambassador to Israel Sakir Ozkan Torunlar (R), presents his credentials to Israeli President Isaac Herzog, in Jerusalem, on January 11, 2023. (AFP)

Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday invited his Turkish counterpart President Tayyip Erdogan to visit the country as he received Ankara's new ambassador in another token of the countries' recently warming ties. 

Last year, Herzog, whose role is largely ceremonial, was the first Israeli leader to visit Türkiye since 2008, after the two countries began restoring relations and ending a more than a decade-old diplomatic rift. 

They agreed to mutually appoint ambassadors in August and, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won an election in November, he and Erdogan agreed to keep improving ties. 

"I am sure we will all work to strengthen the countries' relations," Herzog said. 

Netanyahu's return to power at the head of a nationalist-religious government in December has rattled Palestinians and Western and Arab allies who fear it could heighten tensions in the Middle East. 

Türkiye last week joined a chorus of condemnation of a visit by Israel's new far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to the sensitive Al-Aqsa mosque complex in Jerusalem, Islam's third holiest site and Judaism's most sacred. 



Magnitude 5.5 Earthquake Strikes China Near Source of Yellow River

A lake is seen near the headwaters of the Yellow River in Madoi county, Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai province, China August 31, 2019. (Reuters)
A lake is seen near the headwaters of the Yellow River in Madoi county, Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai province, China August 31, 2019. (Reuters)
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Magnitude 5.5 Earthquake Strikes China Near Source of Yellow River

A lake is seen near the headwaters of the Yellow River in Madoi county, Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai province, China August 31, 2019. (Reuters)
A lake is seen near the headwaters of the Yellow River in Madoi county, Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai province, China August 31, 2019. (Reuters)

A magnitude 5.5 earthquake shook parts of the Chinese province of Qinghai on Wednesday, with its epicenter located near the source of the Yellow River, the main natural waterway serving northern China.

The vast Qinghai-Tibetan plateau has been jolted by seismic activity since Tuesday, including a deadly 6.8-magnitude quake in the foothills of the Himalayas in Tibet and a smaller 3.1-magnitude quake in Sichuan.

The epicenter of the Qinghai quake, which struck at 3:44 p.m. (0844 GMT), was located in Madoi county in the Golog prefecture at a depth of 14 km (8.7 miles), according to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC).

It was about 200 km west of the county seat of Madoi, a town populated mainly by Tibetans, including former nomadic herders and their families who have resettled in government-built homes over the years.

Earthquakes are common along the edges of the seismically active Qinghai-Tibetan plateau, including Madoi.

A total of 102 quakes of magnitude 3 or higher have been logged within 200 km of Wednesday's quake over the past five years, according to CENC, with the largest reaching a magnitude of 7.4 in 2021.

The epicenter of Qinghai quake on Wednesday is about 1,000 km northeast of the quake in Tibet a day earlier.