Earthquake Registering 6.3 Hits Türkiye-Syria Border Region

People react after an earthquake in Antakya in Hatay province, Türkiye, February 20, 2023. (Reuters)
People react after an earthquake in Antakya in Hatay province, Türkiye, February 20, 2023. (Reuters)
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Earthquake Registering 6.3 Hits Türkiye-Syria Border Region

People react after an earthquake in Antakya in Hatay province, Türkiye, February 20, 2023. (Reuters)
People react after an earthquake in Antakya in Hatay province, Türkiye, February 20, 2023. (Reuters)

A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck the Türkiye-Syria border region late on Monday, setting off panic and damaging buildings in Turkey's Antakya city two weeks after the country's worst earthquake in modern history left tens of thousands dead.

Two Reuters witnesses reported a strong quake and further damage to buildings in central Antakya, where it was centered. It was also felt in Egypt and Lebanon, Reuters reporters said.

The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said the tremor struck at a depth of 2 km (1.2 miles).

Other witnesses said Turkish rescue teams were running around after the latest quake, checking people were unharmed.

Muna Al Omar, a resident, said she was in a tent in a park in central Antakya when the earthquake hit.

"I thought the earth was going to split open under my feet," she said, crying as she held her 7-year-old son in her arms.

"Is there going to be another aftershock?" she asked.

The two larger earthquakes that hit on Feb. 6, which also rocked neighboring Syria, left more than a million homeless and killed far more than the latest official tally of 46,000 people in both countries.



Danish PM Tells Trump It Is up to Greenland to Decide on Independence

Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen attends the Baltic Sea NATO Allies Summit in Helsinki, Finland, 14 January 2025. (EPA)
Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen attends the Baltic Sea NATO Allies Summit in Helsinki, Finland, 14 January 2025. (EPA)
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Danish PM Tells Trump It Is up to Greenland to Decide on Independence

Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen attends the Baltic Sea NATO Allies Summit in Helsinki, Finland, 14 January 2025. (EPA)
Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen attends the Baltic Sea NATO Allies Summit in Helsinki, Finland, 14 January 2025. (EPA)

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Wednesday she had spoken on the phone with US President-elect Donald Trump and told him that it is up to Greenland itself to decide on any independence.

Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, said last week that US control of Greenland was an "absolute necessity" and did not rule out using military or economic action such as tariffs against Denmark to make it happen.

"In the conversation, the prime minister referred to the statements of the Chairman of the Greenlandic Parliament, Mute B. Egede, that Greenland is not for sale," Frederiksen's office said in a statement.

"The prime minister emphasized that it is up to Greenland itself to make a decision on independence," the statement said.

Frederiksen also stressed the importance of strengthening security in the Arctic and that Denmark was open to taking a greater responsibility, it added.