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Turkey: 70-year-old Pulled Alive as Quake Death Toll Reaches 51

Members of rescue services search in the debris of a collapsed building for survivors in Izmir, Turkey, early Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020. A strong earthquake struck Friday in the Aegean Sea between the Turkish coast and the Greek island of Samos, killing several people and injuring hundreds amid collapsed buildings and flooding. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
Members of rescue services search in the debris of a collapsed building for survivors in Izmir, Turkey, early Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020. A strong earthquake struck Friday in the Aegean Sea between the Turkish coast and the Greek island of Samos, killing several people and injuring hundreds amid collapsed buildings and flooding. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
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Turkey: 70-year-old Pulled Alive as Quake Death Toll Reaches 51

Members of rescue services search in the debris of a collapsed building for survivors in Izmir, Turkey, early Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020. A strong earthquake struck Friday in the Aegean Sea between the Turkish coast and the Greek island of Samos, killing several people and injuring hundreds amid collapsed buildings and flooding. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
Members of rescue services search in the debris of a collapsed building for survivors in Izmir, Turkey, early Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020. A strong earthquake struck Friday in the Aegean Sea between the Turkish coast and the Greek island of Samos, killing several people and injuring hundreds amid collapsed buildings and flooding. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Rescue workers extricated a 70-year-old man from a collapsed building in western Turkey on Sunday, some 34 hours after a strong earthquake in the Aegean Sea struck Turkey and Greece, killing at least 51 and injuring more than 900 people.

Ahmet Citim, 70, was pulled out from the rubble shortly after midnight Sunday and was hospitalized. Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted that the man said: “I never lost my hope.”

Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency, or AFAD, raised the death toll in Izmir, Turkey’s third-largest city, to 49 as rescuers pulled more bodies out of toppled buildings. Two teenagers were killed Friday on the Greek island of Samos and at least 19 others were injured.

The Friday afternoon earthquake, which the Istanbul-based Kandilli Institute said had a magnitude of 6.9, was centered in the Aegean northeast of Samos. AFAD said it measured 6.6 and hit at a depth of some 16 kilometers (10 miles).

A small tsunami was triggered in the Seferihisar district of Izmir, drowning one elderly woman, and on the Greek island. The tremors were felt across western Turkey, including in Istanbul, as well as the Greek capital, Athens. Hundreds of aftershocks followed. said 896 people were injured in Turkey.

Search-and-rescue teams continued work in nine buildings in Izmir as day broke on the third day, The Associated Press reported.

AFAD said more than 5,700 personnel from state agencies, municipalities and non-governmental organizations had been activated for rescue work and hundreds of others for food distribution, psycho-social help and building damage control.

“If they are alive, we have high chance to get to them for 72 hours,” Vice President Fuat Oktay told journalists.

Turkey is crossed by fault lines and is prone to earthquakes. In 1999, two powerful quakes killed some 18,000 people in northwestern Turkey. Earthquakes are frequent in Greece as well.

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Poland Bars Chinese-Made Cars from Military Sites Over Data Security Fears 

A soldier from the 18th Mechanized Division stands guard on a Light Strike Vehicle "Zmija" during a media tour organized by the country's military to demonstrate the security measures on the Polish Belarusian border, near Bialowieza, Poland, January 10, 2025. (Reuters)
A soldier from the 18th Mechanized Division stands guard on a Light Strike Vehicle "Zmija" during a media tour organized by the country's military to demonstrate the security measures on the Polish Belarusian border, near Bialowieza, Poland, January 10, 2025. (Reuters)
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Poland Bars Chinese-Made Cars from Military Sites Over Data Security Fears 

A soldier from the 18th Mechanized Division stands guard on a Light Strike Vehicle "Zmija" during a media tour organized by the country's military to demonstrate the security measures on the Polish Belarusian border, near Bialowieza, Poland, January 10, 2025. (Reuters)
A soldier from the 18th Mechanized Division stands guard on a Light Strike Vehicle "Zmija" during a media tour organized by the country's military to demonstrate the security measures on the Polish Belarusian border, near Bialowieza, Poland, January 10, 2025. (Reuters)

Poland has barred Chinese-made vehicles from entering military facilities due to concerns their onboard sensors could be used to collect sensitive data, the Polish Army said on Tuesday evening.

The army said in ‌a statement ‌that such vehicles ‌may ⁠still be allowed onto ⁠secured sites if specified functions are disabled and other safeguards required under each facility's security rules are in place.

To ⁠limit the risk ‌of ‌exposing confidential information, the military has ‌also banned connecting company ‌phones to infotainment systems in vehicles manufactured in China.

The restrictions do not apply ‌to publicly accessible military locations such as hospitals, ⁠clinics, ⁠libraries, prosecutors' offices or garrison clubs, the army said.

It added that the measures are precautionary and align with practices used by NATO members and other allies to ensure high standards of protection for defense infrastructure.

World

Starmer, Trump discussed Russia-Ukraine, Iran after Geneva Talks, Downing Street Says 

US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announce an agreement between the two countries as they hold a press conference at Chequers at the conclusion of a state visit on September 18, 2025 in Aylesbury, Britain. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announce an agreement between the two countries as they hold a press conference at Chequers at the conclusion of a state visit on September 18, 2025 in Aylesbury, Britain. (Reuters)
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Starmer, Trump discussed Russia-Ukraine, Iran after Geneva Talks, Downing Street Says 

US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announce an agreement between the two countries as they hold a press conference at Chequers at the conclusion of a state visit on September 18, 2025 in Aylesbury, Britain. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announce an agreement between the two countries as they hold a press conference at Chequers at the conclusion of a state visit on September 18, 2025 in Aylesbury, Britain. (Reuters)

British ‌Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke to US President Donald Trump on Tuesday night about US-mediated Russia-Ukraine peace talks in Geneva, as well as talks between the US and Iran on ‌their nuclear ‌dispute, a Downing Street ‌spokesperson ⁠said.

Starmer also discussed ⁠Gaza with Trump and stressed on the importance of securing further access for humanitarian aid, the spokesperson said.

Negotiators ⁠from Ukraine and ‌Russia ‌concluded the first of two days ‌of the US-mediated ‌peace talks in Geneva on Tuesday, with Trump pressing Kyiv to act fast ‌to reach a deal.

Separately, Iranian Foreign Minister ⁠Abbas ⁠Araqchi said Tehran and Washington reached an understanding on Tuesday on "guiding principles" aimed at resolving their longstanding nuclear dispute, but that did not mean a deal is imminent.

World

Japan PM Takaichi Reappointed Following Election

Sanae Takaichi gestures at the Lower House of the Parliament in Tokyo, Japan, 18 February 2026. EPA/FRANCK ROBICHON
Sanae Takaichi gestures at the Lower House of the Parliament in Tokyo, Japan, 18 February 2026. EPA/FRANCK ROBICHON
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Japan PM Takaichi Reappointed Following Election

Sanae Takaichi gestures at the Lower House of the Parliament in Tokyo, Japan, 18 February 2026. EPA/FRANCK ROBICHON
Sanae Takaichi gestures at the Lower House of the Parliament in Tokyo, Japan, 18 February 2026. EPA/FRANCK ROBICHON

Japan's lower house formally reappointed Sanae Takaichi as prime minister on Wednesday, 10 days after her historic landslide election victory.

Takaichi, 64, became Japan's first woman premier in October and won a two-thirds majority for her party in the snap lower house elections on February 8.

She has pledged to bolster Japan's defenses to protect its territory and waters, likely further straining relations with Beijing, and to boost the flagging economy.

Takaichi suggested in November that Japan could intervene militarily if Beijing sought to take Taiwan by force.

China, which regards the democratic island as part of its territory and has not ruled out force to annex it, was furious.

Beijing's top diplomat Wang Yi told the Munich Security Conference on Saturday that forces in Japan were seeking to "revive militarism".

In a policy speech expected for Friday, Takaichi will pledge to update Japan's "Free and Open Indo-Pacific" strategic framework, local media reported.

"Compared with when FOIP was first proposed, the international situation and security environment surrounding Japan have become significantly more severe," chief government spokesman Minoru Kihara said Monday.

In practice this will likely mean strengthening supply chains and promoting free trade through the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) that Britain joined in 2024.

Takaichi's government also plans to pass legislation to establish a National Intelligence Agency and to begin concrete discussions towards an anti-espionage law, the reports said.

Takaichi has promised too to tighten rules surrounding immigration, even though Asia's number two economy is struggling with labor shortages and a falling population.

On Friday Takaichi will repeat her campaign pledge to suspend consumption tax on food for two years in order to ease inflationary pressures on households, local media said, according to AFP.

This promise has exacerbated market worries about Japan's colossal debt, with yields on long-dated government bonds hitting record highs last month.

Rahul Anand, the International Monetary Fund chief of mission in Japan, said Wednesday that debt interest payments would double between 2025 and 2031.

"Removing the consumption tax (on food) would weaken the tax revenue base, since the consumption tax is an important way to raise revenues without creating distortions in the economy," Anand said.

To ease such concerns, Takaichi will on Friday repeat her mantra of having a "responsible, proactive" fiscal policy and set a target on reducing government debt, the reports said.

She will also announce the creation of a cross-party "national council" to discuss taxation and how to fund ageing Japan's ballooning social security bill.

But Takaichi's first order of business will be obtaining approval for Japan's budget for the fiscal year beginning on April 1 after the process was delayed by the election.

The ruling coalition also wants to pass legislation that will outlaw destroying the Japanese flag, according to the media reports.

It wants too to accelerate debate on changing the constitution and on revising the imperial family's rules to ease a looming succession crisis.

Takaichi and many within her Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) oppose making it possible for a woman to become emperor, but rules could be changed to "adopt" new male members.