A newborn baby and a family of six are among those to defy the odds and be pulled alive from the rubble in Turkey days after the devastating earthquake.
The rescues come as hopes fade of finding more survivors following Monday’s 7.8 magnitude tremor, in the face of freezing temperatures.
The tower block was only 600ft from the Mediterranean and the earthquake caused the sea to rise and flood the city centre to within feet of where they were trapped.
Newborn baby rescued
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10-day-old baby rescued after 90 hours
A 10-day-old baby was pulled from the rubble along with her mother 90 hours after catastrophe struck.
The infant, named as Yagiz Ulas, was found by search and rescue teams in Hatay province, according to officials.
Married couple saved
Image: There was relief as Haci Murat Kilinc and his wife, Raziye, were freed. Pic: AP
Rescue workers wept with relief as a married couple who spent 109 hours buried within a small crevice in the rubble were freed.
There were shouts of “God is great” as Haci Murat Kilinc and his wife, Raziye, were carried through a crowd on stretchers to a waiting ambulance in Iskenderun.
One rescue worker said Mr Kilinc had joked with the search team while still trapped beneath the rubble, trying to boost their morale.
He also requested cigarettes and tea while still buried, but had to be refused.
Joy as teenager found
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Tears as teen rescued after 94 hours
Near the epicentre of the quake in the city of Gaziantep, emergency workers rescued Adnan Muhammed Korkut from the basement where had been trapped since the quake.
Trapped for 94 hours, the 17-year-old said he had been forced to drink his own urine to survive.
He smiled at the crowd of friends and relatives who cried tears of joy as he was carried out and placed on a stretcher.
“Thank God you arrived,” he said, embracing his mother and others who leaned down to kiss and hug him as he was put into an ambulance.
“Thank you everyone.”
A rescue worker called Yasemin, told him: “I have a son just like you.
“I swear to you, I have not slept for four days. I swear I did not sleep; I was trying to get you out.”
Dramatic rescues
Image: Rescuers saved 20-year-old Ibrahim Kantrji, in Kahramanmaras
Dramatic rescues were also reported elsewhere, including in the city of Antakya, where crews saved a 10-year-old girl.
Search teams also found a 20-year-old survivor Ibrahim Kantrji in Kahramanmaras, while Eyup Ak, 60, was pulled to safety in Adiyaman, 104 hours after the earthquake.
Image: Eyup Ak, 60, was trapped for 104 hours. Pic:AP
‘Disaster of the century’
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called it “the disaster of the century”.
With morgues and cemeteries overwhelmed, dead bodies lie wrapped in blankets, rugs and tarpaulins in the streets of some cities.
The Turkish authorities said more than 19,000 people had been confirmed killed in the disaster so far in Turkey, with nearly 75,000 injured.
Some 3,384 have been confirmed killed on the other side of the border in Syria, bringing the total number of dead to more than 22,000.
The total outstrips the more than 18,400 who died in the 2011 earthquake off Fukushima, Japan, that triggered a tsunami and the estimated 18,000 people who died in a tremor near Istanbul in 1999.
‘They’ll die from the cold’
Meanwhile, in the city of Antakya, people scrambled for supplies being distributed from a lorry.
One survivor, Ahmet Tokgoz, called for the government to evacuate people from the region.
He said: “Especially in this cold, it is not possible to live here.
“If people haven’t died from being stuck under the rubble, they’ll die from the cold.”
The winter weather and damage to roads and airports have hampered the rescue effort.
The Turkish government has been criticised for being too slow to respond.
There will be a special programme called Disaster Zone: The Turkey-Syria Earthquake on Sky News on Friday evening at 9.30pm
Image: Nicolas Sarkozy leaves his house with his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. Pic: Reuters
Hundreds of supporters chanted “Nicolas, Nicolas” and sang the French national anthem as he left his home this morning and stepped into the car that would take him to jail.
It caps a stunning downfall of the man who led France between 2007 and 2012.
Sarkozy’s sons and daughter, Jean, Pierre, Louis and Giulia, and his grandchildren showed up at the gathering.
As he prepared to begin his prison term, he posted a message on social media repeating his claims that he is an “innocent man” and said he feels a “deep sorrow for France”.
He will be the first former French leader to be jailed since Nazi collaborator Marshal Philippe Petain after the Second World War.
In his statement, Sarkozy said: “As I prepare to cross the walls of La Sante prison, my thoughts go out to the French people of all walks of life and opinions,” he said.
“I want to tell them with my unwavering strength that it is not a former President of the Republic who is being locked up this morning, it is an innocent person.”
He added: “I feel deep sorrow for France, which finds itself humiliated by the expression of a vengeance that has taken hatred to an unprecedented level. I have no doubt. The truth will triumph. But the price to pay will have been crushing.”
Image: Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy kisses his wife Carla Brun-Sarkozy. Pic: Reuters
Parisian resident Michelle Perie, 67, said she came out to support “because there is anger, injustice”.
“He’s not like any other defendants, he’s someone who holds state secrets, he’s someone who has always done his job with his head held high. We don’t understand,” she said.
Sarkozy’s lawyers said he will be held in solitary confinement, where he will be kept away from all other prisoners for security reasons.
The former president told French newspaper Le Figaro he would take three books with him, including Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo, in which the hero escapes from an island prison before seeking revenge.
A man who shot and badly wounded Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has been given a 21-year jail sentence after being found guilty of terrorism charges.
Juraj Cintula, 72, opened fire on Mr Fico in May 2024, hitting him five times from little more than a one-metre distance as the prime minister greeted supporters in the central Slovak town of Handlová.
Cintula, who was acting alone, said he had not intended to kill Mr Fico and claimed his motive was that he disagreed with government policies.
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Robert Fico
The Slovakian leader, 64, was seriously injured in the attack. He was struck in the abdomen and also sustained wounds to his hip, hand and foot. He was rushed to hospital and immediately underwent five-hour long surgery.
Mr Fico has since recovered and made his first public appearance a few months after the attack.
The shooting and subsequent trial have shaken this small, European Union and NATO-member country, where populist Mr Fico has long been a divisive figure. He’s often been criticised for straying from Slovakia’s pro-Western path and aligning it closer to Russia.
Image: Protesters at a march called “Slovakia is Europe” in Bratislava, May 9, 2025. Pic: Martin Baumann/TASR via AP
Cintula was arrested immediately after the attack. When questioned by investigators, he rejected the accusation of being a “terrorist”.
In testimony read out at his trial, Cintula stated: “I decided to harm the health of the prime minister but I had no intention to kill anyone.”
He added that he was relieved when he learned the prime minister survived.
Image: Protesters against new consolidation of Slovak government in Bratislava, Sept. 11, 2025. Pic: Martin Baumann/TASR via AP
“The defendant did not attack a citizen, but specifically the prime minister,” Igor Králik, the head of the three-judge panel, said in delivering the verdict.
“He was against the government, he was inciting people to overthrow the government.”
Cintula can still appeal the verdict, but it was not immediately clear if he would do so.
In the aftermath of the attack, Mr Fico said he “had no reason to believe” the attack was the work of just one person and repeatedly blamed the liberal opposition and media for the assassination attempt. There is no evidence for that.
The Slovak leader had previously said he “had no reason to believe” it was an attack by a lone deranged person.
He repeatedly blamed the liberal opposition and media for the assassination attempt, although no evidence was provided for these claims.
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Slovak PM shooting suspect’s home raided
Populist Mr Fico returned to power for the fourth time after his leftist Smer, or Direction, party won the 2023 parliamentary election after campaigning on a pro-Russia and anti-American message.
Thousands have repeatedly rallied in Bratislava and across Slovakia to protest Fico’s pro-Russian stance and other policies.
Japan’s parliament has voted in the country’s first ever female prime minister.
Sanae Takaichi won 237 votes in the 465-seat lower chamber of parliament, and is also set to secure a majority in the less powerful upper house before being sworn in later today.
Tuesday’s votes came after her Liberal Democratic Party agreed to a coalition with the right-wing Japan Innovation Party yesterday.
The last-minute deal came after the Liberal Democrats lost its longterm partner, the Buddhist-backed Komeito, which has a more centrist stance.
Incumbent prime minister Shigeru Ishiba, of Ms Takaichi’s party, announced his resignation last month.
Image: The new prime minister stands and bows after the vote. Pic: AP
While Ms Takaichi’s election marks the shattering of a glass ceiling for Japan, it also marks a sharp tack to the right.
She is a staunchly conservative figure who cites Margaret Thatcher as an inspiration, and comes to power at a time when the country is increasingly worried about the cost of living and immigration.
Japan is currently grappling with rising prices that have sparked public anger, fuelling support for oppositions groups including the far-right Sanseito party.
Image: Japanese lawmakers electing the new PM at the Lower House of Parliament in Tokyo. Pic: Reuters
Ms Takaichi’s untested alliance is still short of a majority in both houses of parliament and she will need to win over other opposition groups to pass any legislation – which could make her government unstable.
She said at Monday’s signing ceremony: “Political stability is essential right now. Without stability, we cannot push measures for a strong economy or diplomacy.”
While she is Japan’s first female PM, Ms Takaichi has previously shown she is in no rush to promote gender equality or diversity.
She is among the Japanese politicians who have stonewalled measures for women’s advancements and she supports the imperial family’s male-only succession, while opposing same-sex marriage and allowing separate surnames for married couples.