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KAHRAMANMARAS, Turkey Rescuers pulled more survivors from the rubble a week after an earthquake struck Turkey and Syria leaving more than 35,000 dead, as the United Nations warned the toll was set to rise far higher.

A young boy and a 62-year-old woman were the latest miracle rescues after being trapped for nearly seven days under the wreckage of collapsed buildings since Feb 6s devastating quake.

Seven-year-old Mustafa was rescued in south-east Turkeys Hatay province, while Madam Nafize Yilmaz was pulled free in Nurdagi, also in Hatay, reported the Anadolu state news agency early on Monday. Both had been trapped for 163 hours before their rescue late on Sunday.

CNN Turk, meanwhile, reported that 40-year-old Sibel Kaya was rescued in southern Gaziantep province, some 170 hours after the first of two major quakes struck the region.

Turkeys disaster agency said more than 32,000 people from Turkish organisations were working on search-and-rescue efforts, along with 8,294 international rescuers.

A member of a British search team posted a remarkable video on Twitter on Sunday showing a rescuer crawling down a tunnel created through the rubble to find a Turkish man who had been trapped for five days in Hatay.

Search teams are facing a race against the clock, as experts caution that hopes for finding people alive in the debris dim with each passing day.

In the devastated Turkish city of Kahramanmaras, near the epicentre of the quake, excavators dug through mountains of twisted rubble as a rescue team recovered a body from the wreckage.

But in many areas, rescue teams said they lacked sensors and advanced search equipment, leaving them reduced to carefully digging through the rubble with shovels or only their hands.

If we had this kind of equipment, we would have saved hundreds of lives, if not more, said Mr Alaa Moubarak, head of civil defence in Jableh, north-west Syria. Lack of aid in northern Syria

The UN has decried the failure to ship desperately needed aid to war-torn regions of Syria.

A convoy with supplies for north-west Syria arrived via Turkey, but the UNs relief chief Martin Griffiths said much more was needed for millions whose homes were destroyed.

He said the rescue phase was coming to a close, with urgency now switching to providing shelter, food, schooling and psychosocial care.

We have so far failed the people in north-west Syria. They rightly feel abandoned, looking for international help that hasnt arrived, Mr Griffiths said on Twitter.

Assessing damage in southern Turkey on Saturday, when the toll stood at 28,000, Mr Griffiths said he expected the figure to double or more, as chances of finding survivors fade with every passing day. More On This Topic Turkey earthquake: Teen pulled out alive over 80 hours later Two-year old rescued from rubble 79 hours after earthquake in Turkey Supplies have been slow to arrive in Syria, where years of conflict have ravaged the healthcare system, and parts of the country remain under the control of rebels battling the government of President Bashar al-Assad, which is under Western sanctions.

But a 10-truck UN convoy crossed into north-west Syria via the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, carrying shelter kits, plastic sheeting, rope, blankets, mattresses and carpets.

Bab al-Hawa is the only point for international aid to reach people in rebel-held areas of Syria after nearly 12 years of civil war, after other crossings were closed under pressure from China and Russia.

The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) met Mr Assad in Damascus on Sunday and said the Syrian leader had voiced readiness for more border crossings to help bring aid into the rebel-held north-west.

He was open to considering additional cross-border access points for this emergency, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters. Conflict, Covid-19, cholera, quake Emergency personnel and local people work at the site of collapsed buildings following a powerful earthquake in Adiyaman, south-eastern Turkey, on Feb 12. PHOTO: EPA-EFE The compounding crises of conflict, Covid-19, cholera, economic decline and now the earthquake have taken an unbearable toll, Dr Tedros said a day after visiting Aleppo.

While Damascus has given the all-clear for cross-line aid convoys to go ahead from government areas, Dr Tedros said the WHO is still waiting for a green light from rebel-held areas before going in.

Mr Assad looked forward to further efficient cooperation with the UN agency to improve the shortage in supplies, equipment and medicines, his presidency said.

He also thanked the United Arab Emirates for providing huge relief and humanitarian aid, with pledges of tens of millions of dollars.

But in Turkey, security concerns prompted the suspension of some rescue operations, and dozens of people have been arrested for looting or trying to defraud victims in the aftermath of the quake, according to state media.

An Israeli emergency relief organisation said on Sunday that it suspended its earthquake rescue operation in Turkey and returned home because of a significant security threat to its staff. Anger grows

After days of grief and anguish, anger in Turkey has been growing over the poor quality of buildings, as well as the governments response to the countrys worst disaster in nearly a century.

A total of 12,141 buildings were officially either destroyed or seriously damaged in Turkey.

Three people were put behind bars by on Sunday and seven more have been detained, including two developers who were trying to relocate to the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

Officials and medics said 31,643 people had died in Turkey and 3,581 in Syria from last Mondays 7.8-magnitude tremor, bringing the confirmed total to 35,224. AFP More On This Topic Hope for more survivors fades as Turkey-Syria quake toll passes 20,000 UN admits aid failure for Syria as quake toll tops 33,000

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Climate Satellite MethaneSAT Fails After Just One Year in Orbit

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Climate Satellite MethaneSAT Fails After Just One Year in Orbit

One of the world’s most advanced satellites for detecting methane and other gases that contribute to the warming of the planet has gone dark and stopped communicating with ground-based controllers just over a year after being launched into orbit. Created by the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), the satellite — estimated to cost as much as $88 million — hitched a ride into space on a SpaceX rocket in March 2024. It was charged with monitoring methane leaks from oil and gas operations, and then making the data available to policymakers and scientists through open access. But on June 20, contact with the satellite was lost, and attempts to recover it have failed. EDF officially reported on July 1 that MethaneSAT has lost power and appears unlikely to recover.

MethaneSAT Failure Marks Setback for Climate Transparency Despite Data Gains and Global Support

As per a statement released by EDF, MethaneSAT’s failure came despite multiple recovery attempts. The satellite was constructed to lift the veil off methane’s invisible, weighty impact on global warming. It is nowhere near as common as carbon dioxide, but over a timescale of, say, a century, it is 20 to 30 times more efficient at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. That makes its emissions a prime target in the effort to minimize the risks of global warming. MethaneSAT was developed to independently corroborate industrial methane reports, especially those from fossil fuel extraction. The loss of the satellite is a remarkable setback for transparency in climate science and monitoring of emissions worldwide.

Yet mission operators are hopeful that data already collected will have far-reaching effects. EDF emphasized that insights from MethaneSAT’s year in orbit will continue to be processed and made public in the coming months. The mission included backing from 10 partners such as Harvard University, the New Zealand Space Agency, BAE Systems, Google, and the Bezos Earth Fund.

Officials called MethaneSAT a bold and needed move to hold our climate accountable. Although the mission was cut short, it signaled one of the largest joint efforts between science, advocacy, and technology to battle climate change. “To succeed in meeting the climate challenge, we need bold action and fearless innovation,” EDF mentioned, describing the satellite as “at the vanguard of science.”
MethaneSAT’s brief history highlights the difficulty — and importance — of deploying space-based instruments to try and combat climate change. As other missions get ready to blaze the same trail, the data and experience this little spacecraft provided will influence the future of Earth observation.

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Microsoft Says Xbox Chief Phil Spencer Not Retiring ‘Anytime Soon’ After Rumour Surfaces Amid Layoffs

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New Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Speeds Through Solar System

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New Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Speeds Through Solar System

A newly confirmed interstellar comet is making a rare passage through our solar system — and skywatchers can catch it live online tonight. The object, now called 3I/ATLAS, is just the third interstellar visitor ever detected after the well-known ‘Oumuamua (2017) and 2I/Borisov (2019). The comet was so fresh when first detected on July 1 by the ATLAS telescope in Chile that it hadn’t even been given a name yet; the Minor Planet Center has it listed as “3I,” the “I” standing for interstellar. Tonight’s webcast will kick off at 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT) from the Virtual Telescope Project’s virtual observing facilities in Italy.

Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Speeds Toward Sun at 68 km/s, Offers Rare Study Opportunity

As per a report by Space.com, 3I/ATLAS was detected as a faint object displaying subtle cometary features, including a marginal coma and a short tail. Currently located 4.5 astronomical units (AU) from the sun — about 670 million kilometers (416 million miles) — the comet is faint at magnitude 18.8, making it invisible to amateur telescopes. The interstellar object is traveling at an astonishing pace of 68 kilometers per second (152,000 mph) relative to the sun, but NASA officials say it poses no danger to Earth.

It was imaged by the Virtual Telescope Project on July 2, showing the comet as a point of light within the trailing background stars — a sure indication that it is indeed moving through space. 3I/ATLAS should brighten a little as it approaches the sun, particularly when it gets closest, or its perihelion, on Oct. 30, when it swings within 1.4 astronomical units of the sun or Mars’ orbit.

The close pass by this interstellar visitor is a rare chance for astronomers to study the materials and dynamics outside our solar system. 3I/ATLAS, which is racing along at a frenetic pace on an elliptical orbit, may also support research into how these objects change as they sit in different stellar environments.

After disappearing behind the sun in late fall, 3I/ATLAS is projected to return to observational reach in early December. Researchers anticipate further analysis then, expanding our understanding of these rare visitors that traverse the galaxy — and occasionally, pass through our celestial neighborhood.

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The Hunt: Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Now Available For Streaming on SonyLIV

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OKX CEO apologizes after ‘false positives’ lock users out of accounts

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OKX CEO apologizes after ‘false positives’ lock users out of accounts

OKX CEO apologizes after ‘false positives’ lock users out of accounts

The CEO of OKX says that “false positives” are among the biggest challenges the crypto exchange faces in ensuring global compliance.

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