U.K News

Hope Fading As Deaths In Turkey, Syria Quake Pass 11,000

Published

2 years ago

2023-02-08

GAZIANTEP, Turkey — Rescue teams in Turkey and Syria looked for signs of life in the rubble of thousands of buildings destroyed by the world’s deadliest earthquake in more than a decade on Wednesday, when the chances of finding survivors were getting slimmer. The confirmed death toll has surpassed 11,000 people.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan paid a visit to the particularly hard-hit Hatay province, where over 3,300 people were killed, and entire neighborhoods were destroyed. Residents have criticized the government’s response, claiming that rescuers arrived too slowly.

Erdogan, who faces a tough reelection battle in May, acknowledged “shortcomings” in responding to Monday’s 7.8 magnitude earthquake but blamed it on winter weather. The earthquake damaged the runway at Hatay Airport, further complicating the response.

“Preparing for such a disaster is impossible,” Erdogan said. “We will not abandon any of our citizens.” He also slammed critics, calling them “dishonorable people” who spread “lies and slander” about the government’s response.

Turkish authorities claim to be combating disinformation, and an internet monitoring group reported that access to Twitter was restricted, despite survivors using it to alert rescuers.

In Syria and Turkey, search teams from more than a dozen countries have joined thousands of local first responders. However, the scale of destruction caused by the earthquake and its powerful aftershocks was so massive and spread over such a large area — including a region isolated by Syria’s ongoing civil war — that many people were still waiting for help.

People Rush To Save The Turkey People

Experts said that people who were stuck under the rubble or couldn’t get what they needed were running out of time to stay alive. At the same time, they stated that it was too soon to give up hope.

“The first 72 hours are critical,” according to Steven Godby, a natural hazards expert at Nottingham Trent University in England. “The average survival ratio within 24 hours is 74%, 22% after 72 hours, and 6% by the fifth day.”

Rescuers occasionally used excavators or picked carefully through debris. With thousands of buildings destroyed, it was unclear how many people were still trapped beneath the rubble.

According to Ozel Pikal, who saw eight bodies pulled from the ruins of a building in the Turkish city of Malatya, bodies were placed side by side on the ground and covered in blankets while rescuers waited for vehicles to pick them up.

Pikal, who assisted in the rescue efforts, believes at least some of the victims died as temperatures dropped to minus 6 degrees Celsius (21 Fahrenheit).

“There is no hope left in Malatya as of today,” Pikal said over the phone. “No one is emerging from the rubble alive.”

A Horrible Hit For The ALready Impacted Syrian People

Road closures and damage in the area made it difficult to reach all areas needing assistance, he said, and there needed to be more rescuers where he was. Meanwhile, the cold weather hampered those who were present, including volunteers.

“Because of the cold, our hands can’t pick up anything,” Pikal explained. “Working machines are required.”

Syria’s civil war had already lasted more than a decade in the region. Millions of Syrians have been displaced, and millions have sought refuge in Turkey.

Turkey’s president announced that the country’s death toll had surpassed 9,000. According to the Syrian Health Ministry, the death toll in government-held areas has surpassed 1,200. According to the volunteer first responders known as the White Helmets, at least 1,400 people have died in the rebel-held northwest.

This brought the total to 11,600. Thousands more have been injured.

Rescue stories continued to give hope that some of those still trapped might be found alive. A crying newborn still connected to her deceased mother by the umbilical cord was rescued in Syria on Monday. Rescuers pulled a 3-year-old boy from the rubble in Turkey’s Kahramanmaras.

The Actual Death Toll In Turkey Could Take Weeks

However, David Alexander, a professor of emergency planning and management at University College London, said that data from previous earthquakes indicated that the chances of survival were now slim, particularly for those who suffered serious injuries.

“Statistically, today is when we’ll stop finding people,” he predicted. “That doesn’t mean we should give up looking.”

Because of the sheer volume of rubble, Alexander warned that the final death toll could take weeks to determine.

The last earthquake that killed so many people was in 2015 when a magnitude 7.8 quake struck Nepal. A tsunami was triggered by an earthquake in Japan in 2011, killing nearly 20,000 people.

Many who survived the earthquake lost their homes and were forced to sleep in cars, in government shelters, or outside in some areas due to rain and snowfall.

“We don’t have a tent, a heating stove, or anything else. “Our children are in bad shape,” said Aysan Kurt, 27. “We did not die of hunger or the earthquake, but we will die of cold.”

People Arrested For Looting

The disaster comes at a critical juncture for Erdogan, who is dealing with an economic downturn and high inflation. Perceptions that his administration mishandled the crisis could harm his standing. He stated that the government would give affected families 10,000 Turkish lire ($532) each.

The leader of Turkey’s main opposition party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, blamed the devastation on Erdogan’s two-decade rule, saying he had not prepared the country for a disaster and accusing him of misusing funds.

Police said they had detained 18 people and identified more than 200 social media accounts suspected of “spreading fear and panic” in their efforts to combat disinformation related to the earthquake response.

According to NetBlocks, access to Twitter is restricted to multiple internet providers in Turkey. Trapped survivors used Twitter to alert rescuers and loved ones, while others used it to criticize the government’s response.

There has been no official response to the restrictions. The government has periodically restricted access to social media during national emergencies and terror attacks, citing national security.

UN Has Sent Help To Turkey

Aid efforts in Syria have been hampered by the ongoing conflict and the isolation of the rebel-held border region, surrounded by Russia-backed government forces. Syria is an international pariah due to Western sanctions related to the war.

The European Union announced on Wednesday that Syria had requested humanitarian assistance to assist earthquake victims. An E.U. representative insisted that the bloc’s sanctions against the Syrian government had no bearing on its ability to assist.

Muhannad Hadi, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Syria, said Wednesday that due to damaged roads, there still needs to be access to the Bab al-Hawa border crossing into rebel-held Syria, the only terminal where U.N. aid can be delivered.

Using other crossings or sending aid across conflict lines from Damascus necessitates “multiple levels of coordination between different parties, security, humanitarian, and non-governmental organizations,” he said. “This is not a simple operation.”

Critics have accused the Syrian government of deliberately slowing the process to cut off support to rebel-held areas.

Turkey is situated on major fault lines and is frequently jolted by earthquakes. In 1999, similar powerful earthquakes struck northwest Turkey, killing 18,000 people.

SOURCE – (AP)

Kiara Grace

Kiara Grace is a staff writer at VORNews, a reputable online publication. Her writing focuses on technology trends, particularly in the realm of consumer electronics and software. With a keen eye for detail and a knack for breaking down complex topics. Kiara delivers insightful analyses that resonate with tech enthusiasts and casual readers alike. Her articles strike a balance between in-depth coverage and accessibility, making them a go-to resource for anyone seeking to stay informed about the latest innovations shaping our digital world.

See Full Bio

U.K News

Britain’s Conservative Party Elects Kemi Badenoch as Leader

Published

5 days ago

2024-11-02

Ana Wong

Conservatives pick Kemi Badenoch as party leader

U.K. Conservatives pick Kemi Badenoch as their party's new leader

Britain’s Conservative Party elected outspoken MP Kemi Badenoch as its new leader on Saturday, making her the first woman of color to lead a major British political party.

She has promised to give the right-of-center Tories “renewal” by advocating for a smaller state and rejecting identity politics.

The new leader faces a daunting challenge in restoring the party’s reputation after years of division, scandal, and economic turbulence, hammering Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s policies on key issues such as the economy and immigration and returning the Conservatives to power in the 2029 election.

“The task that stands before us is tough but simple,” Kemi Badenoch said in a victory address to a room full of Conservative legislators, staff, and journalists in London. She stated that the party’s role was to hold the Labour administration accountable while developing commitments and a government strategy.

Addressing the party’s electoral defeat, she stated, “We have to be honest — honest about the fact that we made mistakes, honest about the fact that we let standards slip.”

“The time has come to tell the truth, to stand up for our principles, to plan for our future, to reset our politics and our thinking, and to give our party, and our country, the new start that they deserve,” according to Badenoch.

Kemi Badenoch was Born in London

Kemi Badenoch, a business secretary in Sunak’s cabinet, was born in London to Nigerian parents and grew up in West Africa.

The former software engineer positions herself as a disruptor, advocating for a low-tax, free-market economy and promising to “rewire, reboot, and reprogram” the British state. Like her adversary Jenrick, she has opposed multiculturalism and advocated for decreased immigration, but unlike him, she has not asked that Britain abandon the European Convention on Human Rights.

Kemi Badenoch, a self-proclaimed hater of wokeness, opposes identity politics, gender-neutral toilets, and government initiatives to reduce carbon emissions in the United Kingdom. During the leadership race, she was chastised for claiming that “not all cultures are equally valid” and implying that maternity pay was excessive.

Tim Bale, a politics professor at Queen Mary University of London, predicted that under Badenoch, the Conservative Party would “swing to the right both in terms of its economic and social policies.”

He foretold that Badenoch will follow “what you might call the boats, boilers and bathrooms strategy …. focusing very much on the trans issue, the immigration issue and skepticism about progress towards net zero.”

Conservative Party Becoming More Diverse

While the Conservative Party is unrepresentative of the country as a whole, with a decreasing membership of 132,000 mostly affluent, elderly white men, its higher echelons have become significantly more diverse.

Badenoch is the Tories’ fourth female leader, following Margaret Thatcher, Theresa May, and Liz Truss, who became prime ministers.

She is the second Conservative leader of color, following Sunak, and the first with African heritage. The center-left Labour Party has a more diversified membership, but its leaders have always been white men.

In a more than three-month leadership contest, Conservative MPs narrowed the field from six to two in a series of votes before presenting the last two to a vote of the party’s membership.

Both finalists were from the party’s right-wing and claimed they could reclaim votes from Reform U.K., the hard-right, anti-immigrant group led by populist leader Nigel Farage that has eroded Conservative support.

However, the party lost many votes to the winning party, Labour, and the centrist Liberal Democrats, and some Conservatives are concerned that tacking right may move the party away from popular sentiment.

Kier Starmer’s Labor government has had a difficult first few months in power, plagued by unfavorable headlines, fiscal woes, and a sinking approval rating.

However, Bale stated that the historical record implies Badenoch’s chances of leading the Conservatives back to power in 2029 are slim.

“It’s quite unusual for someone to take over when a party gets very badly beaten and manage to lead it to election victory,” according to him. “However, Keir Starmer did just that after 2019. So there are records to break.”

Source: AP

Returning to the UK a No Go for Prince Harry

Returning to the UK a “No Go” for Prince Harry and Meghan

Ana Wong

Ana Wong is a sharp and insightful journalist known for her in-depth reporting on tech and finance. With a knack for breaking down complex topics, she makes them accessible for everyday readers.

See Full Bio

U.K News

UK Inflation Surprises Allow For a Less Harsh Budget And Reduced Interest Rates.

Published

3 weeks ago

2024-10-16

Salman Ahmad

(VOR News) – Following last month’s drop in inflation to 1.7%, the Bank of England now has all the data needed to decide whether to reduce interest rates next month.

From 2.2% in August, the rate of price growth has sharply declined and is now much below the 2% objective set by the central bank. We have returned to the state we were in at the beginning of 2021, just before Russia invaded Ukraine and increased energy prices.

Low interest rates and inflation will soon boost Labour, which relieves Rachel Reeves.

This will help her finance the investments in this month’s budget by allowing her to borrow money without scaring the financial markets.

A decline in departmental spending may be predicted by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) in conjunction with a decline in inflation. For example, the September inflation rate will decide the working-age benefit increase in April of the following year, saving billions on the welfare tab.

The OBR projects that the cost of servicing government debt will go down. It came to more than £100 billion in the fiscal year 2023–2024, or around 10% of all spending. This is because the Bank currently anticipates a quicker decline in borrowing costs.

In her budget for October 30, Reeves has the chance to raise long-term infrastructure expenditures while keeping actual spending on daily expenses same. This depends on the Treasury’s capacity to borrow money at a cheaper cost and the ability of Whitehall departments to set lower inflation-aware budgets.

This illustrates the significant influence that lowering inflation can have. Of course, the chancellor will still need to enact some big tax rises, but this might potentially be a part of a larger story that is far more positive about the UK than most analysts—including the Treasury—had previously thought.

A lot will depend on how the OBR evaluates the ensuing five years, as its March estimate cannot have altered significantly. It is therefore anticipated that significant revisions to the projected borrowing costs and inflation will be needed.

A forecast of borrowing costs needs to take the Bank of England’s response into consideration. Prior to the latest numbers being released, eighty percent of investors were certain that interest rates would be decreased by a quarter of a percentage point to 4.75% when policymakers met the following month.

Consequently, those odds have dropped to 90%, and as Bank governor Andrew Bailey told the Guardian earlier this month, there is an increasing possibility that rates may be further lowered in the coming year if inflation declines faster than expected.

The financial markets behaved as anticipated after the September inflation estimate was released. Because of sterling’s ongoing depreciation in currency markets.

The pound has fallen from $1.34 at the inflation end of last month to less than $1.30.

It is anticipated that a sizable portion of the nine members of the Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC), which determines interest rates, will continue to harbor doubts regarding the likelihood of long-term price stability.

They will stress how the recent decline in inflation is a direct result of the recent decline in energy costs and their effects on sectors like transportation. According to data from the Office for National Statistics, the average cost of gasoline decreased by 5.5 pence per liter to 136.8p in September of 2024.

MPC members, who are frequently impacted by the falling cost of transportation, will be concerned about the continuous, notable increase in food expenses. The main measure of longer-term inflationary trends, the core inflation number, was revealed at a significantly higher rate of 3.2%. Food and energy are not included in this figure due to their considerable volatility.

However, sluggish wage growth indicates that borrowing costs need to be lowered as the economy is about to collapse. These days, Beijing’s economic policies have a greater influence on oil prices than wars in the Middle East.

Additionally, China, the biggest consumer of oil in the world, is currently going through a major slowdown as a result of the stunning collapse of the real estate bubble.

The US economy is expected to expand on the other side of the Atlantic. The situation in Ukraine and the waning demand from its primary export markets, China and the US, are adding to the already heavy load that the rest of Europe is already carrying.

Interest rates will probably decrease more quickly than first predicted since the MPC will evaluate changes in interest rates in light of the state of the world economy.

Reeves will voice his disapproval of the way the world economy is going. Her goal is to restore public finances while making up for more than a decade of improper public spending allocations during the Conservative administration.

SOURCE: TGN

U.K News

Alex Salmond, Leading Figure In Scottish Independence Movement, Dies At Age 69

Published

3 weeks ago

2024-10-15

Kiara Grace

Public leaders from Scotland and the United Kingdom have paid tribute to former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, who died on Saturday at the age of 69.

Salmond, a key member of the Scottish independence movement, became unwell in North Macedonia on Saturday after delivering a speech, according to British media reports.

Salmond was presumed to have died of a heart attack, according to the British Press Association, but a post-mortem examination will be conducted to determine the cause.

Alex Salmond, Leading Figure In Scottish Independence Movement, Dies At Age 69

Tributes to Salmond, who was Scotland’s First Minister from 2007 to 2014 and led the Scottish National Party twice – from 1990 to 2000 and 2004 to 2014 – came from all sides of the political spectrum, led by King Charles.

“My wife and I are greatly saddened to hear of the sudden death of Alex Salmond,” the monarch told reporters. “His devotion to Scotland drove his decades of public service.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated, “For more than 30 years, Alex Salmond was a monumental presence in Scottish and UK politics. He leaves a lasting legacy. As First Minister of Scotland, he was strongly committed to Scotland’s tradition, history, and culture, as well as the communities he represented as MP (member of parliament) and MSP (member of the Scottish parliament) over many years. My sympathies are with all who knew him, including his family and loved ones. Today, on behalf of the UK government, I extend our sympathies.

Salmond had spent decades championing the cause of Scottish independence and came close to achieving it, receiving 45% of the vote when the matter was put to a referendum in September 2014.

Following the defeat, he resigned as first minister and SNP leader and was succeeded by Nicola Sturgeon, although he continued to work for Scottish independence through the newly established Alba Party, which he founded in 2021.

“I will never be able to thank Alex enough for all of his lessons, counsel, guidance, mentorship, love, and friendship, as well as everything he has done for Scotland. For many years, he was the nation’s father, and he has long been a father figure to me. Chris McEleny, General Secretary of the Alba Party, said on Saturday that his sympathies are with everyone in the family and everyone in Scotland who is mourning.

Scottish First Minister John Swinney said he was “deeply shocked and saddened by the untimely death” and sent his condolences to Salmond’s wife Moira and family.

“Over many years, Alex made an enormous contribution to political life – not just in Scotland, but throughout the UK and beyond,” Swinney stated.

“Alex worked tirelessly and battled valiantly for his beloved country and its independence. He brought the Scottish National Party from the edges of Scottish politics into government and led Scotland so close to independence,” he said.

After losing his seat in parliament, Salmond maintained a prominent role in Scottish and British politics, serving as a commentator and hosting the Alex Salmond Show on Russian state broadcaster RT.

Alex Salmond, Leading Figure In Scottish Independence Movement, Dies At Age 69

In 2018, he sued the country’s government over allegations of sexual misconduct leveled against him. Salmond said that the Scottish government denied him the opportunity to adequately defend himself against the allegations, which stemmed from his alleged behavior toward a member of staff at the official Bute House house, according to the Daily Record of Scotland.

A jury eventually cleared Salmond of all charges in a March 2020 trial.

“The terrible news of Alex Salmond’s death today will come as a shock to everybody who knew him in Scotland, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere. Our thoughts are with his family and friends during this sad time, and on behalf of Scottish Labour, I extend our heartfelt condolences to everyone who will be mourning his loss,” said Anas Sarwar, leader of the Scottish Labour Party.

“Alex was a central figure in politics for over three decades and his contribution to the Scottish political landscape cannot be overstated.”

SOURCE | CNN

Kiara Grace

See Full Bio