Turkey-Syria earthquake: New-born and mother saved after four days in rubble

BBC - A new born baby and his mother have been rescued from rubble in Turkey, around 90 hours after the first of Monday’s deadlyearthquakes.

The 10-day-old boy, named Yagiz, was retrieved fromaruinedstructureinthe southernHatayprovince.

Footageshowedthechild being carefully taken out overnight - a sight described by local media as miraculous.

Hopes of finding many more survivors are diminishing, amid freezingcold weather four days after thedisaster However,search andrescueeffortscontinuein b o t h T u r k e y a n d neighbouring Syria - which was struck by the quakes as well.

New-born Yagiz was pictured wrapped in a thermal blanket being carried to an ambulance to receivetreatment.

His mother was brought outonastretcher Therewere no further updates immediately available over thehealthofboth.

Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu - whose teams were reportedly involved in therescue-tweetedaboutthe rescue,sayingithappenedin thetownofSamandag.

Footage obtained by the Reuters news agency also showed a man being retrieved from the ruins, thoughitwasnotknownifhe had any connection to the othertwo.

Morethan21,000people have died - most of them in Turkey - after Monday morning’s initial 7.8magnitude tremor and the hundreds of aftershocks that followed.

There have also been fears of a secondary catastrophe, as many people have been made homeless and are lacking shelter, water,fuelandelectricity

TurkishPresident,Recap Tayyip Erdogan has described it as the “disaster ofthecentury”.

Opposition figures have accused Mr Erdogan of failing to prepare for the earthquake and have questioned how estimated

88bn lira ($4.6bn; £3.8bn) raised from an “earthquake tax” was spent. The levyfirstimposedinthewakeofa massive quake in 1999 that killed more than 17,000 people - was meant to have been spent on disaster prevention and the development of emergency services.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of Turkey’s main opposition party said on Wednesday that Mr. Erdogan’s government “has not prepared for an earthquakefor20years”.

Despite the devastation, stories of remarkable escapes or heroic rescues havebeenemergingoverthe pastdays.

Thousands of people haveofferedtoadoptababy girl who was born under a collapsed building in northwestSyria.

When she was rescued, babyAya - meaning miracle in Arabic - was still connected by her umbilical cordtohermother,whodied along with other family members.

Social media restricted in Ethiopia as church rift turns violent

Three church officials declared themselvesarchbishopslastmonth,leading toproteststhathavekilledatleast30people.

Aljazeera - Access to social media platformshasbeenrestrictedinEthiopia,the Internet watchdog NetBlocks says, after violent protests sparked by a rift within the country’sOrthodoxChurch.

The protests broke out in the Oromia regionwhenthreechurchofficialsdeclared themselves archbishops last month and set up their own governing body Some demonstrators have opposed their move whileothershavesupportedit.

AccesstoFacebook,Messenger,TikTok and Telegram has been severely restricted, NetBlockssaidonTwitterlateonThursday, citingnetworkdataithadcollected.

The tweet came hours after the church saidatleast30peoplehavebeenkilledinthe protestssinceFebruary4.

The church’s statement called for demonstrations on Sunday against the new governing body as it accused the Ethiopian government of “meddling” in the church’s internal affairs after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmedaskedhisministerstostayoutofthe dispute.