At least one dead after earthquake in Turkey felt across Greek islands
Residents in western Turkey and the Greek islands were shaken awake on Monday evening when a strong 5.8-magnitude earthquake jolted the Turkish coastal town of Marmaris.
A 14-year-old girl died in the town of Fethiye after the quake, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said, despite being taken to the hospital. She had suffered a panic attack.
The quake, which had a depth of 68 km according to the European Seismological Centre, was felt across the Dodecanese islands.
At least 69 people were injured after attempting to jump from heights due to panic caused by the tremors, which were strongly felt on the Greek island of Rhodes — the largest of the Dodecanese islands near the Turkish border.
No injuries were reported in Rhodes; however, tourists visiting the island said they woke up to violent shaking.
Travel agency TUI cautioned tourists in the region to 'remain calm and follow any safety instructions provided by your accommodation or local officials.'
Greek seismologist Efthimios Lekkas told ERT News that the earthquake's depth caused it to be felt across a wider area.
"It will not have a significant impact on the surface, there will be no tsunami, and above all, there will not be a rich aftershock sequence," he noted.
Due to its significant depth, the quake "was very intense for the residents of Rhodes and its surrounding areas. From here on, there will not be any major damage."
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Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
The countries that could solve Britain's health crisis, according to a professor
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Prof Sridhar was one of the first experts to warn that Covid was coming to Britain – in January 2020 – and later advised the Scottish government on its Covid strategy, while she went to fitness boot camps in a local park every day and qualified as a personal trainer. And then, one morning, she got a phone call as she rode the bus to work. A routine smear test had come back showing signs of high-risk HPV, and changes to her cervix. It was 'possibly cancer'. At home in Miami, Prof Sridhar would have been staring down the barrel of huge hospital fees and debt. In Britain, extensive NHS waiting lists meant that the changes to her cervix might not be treated quickly enough to prevent their development. In India, where her parents were born, and where there were no routine cervical cancer screenings, perhaps it never would have been caught 'until it was in an advanced stage,' says Prof Sridhar, two years on. There was no date given for a follow-up consultation, so Prof Sridhar phoned local clinics to ask whether there were any cancelled appointments she could attend. Two months later she secured a slot. Her abnormal cells were frozen, she was given an HPV vaccine to boost her immune response, and now she's cancer-free. It turned a fact that she had always known – that our health is always influenced more by the countries we live in than it is by our lifestyles – into a concrete reality. 'You can bubble yourself off individually,' with a good diet, exercise, air purifiers and water filters, 'but at the end of the day, you're all in it together,' Prof Sridhar says. That's the theme of her latest book, How Not to Die (Too Soon): The Lies We've Been Sold and the Policies That Can Save Us. From her perspective as a global health expert, trying to live for longer is less about changing our own habits and more about realising that 'if I moved to a blue zone, I would probably be doing all the same that people there already do, and I wouldn't be thinking about it,' she explains. Britain 'leads the world in reducing gun violence' and in bringing down smoking rates, but there remains much that we could learn from how things are done elsewhere in the world, says Prof Sridhar. Here is what she knows. The Netherlands is famous for the bike networks that span its cities. It would be easy to think that the Dutch love to cycle as a part of their culture, but bike lanes originally came about in the 1970s. In 1971, a Dutch girl called Simone Langenhoff was killed as she cycled to school, one of 450 children who died in road traffic accidents that year alone. Her father led a campaign to widen access to safe cycle routes. Now, there are 22,000 miles of cycle paths across the country, and by 2015, a quarter of all trips in the country were made by bike. As a result, getting exercise while you travel to work or to see friends is the default. Almost all Dutch people cycle, and 'only 4 per cent of people don't get the recommended daily amount of exercise,' says Prof Sridhar. This makes it the most fit country in the world, in terms of the amount of exercise people get per week on average. We pale in comparison here in Britain, where one in three men and 40 per cent of women are physically inactive. We have cycle lanes in our cities too, but making people want to use them is another issue. 'If you make walking or cycling safe, people will generally choose it, but people don't feel safe if they're too close to vehicles,' says Prof Sridhar. 'For women, it's often about whether a road is well-lit. We need to think through the barriers and how to tackle them, instead of telling people that their concerns aren't valid.' Prof Sridhar points to Paris as a city where Dutch-style changes are well underway. 'When they created physically separate lanes for cycling, not just a little painted path, the number of women cycling went up radically,' she says. Prof Sridhar would like to see the same in Britain, but first we need an attitude shift, she says. All of us around the world are inherently lazy – if we don't have to exercise, then we often won't. She wishes that the messaging from the government was that 'something is better than nothing,' she says. 'Even as a personal trainer, I struggle to get to the gym for an hour some days, but if I can manage a twenty minute walk, I'll do it, because that's much better than nothing at all.' British adults get more than half of their daily calorie intake each day from ultra-processed foods (UPFs), a situation that has been tied to increased rates of obesity, cardiovascular disease and colorectal cancer. 'But Britain isn't fatter than people in countries like Japan because we're more stupid, or because we're lazy, or because we don't buy enough diet books,' says Prof Sridhar. It's all about the availability of healthy food – and the habits we learn as we grow up. Prof Sridhar has adapted her own diet to be more similar to what people traditionally eat in Okinawa, a subtropical region of Japan where people are twice as likely to live to 100 as they are in the rest of the country. 'The main carb in the Okinawan diet is sweet potato,' Prof Sridhar says, which is packed with fibre and micronutrients. Then there's the practice of 'only eating until you're 80 per cent full,' as opposed to the culture of 'finishing everything on your plate' that Prof Sridhar (and most of us) grew up with. But even if all of us in Britain knew about its benefits, that wouldn't be enough to keep us healthy. 'If I had a magic wand and could do one thing, it would be to change school meals in Britain, so that at least all kids are getting one really great nutritious meal a day,' Prof Sridhar says. Adolescents in Britain get closer to two thirds of their calorie intake from UPFs, as they're cheaper to mass produce and serve. It's a situation that sets us up to eat badly for life – and shows us how obesity is a nationwide problem, not the fault of individual people. 'We know that eating fruits and vegetables with healthier proteins is more expensive, so there are arguments against subsidising them to be cheaper or changing school meals. But you'll pay either way,' says Prof Sridhar. 'If someone gets Type 2 diabetes at age 19, they'll need support from the NHS for the rest of their life. In the end, they're the same budgets, because it's all taxpayer-funded and supported.' In Britain, life expectancy has been in decline since 2011. In Finland, however, life expectancy has risen by around two years since then for both sexes, and things are only set to get better: by 2070, the average Finnish man should expect to live to 89. Mortality from treatable conditions is lower than the EU average, too. This is a sure sign that Finland has got it right when it comes to healthcare, Prof Sridhar says, as is the fact that cancer survival rates are among the best in Europe. 'When you're diagnosed with cancer, the faster you get access to treatment, the more likely you are to survive. Part of the reason Britain struggles with this is that we can't get treatment within the 60 days, or 30 days, whatever the crucial window is for the particular cancer that you have,' she explains. The big difference is that Finland's health system is built around prevention, says Prof Sridhar. 'With the NHS, we often wait for someone to have a heart attack before we wonder how to save them. Instead, we should look at whether that person knew they were at risk of heart attack. Did they know their blood pressure? Did they know their adiposity levels around their abdomen? It would help if we shifted our thinking and implemented screenings earlier on.' The way to do that is through tax, Prof Sridhar says. 'In Finland, they've done very well to reduce inequality. Capitalism exists, and it's accepted that some people will have nicer lives than others, but there comes a point where you're deemed to have enough. In Britain, there are billionaires and multi-millionaires that pay less tax than an NHS nurse, because of how the system works. We could tax those people properly, and have a healthier society where everyone does better, without putting the onus on normal working people.' Zurich, in Switzerland, is the least polluted city in the world. It wasn't always that way. In 2010, the city's air was badly polluted, a result of traffic as well as wood-burning for heat in the winter. The city committed to lowering its emissions, which meant reducing the amount of journeys people took by car. Here, as in many countries with cleaner air, 'the message has been about connecting diesel and the danger from air pollution to your health and the health of your loved ones, rather than the environment,' says Prof Sridhar. 'Changing your car is really expensive. Helping people to realise that children who breathe polluted air are more likely to have asthma, and will have changes in their brain, makes it easier for them to take action.' Switzerland also has some of the cleanest tap water in the world, along with Germany. In England, we've 'become worse at separating sewage from the water supply,' says Prof Sridhar. When it comes to fixing that, however, we needn't look so far for answers. 'Scotland has some of the cleanest and best-tasting water in the world, while in England, water quality has declined,' says Prof Sridhar. 'The difference is that in Scotland, our water is publicly owned. When things go wrong, we're able to hold water companies accountable, because the shareholders are people who live here. In England, where water is private and the companies are owned by people overseas, that's much harder to do.' Prof Sridhar's Nani, her maternal grandmother, lives in Chennai, a big city in the east of India. At 92, she stays active, eats a simple plant-based diet, and has a good social life. She lives independently and can still get about well. 'She hasn't fought ageing, or tried to look younger,' Prof Sridhar says. Prof Sridhar's grandmother has inspired her to pursue 'functional health' rather than attempting to look a certain way. Doing squats and staying flexible is important 'because one day, those are the things that will help you to go to the bathroom on your own,' she says. 'My grandmother would never in a million years say that she's sporty, and it would be helpful to move away from those categories in Britain too,' says Prof Sridhar. It's another change that could start in schools, where at the moment, 'people can feel that they're un-sporty, so can't participate'. India has its own challenges with getting its population to move more – 'people have often had to work hard and move all of their lives just to get food and water, so why would they move in their leisure time?', Prof Sridhar points out – 'but there are fewer care homes in India as well as in Japan, so someone like my grandmother is able to stay living independently for longer, because you can stay in your community for longer'. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
9 hours ago
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As birthrates fall, Turkey's government steps in
Alarmed by the fact that Turkish women are having fewer children, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has moved to tackle falling birthrates -- "a threat greater than war" -- through policies designed to bring on the babies. After declaring 2025 Turkey's "Year of the Family", Erdogan last month announced 2026 would mark the start of the "Decade of the Family". But his pleas for women to have at least three children and offers of financial incentives for newlyweds may not be enough as Turkey grapples with a deepening economic crisis. Official figures show Turkey's birthrate has fallen from 2.38 children per woman in 2001 to 1.48 in 2025 -- lower than in France, Britain or the United States -- in what Erdogan, a 71-year-old pious Muslim and father-of-four, has denounced as "a disaster". During his 22 years in office -- first as premier, then president -- fertility rates have dropped sharply in this country of 85 million people. Erdogan has blamed both women and LGBTQ "perverts". "Women and LGBTQ+ individuals are considered the only culprits for the declining population growth rate, with no acknowledgement of political mistakes," said retired academic and feminist activist Berrin Sonmez. "People might be hesitant to have children in this chaotic and uncertain environment. Additionally, child support is almost non-existent and education has become the most expensive sector," she said. - No education, no jobs - High inflation has raged in Turkey for the past four years, forcing education costs up by more than 70 percent over the past year, official data shows. In the first quarter, unemployment stood at 8.2 percent, or 15 percent among 15- to 24-year-olds. Researchers with the DISK union say the real rate is 28.5 percent, and 37.5 percent among young people. But the government seems bent on fixing other issues, such as Turkey's record number of elective Caesarean births -- which stands at 61 percent, rising to 78 percent in some private hospitals. In April, Turkey banned C-section births at private healthcare facilities "without a medical justification". The procedure generally limits the number of pregnancies to two, or a maximum of three. - C-sections: the 'safer option' - Medical professionals say the high number of C-sections is linked to the rampant privatisation of the healthcare system since the late 1990s. C-sections are more time-efficient for medical staff -- 30 minutes, versus 12 hours for a traditional delivery -- and lower the risk of legal action over complications, said Hakan Coker, an Istanbul-based gynaecologist. "Ultimately, C-sections are perceived as a guarantee of safety" for doctors and women alike, he said. Dr Harika Bodur, an obstetrician at a major Istanbul hospital, said some women ask for a C-section "at the first appointment for fear of pain". "If you refuse, they'll go elsewhere," she said. The fear is rooted in a lack of education and discomfort with sexuality, she said. The health ministry says it is now "aiming for a target rate of 20 percent (of C-sections) by encouraging normal childbirth through education of future parents". But the word "normal" has raised hackles -- notably last month when a football team carried a huge banner promoting vaginal births onto the pitch before a top-flight clash, which read: "Natural birth is normal." - Women as 'birthing machines' - "If I don't want to, I won't have any children at all, it's my right," said 23-year-old chemistry student Secil Murtazaoglu. "Access to abortion is already difficult. Now they want to limit C-sections. It's all about the oppression of women," she said. In 2012, the Turkish president described abortion as "murder", but stopped short of banning it. By offering interest-free loans of 150,000 Turkish lira ($3,800) for newlyweds and a monthly allowance of 5,000 lira from the third child onwards, Erdogan was trying "to turn women into birthing machines", Murtazaoglu said. Feminist activist Sonmez said women were subjected to huge pressures, both within their families and within society, when the much more pressing issue was the need to tackle gender violence. "We must start by combating violence against women: such policies have been eradicated and protections seriously undermined," she said. ach/rba/fo/hmw/jhb
CNN
12 hours ago
- CNN
10 years after the Mount Kinabalu earthquake, survivors return to climb again
Dangling from a tree for nearly seven hours, 11-year-old Prajesh Dhimant Patel was barely conscious — only the faint, slow movement of his feet, clad in bright orange shoes, hinted at a trace of life. Amid the debris of crushed boulders unleashed by a devastating earthquake, a tour guide was descending the mountain when, from the corner of his eye, he caught sight of those bright shoes. It was that flash of orange that led the guide to Patel, and ultimately, saved the schoolboy's life. It's been 10 years since the tragic morning of June 5, 2015, when 29 students and eight teachers from Singapore's Tanjong Katong Primary School set off on what was meant to be a memorable school expedition to climb the 13,435 feet Mount Kinabalu on the island of Borneo, Malaysia. As the group ascended, a 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck, triggering a landslide that buried part of the expedition. Patel was swept away by the thundering cascade of rocks and dirt and hoisted into a tree. Seven students and two teachers from his group never made it back. Eighteen people in total lost their lives. For Patel, now 21, the memories are blurred by trauma and lost to time, much like the friends and teachers he lost that day. But on the 10th anniversary of the tragedy, he felt ready to revisit that chapter of his life. 'I had always wanted to know what had happened, because nobody shared it with me,' he said. Joined by his former classmate and fellow survivor, Emyr Uzayr, Patel began the journey to retrace the very trails that once tested their limits — and to heal. When Patel and Uzayr reunited for the climb on May 20 this year, they were ready — despite lingering anxiety and fear — to honor the friends who never came home. The two had stayed in a vague sort of touch after the 2015 disaster, little more than brief hellos on Instagram and scattered 'how are you' messages. Despite barely speaking over the years, one thing was clear for both of them: returning to Mount Kinabalu was unfinished business. They were both eager to return and shake off the ghosts on the 10th anniversary of the earthquake. On the climb, they reunited with Cornelius Sanan, the 43-year-old Malaysian mountain guide who, 10 years earlier, had saved Patel's life. Sanan told CNN that the first thing he said to Patel was, 'Where are your magic shoes?' 'I wish I still had them,' Patel replied, 'but they held too many painful memories, so my parents didn't want me to keep them.' Though the bright orange shoes were long gone, Patel wore a familiar religious pendant around his neck — his lucky charm, which Sanan recognized. It was the same pendant Patel had worn on the day of the quake. The group hoped to complete the climb in two days. But in the early hours of May 21, heavy rain began to fall, forcing them to spend an extra day on the mountain. What could have been a frustrating delay turned into an opportunity to listen to the stories of the locals who still remembered that tragic day, and to hear from Sanan himself. 'It became more of a shared journey than a personal one,' Uzayr reflected. The next morning, at 3:30 a.m., just as the rain eased, they resumed their climb through the steep, soggy terrain of Mount Kinabalu. 'It was physically very tough,' Uzayr admitted. 'At some point, I wondered — how did we even manage this when we were just kids?' Under clear skies and with fresh mountain air all around, as Uzayr climbed, the old memories surged back. 'Every step we took,' the 21-year-old recalled, 'memories of our friends came flooding back.' Unlike Patel, Uzayr remembers everything from that fateful day which began with laughter, the thrill of a long-awaited school trip finally coming to life. 'We were just kids, telling each other, 'Hurry up! Move faster!'' he recalled with a soft smile. The day had only just begun when the ground began to tremble. 'The whole mountain shook,' he said. 'And then, thousands of rocks — some the size of car tires — came crashing down from above at very fast, fast speed.' Teachers shouted, 'Get down! Get down!' But the rocks fell faster than anyone could react to. 'I remember the colors of my friends' jackets everywhere,' he said quietly, 'and then… the bodies.' Uzayr was left covered in cuts, with a fractured skull. But he made it out alive. For Patel, though; the memories are mostly lost and scattered. It is Sanan, the mountain guide who found him, who now helps fill in the blanks. He shows Patel the exact tree where he had been found, dangling for hours — barely visible. 'We saw a bit of movement and thought, 'maybe someone is still alive',' Sanan told CNN. 'We made the decision to bring Patel up without any proper gear. We just had to try.' 'If I had landed just a few meters to the left or right,' Patel said, 'they wouldn't have been able to see me. The trees would've hidden me completely.' He was severely injured, physically and emotionally. 'I completely couldn't speak, couldn't walk, couldn't write,' he recalled, 'so I had to relearn how to do every basic thing from the start.' And yet, the man who pulled Patel from the trees wasn't trained in rescue at all. Sanan had only been a mountain guide for five years, with no prior experience in a natural disaster. But on that day, instinct took over. Sanan lost someone too — his cousin Robbie Sapinggi, a fellow guide who had been leading a Thai tourist when the earthquake hit. Sapinggi was caught under falling rocks. Knowing he wouldn't make it, he told the tourist to go on without him. Another mountain guide, Joseph Soludin, also lost his life that day. Sanan still guides today. It's his way of honoring Sapinggi's memory. 'I continue guiding,' he said, 'because part of my soul lives here (in Mount Kinabalu).' To Uzayr and Patel, Sanan will always be their hero — the man who saved lives. But Sanan shakes his head. 'We were all there that day — guides, rescuers, everyone. No one did it alone,' he said softly. 'We were all heroes, in our own way.' The trails on Mount Kinabalu have since been rebuilt. A dedicated rescue team now stands ready every day. Safety has changed, but the mountain hasn't. High up in those peaks, the memories of 2015 still live on. 'In everything we do now, we carry their memories,' Uzayr said. 'We honored what our friends never got the chance to finish.' And sometimes, when the weight of memory grows heavy, they think of the little things. Like the bright orange shoes caught in a tree — proof that life clings on, even in the darkest moments. 'We found a renewed sense of purpose,' Uzayr said. 'And realized it was time to accept the past and move on to the future.'
