ah, ah, wherever you go in the world, one airline grows. to make it feel exceptional. katara always going places together. ah, searching for survivors at least $31.00 people are dead and hundreds of buildings have collapsed after a magnitude $7.00. earthquake rocked the southeastern region of tortilla and northern syria. ah,

i'm how much room this is al, did your alive from door how also coming up with the battle for buff moot, intensifies ukraine's president says russia is throwing more of its troops into the fight. boats are we encountered in ecuador following a referendum that aims to battle crime and tackle environmental problems. prominent pro democracy figures are on trial in hong kong. 2 years after they were arrested under the governments, controversial national security with we begin with breaking news at least 18 people are dead in turkey and 13 in syria. after a magnitude $7.00, earthquake struck the south eastern region of turkey. the epicenter was pers archie, but the tremors were felt in several provinces as well as syria and lebanon.

tremors reportedly lasted about a minute, and hundreds of buildings have collapsed. a fire has also broken out. after the earthquake in carmel marsh province returned to cheer that we ask our citizens outside affected region to reduce their mobile phone activities. if that especially i would like to learn a one above to some formation about sharing and misleading information through social media. now would be the biggest treason to this country. now for more on this, i'm now joined by cinema casala, who's monitoring developments from istanbul, said am. what's the latest we're hearing from officials? well, mohammed this, it was a turkish interior minister who spoke within the last one hour n a. he said that turkey has announced the 44 level alerts which requires also international help from the neighboring in and friendly countries. and he said that the rescue works are on their way to the regional governors are

being deployed to the area and he's, or he will also be accompanying them. he made a call for citizens not to take to the streets with their cars in order to avoid in a traffic jam so that the ambulances can easily be deployed to the area and they do not suffer. and it traffic as a that there is snow and heavy rain in the area. he also made a cool not to use cell phones are except for the earthquake zone so that the people and the rescue workers, it can easily communicate with each other. of course that a he ill be speaking on behalf of the government. he made a call to avoid any disinformation any a kind of similar as such acts on social media and follow the news from the official sources. basically from the presidential communications directory. turkeys experienced about the earthquake as it sits on major full lines in the region in anatolia and and from time to time it suffers earthquakes. but this is one of the

biggest earthquakes in muhammad, especially after a stumble, earthquake that take place in 1999. and it was felt in 10 provinces in eastern true care. for now a some, a, some governors are reporting that forces in shall know for 103rd to buildings have been collapsed and the air and the 17 people died. 64 people injured and this is only in a shallow or fall we are hearing as some other buildings as being collapsed in other cities. so as that the, as the hours go as the morning comes, the aftermath of this incident, it may not be a very nice air for the turkish people. a way we might face some surprises as a 10 cities have been impacted by this earthquake. of course, one of the important thing about this earthquake is the weather condition right now . a cross to a kia have other conditions are impacting the life. for instance,

since yesterday, from his stumble and anchor the flights to eastern turkey have been a council because of all have a snow, been ankara and, and the wind and rain and some snow in a stumble currently forces we can not easily access to the area and in is them to care, for instance, in gazette that there is heavy snow. we have been speaking to our friends and colleagues out there and they are outside. they are try it. they are not able to get inside the buildings. and even in caught her mom mirage, there is rain. so the weather is also one of the biggest challenges for everyone right now. as soon as you were just talking about the impact that, that the weather might be having when it comes to all this. is there growing concern? are you hearing from people in the region that there is growing concern about how the winter weather the snow could impact all of this mohammed so far we have heard 22 after shocks happened. probably it's much more

since this was reported on turkish media. so as long as after shocks continue, it, some buildings are damaged. people are scared to get inside. they are a houses, they are apartments. that's why they are spending the night outside. this is how what happens when, when there's an earthquake, all around the world, people and people wait for a couple of hours to be safe to feel safe, to be inside even in the safe building. so we are hearing a some people being outside is staying in their cars. it trying to find some refuge in more stores. i'm a public buildings. this is what we are hearing from our friends in the region right. that will force the citizens of the civilians will have difficult to get inside even if their buildings are not damaged. then a, on the other hand, the the so make the work is more difficult for the rescue. workers for the traffic for the admins is to reach out to the area. but of course the most important thing

a for now is this is the civilians and the children as they will need to stay outside until everything is as is set it up. everything is going to be sent safe, but for now, no. where's safe in the region? people are outside. people are scared. the weather is very cold. some, some parts of the region are snowing and people are trying to stay safe outside in this weather conditions. all right, and i guess all ok, thanks for the update we will keep checking in with you. ah, and that a ukraine where president vladimir zalinski says he expects a major russian offensive in the coming weeks. and his nightly address, zalinski said moscow is increasing pressure on several fronts ahead of the 1st anniversary of the war. on february 24th, the battle for control of eastern city of buck mood has been intensifying with russia deploying more troops, same as ravi reports from the capitol, keith,

ukrainian soldiers defending buck boot. enter the fray, knowing they are out numbered. and more russian fighters are on the way. but what is the major flash point on the eastern front right now? ukraine's president has promised he won't let the city fall without a fight. but believe me or zelinski may also be preparing his people for a worst case scenario that there is to sort of, she knew the who in the course of 346 days of this war. i often had to say that the situation at the front was stuff and that the situation was becoming tougher each. it is once again that trying to keep their ukraine's army says it gun down as many as 200 russian mercenaries from the wagner group in a recent attack. but russian forces are gaining ground as they push to surround the city. the worry for keys. now russia could be close to successfully cutting off the

main highway into the city. currently ukraine's main supply line that could be a decisive moment in the battle for buckman. russian missiles are also hitting more civilian targets along the eastern front airstrikes in car keith hit a university and a residential block. and recently there was a strong blast and everything happened so quickly. we were saved by the furniture that fell on us because of that we are alive. she's only lived in car keith, a few months homeless and displaced for a 2nd time. during this war. the siege of buck, mood has emptied out the city. but some refused to leave seeking refuge in prayer. miss moore, who from the 1st floor most i know there is a chance i might die last night itself into my garden. all the vendors were blown out, boots linda, my house this morning. it will have to keep me in the head,

a related collision. they will die in any case. now or in 2030 years. it is not important. the main thing is how i present myself to god that i can see those jumped vanessa. i pray for our country, for all ukraine, for my children, for my family, for all ukrainians, for all i pray but will ukrainian lines remain as unbreakable as their faith both likely to be tested and coming days, as russian forces escalate their campaign for bomber 30. then basra, the old 0 and there are reports that ukrainian defense minister, alaska resonant. com is set to be replaced by the head of military intelligence. resident coff has come under increasing pressure after his ministry was painted by a corruption scandal involving food contract,

commenting about his possible dismissal at a news conference earlier on sunday. resident cough had this to say, well, the stock special question when i entered public service for the 1st time in 2014, i was then secretary of the key of city council. and i made at the told everyone that no official is in his chair forever. the decision to be the minister defense or not is made by one person. according to the constitution is the commander in chief and the president of the country, florida me zelinski, william courtney as a senior fellow with the rand corporation, he says, any decision to replace the defense minister won't effect ukraine's ongoing operations? well, the timing is not so important. the main thing is that the new minister of defense be capable several years ago, rand corporation, where i work, wrote a report advisor, saying that it is important not for the minister defense to try to do the job of the chief of the general staff and vice versa that had been a problem some years ago. the new minister of defense would have to be the

representative of the messy defense to the parliament, to the router, to the presidency, and also to many in the west election. rest coff has enjoyed a good reputation in the west as an effective minister of defense who understood the broad political implications of what was going on. hopefully the new minister will perform the same role and not seek to duplicate the military strategy. functions of the very capable chief of general staff general's allusion. it has been puzzling all along why the russians are throwing so much effort back moot. it is not a city of great strategic consequence. but it appears that pre goshen, the head of the wagner group has wanted to show that his ex convicts that he employees can do something. and so they focus on back mood. but it is not

a strategic point, as far as ukraine is concerned, or the russians are really wasting a lot of soldiers and military equipment and that effort. votes are now being countered in ecuador is constitutional referendum and local elections. the national referendum was proposed by president give them a law, so it's a battle, a crime wave and address environmental issues or 13000000 people were registered, participate. the opposition led by former socialist president. rafael korea has been urging voters to reject the proposed perform. bossa was under intense pressure over growing government corruption allegations and a dramatic rise and gang related crime. the 8 questions in the referendum cover security issues, including whether to allow the extradition of ecuadorian convicted of links to trans national organized crime. it also asks whether to give the military permission to support police and fighting drug trafficking. voters were also asked about reducing the number of law makers in congress and setting the criteria for how they are elected. there are also 2 questions on environmental protections,

including a proposal to create a new water protection system. adrian perez salazar is a political columnist at the national ecuadorian daily l in reverse. so he's in guayaquil and with us live, adrian, president, lasso barely survived, and impeachment vote last year. so of this referendum passes, how much does that boost his presidency? and what are some of the ways it helps him in thank you for having me. but i think that the a, there is a distinction to be made between that. but the referendum is all about and what the presidency. okay. and lastly, is all about, ah, do from a very early on stage of the referenda, he was made very clear that ed to say yes to, to the refer in the was not synonymous to say yes to, to present to the government of mr. law. so and vice versa. so i believe that the quote or in public has made that distinction very clearly. it exists. even though the go ro, my try to make it so this is not necessarily

a referendum on the government popularity in adrian, there are 8 questions that voters were presented with in this referendum. what are the most important issues for ordinary ecuadorian and all of this my far the question has taken most of the attention has been the question number one, which is about the extradition or right now, the quote a requisite to sion article, $79.00 for bits and for any a quarter, a citizen to the it's right, it's to another country. if the yes or blue when induct question that would change and it would be possible for, let's say a drug traffickers or a bigger corruption to people that have been completed by corruption to the x. right? this is an important tool in the fight against the organized crime, because not only that, the profit broke traffic,

it usually involves or jurisdictions. not only do i see the euro, but the financial system of the countries it is used to launch the money of the oppression. so if, even that case it will be possible for these countries to ask for distribution of these individuals will be to, to be josh and sentenced in these your jurisdictions. and adrian ecuadorian are also electing thousands of local officials if this referendum passes. that's a win for president last so, but if the opposition gain seats across the country, which is expected by many, could this end up being a short lived victory for president lasso? it's a very tough to say me, sir, in law so. so government has had issues with popularity lately. last polls have shown he is going to be around 70 percent. however, this could be something that that would boost his popularity. it's a,

it's very hard to say right now. all right, adrian press salazar, we thank you so much. great, get your perspective. appreciate you joining us and algebra you very much. still had on al jazeera, tens of thousands li, their homes in the democratic republic of congo, following an escalation in attacks by the im, 23 armed group ah contrasts are increasing, quasi arabia plants are at the moment. looks fine. and the stormy still wintry weather is of the eastern mediterranean. the difference is gritty. quite obvious. first of all, we'll deal with the wintry stuff rather be mornings out in grease because the drop in temperature, but that will be largely sunny picture with less snowball time. get to monday still so shout the island over the mainland. a turkey a lot of snow still to come. and as bank yet was already fallen. anything up to

have for me to easily fell, possibly more than that. they both have a get and monday on the high ground and answer the east and maddie's wind and rain for cyprus, for lebanon. all right, dan. well beyond their pottery to nolan, egypt, and that's good to stay there is going to get colder and wetter. i think now the contrast, well look further south is south, the breeze is picking up, picking up some sand with it. so there will be sandstone potential in parts of saudi and may be southern iraq about how we get to choose to attempt to arisen to though husker forecast of 30 ham seen that weeks if not months and jerusalem's 5 in the wind and the rain throughout equitorial africa are very few showers left now. i really, north of tanza, near botswana is now dry, but no may be a surprisingly is getting quite wet. ah,

how do you think console information? moscow is one of them like to stay in the world and has read about the facial recognition technology. how did the american public, hey me, a how is citizen jim? because we playing the fool, the video spread like wildfire. they denied the plan, old boy in you grade, the listening close dissects the media. we don't cover the news. we cover the way the news is cover. ah ah, you're watching on 0 reminder of our top stories this. our dozens of people are dead and hundreds of buildings of collapse after

a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the southeastern region of turkey. tremors reportedly lasted about a minute and were felt in northern syria and lebanon as well. the battle for control the eastern ukrainian city of buck mood is intensifying just weeks before the 1st anniversary of the russian invasion. it comes as reports from keith suggest ukraine's defense minister is set to be replaced by the head of military intelligence. votes are now being counted in ecuador is constitutional referendum and local elections. the national referendum was proposed by president, yet mulatto the battle a crime wave and address environmental issues. a group of prominent pro democracy figures has gone to court and hong kong in the largest ever trial under the territories controversial national security law. the defendants are legislators, politicians, activists, and community workers who were arrested 2 years ago and charged with conspiracy to commit subversion. the charges are linked to their participation in an unofficial primary election held in 2020, which are kemper as more from hong kong. well,

this is certainly a big deal for hong kong. there's really not being a, probably a try like this for the last 2 years under so many cov, at 19 restrictions. but here we have some of the most high profile democracy activists in hong kong standing trial across the cross section of society for young . this is a very well known internationally, like joshua wong, through tacoma, lawmakers, and well known legal scott, as you can see behind me to school is the police outside the building, marshalling the tendency from what is actually a large number of activists to come out despite previously facing fans on gathering because of koby 19 roof. there is now people waving union jack blacks behind me. there's a long queue of people sneaking around the court house. now the co 19 rules have been somewhat east in hong kong, is an opportunity. people to come out and so their voice again in the assessment is a patient about the trial because many of those arrested have been detained for the entire period since the arrest was made 2 years ago. and so have not been seen or heard from since during the time when most of his democracy activism in the city

has effectively closed up completely after the major political reforms that have taken place in let's return to our top story. now. dozens of people are dead in turkey and syria. after a $7.00 magnitude earthquake, hundreds of buildings have collapsed john valley as a size molig just at the university of southern california. he joins me now from los angeles. john, thanks for being with us. what do we know at this point about the magnitude and strength of this particular earthquake? well, we never get an idea. magnitude 7.8, greg and install it about 10 minutes later by a magnitude 6.7. the magnitude, well no now. and john, how strong and how frequent could after shocks continue from an event as powerful as this? well, we'll see after shirts for weeks, the year is billed diminishing in rate with time. we'll see most of them in the 1st

week or 2, but so continue for a long time. john, how widely would the initial quake have been felt in the region? well, it looks like true the distribution of the after shots a bigger quick, broke about 300 kilometers and ball. so that might be very strongly shaken. and they feel the shaking of another 100 kilometers best for the fall broke. so it's a large region john, and what strength doesn't earthquake cause significant damage to infrastructure and to people, homes, earthquake and managed to 630 to create the damage. if it's near a city, this one's almost an 8. so this has definitely more power than, than the minimum. right, that's john valley size. mileage is at the university of southern california. thanks for joining us. we appreciate it or less. now go to send him console, who's monitoring developments from istanbul sent him. lots of developments in the

past couple of hours. what more are we hearing from officials at this point

fighters from the n 23 arms group attacked his village last week in eastern democratic republic of congo. new i live, i move in to my mom left home to go and farm and suddenly the n 23 appeared and killed her little brother. witness. it came to tell us, we didn't go there because we feared if they're killing an old woman, then they'll be killing young people like us as well. and throw a camel eric's among tens of thousands of people who fled their homes in recent days. this camp on the outskirts of the city of goma, new home. we went up into the hills to see where they come from. we accompanied an army general, who was visiting commanders near the front line. most of the people that live around here have fled the homes and the shops are empty. they've been taken over by soldiers who turn this village into

a base. and here they are looking at cross their enemy on that distant hillside. the slopes here, a steep terrain makes it very difficult for anyone to attack or defend the armies last waves of territory to n. 23 in the last 4 months. many conquer liza questioning why the government hasn't done more to supported forces and 20 threes, rapidly grown stronger, denies committing atrocities that it's frequently accused of its fighters carry one than army equipment and run than soldiers have been photographed among them. when the denies supporting them valued them in twice as she bellied. yeah. this is not m 23. it's still one than army. and you should know that 23 is not only with through want an army, but it's also supported by other groups operating in congo. and this by un investigators writes groups and residents all say congos forces have collaborated

with armed groups to fight against them. 23, congos government denies it. when they're accused congo of hiring foreign mercenaries, congo governments, as it's hired, former french soldiers, as military instructors, we need some instruct all. and i think with those who are working with them, it's a group of what you're calling france leisure. and they enjoy tarzan de la fay's. they are well known. they come to give some instruction to our military simple. further up in these hills, a colton mines vast sums for whoever controls them. the people who lived here farming the slopes and now camped in the valleys, hoping somebody will bring them food. there's been conflict here on and off since the 1990s. now it's intensifying once again. malcolm web al jazeera.