welcome to bbc news. i'm rich preston. our top stories. extensive search and rescue operations are underway after two powerful earthquakes hit southern turkey and northern syria. nearly 3,000 people have been killed in turkey and thousands of buildings have collapsed. more than m00 more people died in northern syria. the first quake was felt as far away as lebanon and cyprus. president biden insists relations between washington and beijing haven't been weakened by the shooting down of a suspected chinese spy balloon. and scarred but defiant — sir salman rushdie talks about the brutal attack he suffered on stage last year.

world leaders have offered help with rescue operations following two huge earthquakes which have devastated parts of southern turkey and northern syria. at least 4300 people are known to have died. rescuers are racing to save those trapped beneath the rubble. the first earthquake struck in the early hours of monday morning while people were asleep. the epicentre was near the turkish city of gaziantep, which is near the border with syria and measured a magnitude of 7.8. the second earthquake measured 7.5 magnitude and hit 130 kilometres, about 80 miles to the north of the first. millions of people across turkey, syria, lebanon, cyprus and israel felt the earthquake. freezing temperatures and the closure of airports make getting aid

into the area more challenging. years of civil war and political isolation present obstacles to helping syria. 0ur middle east correspondent anna foster is in turkey, and is travelling towards the epicentre of the earthquake, close to the border with syria. she has sent this report from the town of 0smaniye about 130 kilometres from the epicentre. running for their lives. shaken to their foundations, whole buildings fell. and across southern turkey, peace became panic. people helped where they could. this was a series of powerful earthquakes, notjust one. they were only around 20 kilometres under the surface, and shallow quakes cause the most damage. in towns and cities across a huge area, the rescue efforts began. with diggers and sniffer dogs, teams of people began to dig frantically in search of survivors. for decades, turkey has been bracing itself for a huge quake. tonight everyone

is a rescuer, and they all want to find a survivor. it's a painful wait for news. translation: there are people still trapped under rubble. - i have a friend living in this apartment. his children were rescued from the top floor, but only his daughter broke an arm. we'll see what happened to those living on the ground floors. may god give us a speedy recovery. translation: i was sleeping when my wife suddenly - woke me up. the quake was very severe, very scary. it took almost two minutes until the shaking stopped. 0utside turkey, the world stands ready to help. offers to send specialist equipment and teams of experts have been coming in all day. translation: we have received several offers of international - aid for our country. offers of assistance from 45 countries, including nato and the european union, have reached us. in the city of adana, help arrived quickly.

alongside the emergency services, young men fit enough to move the rubble stepped in. you can really see the size of the effort that's going on here on top of this pile of rubble. rescuers are using their bare hands and you can see them throwing down blocks and trying to search desperately for survivors. this used to be a12—storey apartment building just like the one behind it, and so far they've only found three survivors. for families with missing relatives, the wait for news is agony. translation: we all heard | the sound of the earthquake. she has her sister down there under the rubble. translation: it's eight people under there. - three of them are children — my uncle and his wife, their son and their daughter, and three children. translation: there are my sister and her three children underthe building. i also her husband, her- mother and father—in—law are there too. turkey has dealt with natural disasters before. few are on this scale.

as night falls, cities like 0smaniye are without power, in darkness. the few lights there are have been sent to searches that offer the best chance of hope. it's still too early to know the real extent of the destruction here. finding those who are trapped beneath collapsed buildings will take days, if not weeks. the death toll is already many hundreds. the numbers of injured stands in the thousands. it's bitterly cold and the rain keeps falling. the aftermath of this quake is testing rescuers to their limits. anna foster, bbc news, 0smaniye. across the border in northern syria, hundreds more people have been killed and thousands are trapped and injured in what is one of the poorest regions of the world. it's been cut off from the international community after years of conflict

between the syrian president bassar al ashad's forces and rebel fighters, making rescue efforts even harder. 0ur chief international correspondent lyse doucet, who has reported extensively from syria, has this report. a syrian village which vanished in minutes... ..besnia. its people are all that's left standing — those who survived. so many didn't, all along this area, next to turkey. still now many families are under the rubble. 0ur teams are trying to save them. it is very difficult task for us. we need help, we need the international community to do something. families shaken from their sleep just after 4am by a powerful earthquake whose epicentre is just across the border. in the dead of night, rescue workers known as white helmets race to help, pulling this young girl from the rubble. this is work they know well.

idlib, the last rebel—held enclave, has lived for years with ferocious bombardment by war planes of the syrian military or its russian ally. the few hospitals which still operate here have hardly any resources or staff. now they're overwhelmed. we received hundreds of casualties. really, we need urgent help for the area, especially we are talking about medical help. these patients were already living on the edge, in a war zone, displaced time and again for more than a decade. now, they have been knocked down again. translation: we were sleeping peacefully. - at liam, we felt a huge earthquake. i woke up my wife and my children and we ran towards the exit door. we opened it, and suddenly

all the building collapsed. nature doesn't take sides. areas like hama, under syrian government control, were also hit. they're also worn down by war. here, it's the syrian arab red crescent working with bare hands and also with diggers. translation: everyone will carry on their duties| as needed. we ask for mercy for the victims and speedy recovery for the injured. it is our fate. syria's plight has been thrust into the eyes of the world again. today, it's fighting a different kind of battle. the international community has failed syria for many years. this is an opportunity to try and put that right. this is a moment, i think, to put principles over politics, to really look at ways they can show solidarity with those on the ground and make sure that syrians, who have been going through

over a decade of crisis now, do get the support they so desperately need. long—suffering syrians have felt forgotten by the world. reaching people across this broken country will be hard, but this disaster may make the world care again. lyse doucet, bbc news. i'm joined from newjersey by dr houshang amir—ahmadi. he's a distinguished professor at rutgers university and an expert on international affairs. thank you for making the time for us. this is a devastating event, terrible to watch these pictures, and sarah aley are made more difficult by the number of people living in refugee camps? —— in syria? fix, refugee camps? —— in syria? human tragedy on the syrian side, not only the people who have already been suffering for

over10 have already been suffering for over 10 years, almost, part of the place that has been devastated is not controlled even by the government and the people who control those areas have the least resources to help. on the turkey side, of course the devastation is larger, the areas much larger, the cities much bigger, and together, that whole area, somewhere around 10— i2 together, that whole area, somewhere around 10— 12 million people are estimated to live, of which at least half of this population one way or another will have to be impacted. i think the number of deaths will continue to rise. my concern as it may rise to 20 or 30,000 people. now they say 4,000 or 5,000, it is less than what actually could be the case. but

beyond that, i think the time now, is to help, we have to rush, in fact, now, is to help, we have to rush, infact, in now, is to help, we have to rush, in fact, in the earthquake, all the post—war reconstruction strategies the three stages exist. the first stage is now the emergency stage, people need to be rescued from tons of debris on them. all of these buildings that have collapsed, just the emergency rescue process has to be in place and correctly rush in. if be in place and correctly rush in. , be in place and correctly rush in. . be in place and correctly rush in. if i may ask you, and that toic, in. if i may ask you, and that tonic. we _ in. if i may ask you, and that tonic. we had _ in. if i may ask you, and that topic, we had seen _ in. if i may ask you, and that topic, we had seen a - in. if i may ask you, and that topic, we had seen a prompt| topic, we had seen a prompt international commitment by the us, uk, and greece and germany but as you pointed out this has happened in areas not controlled by the government, so we have countries offering assistance but in rebel held areas. how does that work? how

do we get that help in there? the only way is through the united nations and the organisation that works with the un, un does have some precedents in the area but i don't think that reason is enough at all, it's way too little so i think world community has to get united nations active quickly into this. so that's one way to deal with it but at the same time, i there are certain countries like united states that have control over the territories that are controlled by the opposition from the al—assad 0pposition from the al—assad government, although he doesn't control that area the opposition does but this 0pposition does but this opposition does work with certain countries, especially in the west that could actually help that areas on the turkish

side, because the situation is much more worse in terms of the damage and the need for rush to help but then again, turkey is in a better place to deal with the matter. but, at the same time i don't think turkey is in a position to really actively and adequately help, especially in cities that are really seriously damaged like in 0smaniye. and antarctica, i have a few friends living there i was on the phone to other people in an car in the same area, they really need help from the turkish government and outside. they need heavy equipment. they don't have it.

when it comes to the countries that have pledged to support there has been some criticism there has been some criticism there is not been as many forthcoming commitments from gulf states, other arab countries, does that surprise you? it countries, does that surprise ou? ., , , . you? it does, but at the same time most _ you? it does, but at the same time most of _ you? it does, but at the same time most of the _ you? it does, but at the same time most of the gulf- you? it does, but at the same time most of the gulf states | time most of the gulf states are always late in this kind of decision. they are not used in this particular operation, they don't have enough expertise and resources in areas that are earthquake prone, they don't have much experience they have money, of course. the rescuer stage, the west and the nato and eu can help, and a few other countries can also help like iran, on the east turkish side. but i think there are countries can come in very

quickly, but in terms of financial resources, to help resettle those people, and perhaps at the later stage for the development of the area. we will have to leave it there. dr houshang amir—ahmadi, distinguished professor very good to have your expertise. turkey is situated on or near several fault lines and it is one of the world's most active earthquake zones. many of them are deadly. one of the worst on record that took place in 1999 killed more than 17,000 people. here's our science editor rebecca morelle. this is the most powerful earthquake to have hit the region in almost a century. do we know about it? the epicentre was here in the south of turkey close to the city of gaziantep, near the syrian border. it is one of the world's most

seismically active regions. the reason for that is because turkey sits where three tectonic plates come together. the arabian plate pushes upwards into the eurasian plate, that forces the anatolian plate west, moving about 2cm every year. where the plates grind past each other, other fault lines are created. the north anatolian fault has been where major earthquakes have happened over the last century, but the east anatolian fault — where this struck — has been much less active, so tension has been building up along it until today when it was released in this huge earthquake. what's made this particularly deadly, though, is that it struck at a shallow depth — just 11 miles beneath the surface. this is magnitude 7, nearly magnitude 8. this was a big one. this is an earthquake such as we don't get more than about 20 of every year somewhere in the world, so this was big, and it was also quite shallow. if the rupture is closer to the surface, you get greater shaking of the ground surface

than an earthquake of the same energy that happens at a greater depth. so it is a particularly nasty one. this region's all too familiar with these natural disasters. one of the most destructive happened in 1999 in the west of turkey. the magnitude 7.6 earthquake caused monumental damage and around 18,000 deaths. but this earthquake is even more powerful. the full scale of the devastation is yet to be determined, but many buildings have been reduced to piles of rubble. turkey does have seismic codes for their buildings, strict codes because of being such an earthquake—prone country. the problem is, i mean, old buildings weren't designed with those. newer buildings, sometimes there might be corners cut in some occasions. sometimes it's just that the ground responds in a different way. more earthquakes triggered by the first are now the main concern.

these circles show the dozens that have happened along the fault line. here is the first earthquake measuring 7.8. an after—shock ten minutes later recorded at 6.7 magnitude. several hours after, this one to the north measured a huge 7.5. almost as powerful as the first. and this is making a desperate situation even more challenging. but as our science editor. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: in his own words, sir salman rushdie gives his first interview since he was stabbed on stage last year. there's mr mandela, mr nelson mandela, a free man taking his first steps into a new south africa. iran's spiritual leader, ayatollah khomeini,

has said he's passed a death sentence on salman rushdie, the british author of a book which many muslims say is blasphemous. the people of haiti have flocked - to church to give thanks - for the ousting of their former president baby doc duvalier. because of his considerable value as a stallion, shergar was kept in a special secure box in the stud farm's central block. shergar was driven away in a horse box the thieves had brought with them. there stepped down from the plane a figure in mourning, elizabeth ii, queen of this realm and of all her other realms and territories, head of the commonwealth, defender of the faith. this is bbc news. 0ur our top story this our. ——

hour. extensive search—and—rescue operations are under way after two powerful earthquakes hit southern turkey and northern syria killing at least 4,300 people. the first quake measured 7.8 in magnitude and was felt as far away as lebanon and cyprus. the united nations secretary—general has called for an international response. moving on to other news now. president biden has insisted that relations between washington and beijing have not been weakened by the shooting down of a suspected chinese spy balloon at the weekend. a spokesperson for the chinese government claimed the aircraft was for civilian use and had just drifted off course. it described the us response as an overreaction and a serious violation of international law. 0ur north america correspondent david willis. the white house is keen not to let this latest incident exacerbate still further the tensions between these two nations. president biden was asked by reporters at the white house about the balloon felling at the weekend and he said

that it was necessary, but he brushed off suggestions that this would further weaken relations between the us and china. last week, of course, us secretary of state antony blinken abruptly cancelled a planned visit to beijing, that was a meeting that many thought — or a visit that many hoped would basically strengthen relations that had been at the worst for many years — some have described it indeed as a new kind of cold war. but the white house also made the point that that meeting was postponed, but hasn't been cancelled altogether. it seems that both sides might be looking for some sort of window to draw a line under this balloon incident and for mr blinken to proceed with his meeting with xijinping and others at some stage in the future. of course, much of that will be up to china. and, david, what more have we been learning about the balloon?

well, we heard over the weekend that as many as four previous chinese surveillance balloons had been spotted over the united states, three of them during the trump administration. but today, a pentagon official admitted that they had not been spotted in real time, it was only subsequently that the four previous balloons had been identified as such and he called that an "awareness gap". so how, then, did the pentagon subsequently become aware of the fact that they were surveillance balloons? well, it appears that what happens is that some of those sightings were classified as so—called unexplained phenomena — in other words ufos — and were classified and looked at as such by officials at the pentagon. now they know very well indeed what chinese

surveillance balloons look like, and there will be looking out for them in the future. it was revealed over the weekend, also, by the pentagon, that these chinese surveillance balloons have been used to monitor developments in countries across five separate continents. staying in the united states. the governor of texas has announced a statewide plan that bans the use of the chinese—owned social media platform, tiktok, due to security risks. in december of last year, governor greg abbott banned tiktok from state—owned and issued devices over links that the chinese communist party were harvesting users' data. that will now be applied to personal devices using network—based restrictions. the plan will also prohibit huawei devices and wechat instant messaging. to peru now, and more than 30 people have died in landslides that hit a small town.

a state of emergency has been declared in the arequipa region due to the damage caused. a thick layer of mud and rocks descended from surrounding slopes onto the town of secocha. several areas in southern peru have suffered with heavy rain and floods in the past few days. the acclaimed british novelist sir salman rushdie has spoken for the first time about being stabbed last year. in an interview with the new yorker, he said he was �*lucky�* and had an overwhelming feeling of gratitude. the bbc�*s tim allman reports. battered, scarred, defiant — sir salman rushdie has had to endure more than most. the blacked out lens of his spectacles covering up an eye that can no longer see. but in his first interview since he was attacked, he's trying to be optimistic. you know, i've been better — but considering what happened, i'm not so bad. the big injuries are healed, essentially. the amount of injuries,

it was more probable that i would not survive. what happened was a brutal assault as he waited to make a speech at an event in new york state. a man stormed the stage and stabbed the author multiple times before he was subdued. sir salman spent six weeks in hospital and admits he suffered nightmares and more. there is such a thing as ptsd. one of the things it is is that i have been finding it very, very difficult to write. i sit there to write and nothing happens. i'm not out of that forest yet. a new novel, written before he was attacked, will shortly be published — the aptly titled victory city. despite it all, his will to tell stories goes on. tim allman, bbc news. sir salman rushdie was speaking to the new yorker radio hour. that is it from us for now. there is much more on the bbc news website. you can download

the bbc news app. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @richpreston. from everyone on the team in london, thank you for watching. see you next time. hello there. there's a lot of dry weather in store this week across the country, particularly so for england and wales, because high pressure will be dominating the scene, particularly towards the south. lower pressure always trying to flirt with the north of the uk, and at times, it will bring some stronger winds and rain, mainly to scotland. but even here, it will turn drier by the end of the week. now, through tuesday, it's a north—south divide — more cloud in the north, one or two spots of rain, some sunshine for the north and west of scotland. england and wales starting off cold and frosty, some mist and fog patches. 0therwise, plenty of sunshine. temperatures generally ranging from around 6 to 9 celsius. now, as we move through tuesday night, similar story, with southern areas turning cold and frosty under clear skies with mist and fog patches. a bit more of a breeze, a bit more cloud across scotland and northern ireland,

so not quite as cold here as what it'll be further south. so for wednesday morning, it's going to be another cold one to start with across the south. mist and fog could be stubborn to clear in places, but i think eventually it will. plenty of sunshine in the south. a bit more cloud, one or two showers across scotland and northern ireland, the winds starting to pick up here. and by the evening, into the first part of the night, it'll turn very windy, in fact, with winds expected to reach in excess of 70mph in the northwest of scotland. so, the met office have a yellow warning in force for this wind. a band of rain will spread across the country too with the strong winds. barely anything on it when it reaches the south, but we're all into a chillier air mass for thursday. that band of cloud will eventually clear from the south. there could be quite a lot of sunshine, in fact, across england and wales, but further north, certainly for scotland, it's going to be a breezy day with sunshine and wintry showers. temperatures here 3 to 7 degrees, as opposed to 8 and maybe 9 further south,

but a chilly feel when you factor in the wind. but the cold air doesn't last. as we move through friday and certainly into the weekend, we start to see the milder air returning from the west. and high pressure always nearby, so it's going to be largely dry on friday. plenty of sunshine after a cold start for england and wales, further cloud for scotland and northern ireland, one or two showers. but by this point, we will start to see the milder air moving in, so double figures for most. and it stays mild into the weekend as well. with high pressure still nearby, it's going to stay largely dry with sunny spells around. a bit of patchy cloud, but it'll feel milder.

this is bbc news. the headlines. rescue workers in southern turkey and northern syria are working through the night to find survivors of two powerful earthquakes which are now known to have killed at least 4,300 people. many people are spending the night in the open after their houses were destroyed. in turkey alone, nearly 5,000 buildings have been flattened. medical resources are being stretched on both sides of the border — hospitals have little or no power. a un official in syria says the roads used for humanitarian assistance have been damaged, making it hard to send relief. president biden has insisted that relations between washington and beijing have not been weakened by the shooting down of a suspected chinese spy balloon at the weekend.

a spokesperson for the chinese government claimed the aircraft