ANTAKYA: At a bus station in Antakya, a city razed to the ground by Turkiye’s devastating earthquake, emotions remain raw and voters divided ahead of Sunday’s pivotal elections.
The Yener family’s building partially collapsed in February’s 7.8-magnitude tremor, which killed more than 50,000 people and unleashed a wave of anger at the government’s delayed rescue and recovery work.
Like many others forced to flee their homes in this ancient cradle of civilizations near the Syrian border, they returned to take part in Turkiye’s biggest vote of modern times.

GAZA: Israel and the militant Islamic Jihad movement in Gaza have agreed a truce that will go into effect at 10 p.m. (1900 GMT), Palestinian officials said, signalling an end to the worst episode of cross-border fire since a 10-day war in 2021.
Egypt, which brokered the ceasefire, called on all sides to adhere to the agreement, Egypt’s Al-Qahera News television channel reported.

BEIRUT: Drug gang and human trafficking ringleaders were arrested in a joint security operation targeting smuggling hotspots on the Lebanon-Syria border on Saturday.
Large quantities of drugs, weapons and ammunitions were also seized in the combined Lebanese Army and Intelligence Directorate operation, which struck several locations in the northern Bekaa Valley simultaneously.

BEIRUT: Amnesty International on Friday called on the United Nations to keep delivering crucial aid to quake-stricken Syrians via two crossings in rebel-held areas even if authorization from Damascus expires.
On February 6, a devastating earthquake hit Turkiye and Syria, killing more than 55,000 people across both countries.
The UN chief said on February 13 that Syrian President Bashar Assad had agreed to open the Bab Al-Salama and Al-Rai crossings from Turkiye to allow aid to enter for an initial period of three months.

LONDON: In October 1963, a young British artist, fresh out of London’s Royal College of Art but already making a name for himself as a groundbreaking painter, traveled to Egypt, fulfilling an ambition to visit a country that had long fascinated him.

David Hockney’s odyssey to the land of the pharaohs 60 years ago would prove to be a turning point in the nascent career of an artist on the cusp of achieving global fame.