VAN, Turkey (Reuters) – Rescuers found six bodies, including a child’s, on Friday as they dug through rubble after the latest earthquake to hit Van, a city in eastern Turkey already suffering from an earlier quake and simmering anger over the authorities’ emergency response.

The toll from Wednesday’s 5.7 magnitude tremor rose to 18, with search and rescue operations continuing at the two city center hotels that were the only occupied buildings to come down. Most people had abandoned their homes in the predominantly Kurdish city after the earlier quake nearly three weeks ago.

VAN, Turkey (Reuters) – Riot police fired tear gas and used batons to disperse protesters angry at the state’s relief efforts after the second earthquake in eastern Turkey in three weeks killed at least 12 people in the city of Van.

Rescue teams searched for survivors after the 5.7 magnitude tremor on Wednesday night heaped misery on the predominantly Kurdish region where more than 600 people died following a major quake on October 23.

VAN, Turkey (Reuters) – Trapped under the rubble after an earthquake brought down the hotel she was staying in, Japanese aid worker Miyuki Konnai had more to worry about than her fear of the dark, but a “ray of light” from her laptop helped her survive the ordeal.

Konnai had come to Van, a city in the remote east of Turkey,

along with other Japanese aid workers to help survivors of a major 7.2 magnitude earthquake on October 23 that killed more than 600 people and left thousands of families homeless.

VAN, Turkey (Reuters) – An earthquake in eastern Turkey killed at least five people and scores more were trapped under the rubble of two hotels and a dozen other buildings, state television said on Thursday, less than three weeks after another killed 600 in the same area.

The magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck 16 km (9 miles) south of the city of Van at 1923 GMT on Wednesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

ANKARA (Reuters) – At least three people were killed and scores more trapped under the rubble of two hotels and a dozen other buildings when an earthquake hit eastern Turkey on Wednesday, less than three weeks after another quake killed 600 in the same area.

The magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck 16 km (9 miles) south of the city of Van at 1923 GMT, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – China called on Wednesday for an independent and stable Afghanistan free from outside interference, in what diplomats interpreted as a new, higher-profile effort by Asia’s largest economy to take a more active role in its neighbour’s future.

Speaking at a conference on Afghanistan in Istanbul, Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin urged the international community to respect Afghanistan’s sovereignty and said Afghans must rally behind a national reconciliation.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Pakistan and Afghanistan have stepped back from a near-rupture in relations following the murder of an Afghan peace envoy, officials said on Wednesday after several days of talks between the two countries.

Leaders of the two countries, accompanied by their army and intelligence chiefs, met at a regional conference hosted by Turkey for the first time since the assassination in September of peace envoy and former president Burhanuddin Rabbani.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Afghan President Hamid Karzai ruled out on Tuesday an early resumption of talks with the Taliban after a summit meeting with Pakistan which appeared to yield no breakthrough on a bitter rift between the two neighbours.

Karzai’s comments could undercut U.S. efforts to pick up the threads of talks ruptured by the assassination in September of Afghan peace envoy and former president Burhanuddin Rabbani by a suicide bomber posing as a Taliban peace emissary.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Afghanistan and Pakistan held their first talks on Tuesday since the assassination of an Afghan peace negotiator, in a meeting hosted by Turkey to heal a rift undermining prospects of ending the Afghan war.

Hamid Karzai and Asif Ali Zardari met along with Turkish President Abdullah Gul while their army chiefs consulted ahead of an international conference on Afghanistan.

ISTANBUL, Nov 1 (Reuters) – Afghanistan and Pakistan held
their first talks on Tuesday since the assassination of an
Afghan peace negotiator, in a meeting hosted by Turkey to heal a
rift undermining prospects of ending the Afghan war.

Hamid Karzai and Asif Ali Zardari met along with Turkish
President Abdullah Gul while their army chiefs consulted ahead
of an international conference on Afghanistan.