Peter Kenyon

A 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Turkey on Sunday, collapsing dozens of buildings into piles of twisted steel and chunks of concrete. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports.

Palestinians have been celebrating the release of nearly 500 prisoners in an exchange with Israel that freed Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. It will be weeks before the second phase of the prisoner exchange takes place.

The anger inside Syria at the assassination of a leading Syrian Kurdish politician is reverberating along the country's border with Turkey. More than 7,500 Syrians are already sheltering in camps in southeast Turkey, and officials fear a fresh wave of migration if Syria's largely peaceful uprising turns into an armed insurgency.

Turkey's leaders have called Israel the "West's spoiled child," and the "bully" of the eastern Mediterranean. When a Tel Aviv soccer team showed up in Istanbul recently for a match, the welcome was less than warm.

In September, Turkey kicked out the Israeli ambassador, suspended military and trade deals and threatened legal and naval action to challenge Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip.

The families of two American hikers imprisoned in Iran received hopeful, and then wrenching news this week. Iran's president announced the two would be released, only to have the judiciary deny it the next day.

As President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad prepares to visit New York for the United Nation General Assembly, the political infighting among Iranian conservatives seems to be intensifying.

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyep Erdogan is visiting the three Arab countries that this year ousted long-time authoritarian leaders — Libya, Egypt and Tunisia. Turkey is playing an increasingly prominent role in the region and is looking to start on good terms with the new leaders in these countries.