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☆ Turkish children play 'earthquake' with building blocks as they try to understand
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Natalie Thomas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ISKENDERUN, Turkey, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Turkish children left homeless by the massive tremor that struck Turkey and Syria last week have been learning to cope with what happened and their ongoing anxiety over aftershocks by playing 'earthquake' with building blocks, a teacher said. "They say... 'We have to go to the earthquake (zone) quickly'," she said. The long-term mental health effects can only be understood with time as people process trauma in different ways, Ebru said. The extent of the trauma survivors have experienced is enormous. Doctors have said they are treating increasing numbers of patients suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and panic attacks after the quake.

☆ Increasing number of Turkey-Syria earthquake survivors show signs of PTSD
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Umit Bektas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

ISKENDERUN, Turkey, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Doctors in a Turkish field hospital in the southern city of Iskenderun said they are treating increasing numbers of patients suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and panic attacks after last week's earthquake. The extent of the trauma survivors have experienced is enormous. "People only now are starting to realise what happened to them after this shock period," said a Turkish medical official. Sometimes when he is asleep he wakes up and says 'earthquake'," said his father Hassan Moath. Some 26 million people across both countries need humanitarian assistance," said the WHO's Europe Director Hans Kluge in a statement.

☆ A PICTURE AND ITS STORY The man who survived the Turkey earthquake, and his family who didn't
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/7] Abdulalim Muaini lies under the rubble next to the body of his wife Esra, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Hatay, Turkey, February 8, 2023. REUTERS/Umit BektasHATAY, Turkey, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Peering out from under a large slab of concrete and brick, Abdulalim Muaini gestures weakly at his rescuers. It has been over two days since a massive earthquake brought his home in Hatay, Turkey, tumbling down upon him. Close beside him lies his wife Esra. Photography and reporting by Umit Bektas; Writing by Rosalba O'Brien; Editing by Daniel WallisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Lebanon hopes UNESCO danger listing could save crumbling modernist fairground
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer in 1962, the collection of structures on the 70-hectare plot is considered one of the key works of 20th century modernism in the Middle East. "It was placed on the World Heritage List exceptionally, quickly and urgently – and on the list of heritage in danger because it's in a critical situation," said Joseph Kreidi, UNESCO's national programme officer for culture in Beirut. "Placing it on the World Heritage Danger List is an appeal to all countries of the world, as if to say: this site needs some care," said Kreidi. Lebanon has five other sites on UNESCO's World Heritage list, most of them citadels and ancient temples. Mira Minkara, a freelance tour guide from Tripoli and a member of the Oscar Niemeyer Foundation's Tripoli chapter, has fond – but rare – memories of the fairground as a child.

☆ Fact Check-Scotland’s ‘20-minute neighbourhoods’ policy addresses climate change and infrastructure; there are no plans to imprison people or limit freedom of movement
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Social media users claim a Scottish climate policy will imprison people in their homes and prevent them from leaving their respective ‘districts’. The government plans to overhaul the infrastructure of towns and cities by creating ‘20-minute neighbourhoods’, which aim to provide people with all their needs within a 20-minute journey from their home. One Facebook user, whose post has been shared more than 500 times (here), published a screenshot of a news headline which reads: “Scotland aims to cut car use by creating ‘20-minute neighbourhoods’ in net zero push” (here). “It promotes an integrated approach to planning housing, local infrastructure including schools, community centres, local shops and health and social care. Scotland’s ‘20-minute neighbourhood’ policy does not include plans to imprison people in districts or use cameras and fines to deter people from moving around.

☆ U.S. issues another warning of possible terrorist attacks in Turkey
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ISTANBUL, Jan 30 (Reuters) - The U.S. embassy in Turkey warned Americans on Monday of possible attacks against churches, synagogues, and diplomatic missions in Istanbul, marking its second such notice in four days, following Koran-burning incidents in Europe. In an updated security alert, the U.S. embassy said "possible imminent retaliatory attacks by terrorists" could take place in areas frequented by Westerners, especially the city's Beyoglu, Galata, Taksim, and Istiklal neighbourhoods. On Friday, several embassies in Ankara including those of the United States, Germany, France and Italy issued security alerts over possible retaliatory attacks against places of worship, following separate incidents in which the Muslim holy book, the Koran, was burned in Sweden, Netherlands and Denmark. On Saturday, Turkey warned its citizens against "possible Islamophobic, xenophobic and racist attacks" in the United States and Europe. Reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Ed OsmondOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/3] George Bezdjian, whose daughter Jessica died in 2020 port explosion, holds her picture during a protest against steps taken this week to hamstring a probe into the 2020 port blast, in Beirut, Lebanon January 26, 2023. With friends and allies of Lebanon's most powerful factions, including Hezbollah, among those charged, the establishment struck back swiftly on Wednesday, when the prosecutor general charged Bitar with usurping powers. With deep fissures in the judiciary exposed, the tussle adds to the unravelling of a state accelerated by a three-year-long financial crisis, left to fester by the ruling elite. Attempts by a Lebanese judge to investigate Salameh have hit obstacles in Lebanon, where politicians have big sway over the judiciary. In opposing Bitar, Hezbollah has accused the United States of meddling in the investigation and Bitar of political bias.

☆ Russia claims progress in Bakhmut, Ukraine says fighting fierce
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"The enemy is increasing pressure on the Bakhmut and Vuhledar areas," Ukraine's Deputy Defence Minister, Hanna Maliar, said on the Telegram messaging app. The area around Bakhmut, with a pre-war population of 70,000, has seen some of the most brutal fighting of the 11-month-old war. The town has symbolic importance for both Russia and Ukraine, though Western military analysts say it has little strategic significance. "Fighting is already taking place in the outskirts and in neighbourhoods that until very recently were held by the enemy." Ukraine's Maliar said that in the overall eastern industrial region known as the Donbas, Ukraine had superior and more committed soldiers, while Russia had an advantage in terms of the number of fighters and weapons.

☆ Russia's war on Ukraine latest: Russian forces said to make progress in Bakhmut
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Protesters gather in support of Ukraine during a meeting of European Union (EU) Foreign Ministers in Brussels, Belgium January 23, 2023. ARMAMENTS* The United States and Germany are poised to boost Ukraine's war effort with the delivery of heavy tanks, sources said, support that Russia condemned as a "blatant provocation". * The United States is poised to start a process that would eventually send dozens of M1 Abrams battle tanks to Ukraine, two U.S. officials told Reuters. * Norway is considering whether to send some of its German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, Oslo-based newspapers Aftenposten and Dagens Naeringsliv reported. * A delivery of tanks by the United States to Ukraine would be a "another blatant provocation" against Russia, Anatoly Antonov, Russia's ambassador, said.

[1/2] India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi walks after the handover ceremony during the G20 Leaders' Summit, in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, November 16, 2022. The Students' Federation of India (SFI) plans to show the documentary, "India: The Modi Question", in every Indian state, its general secretary told Reuters on Wednesday. "We are encouraging campuses across the country to hold screenings as an act of resistance against this censorship," Ghosh said. The media coordinator for the university administration did not comment when asked about the power cut on the campus. Ghosh said members of a right-wing student group threw bricks at the students hoping to watch the documentary hurting several, and students had complained to police.

☆ Indian university warns against screening of BBC documentary on Modi
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW DELHI, Jan 24 (Reuters) - A top Indian university has warned its students' union of strict disciplinary action if it goes ahead with a planned screening of a BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, saying it might disturb peace and harmony of the campus. Modi was chief minister of Gujarat during the violence in which more than 2,000 people were killed, most of them Muslims. The university administration said on its website it had not given permission for the documentary to be shown. "This is to emphasise that such an unauthorised activity may disturb peace and harmony of the university campus," the university said. The documentary is also scheduled to be screened at various campuses in the southern state of Kerala on Tuesday.

☆ Indian university warns students not to screen BBC documentary on Modi
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW DELHI, Jan 24 (Reuters) - A top Indian university has threatened strict disciplinary action if its students' union carries out plans on Tuesday to screen a BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the move might disturb peace and harmony on campus. The students' union of New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University, long seen as a bastion of left-wing politics, said on Twitter it would screen the documentary, "India: The Modi Question", at a cafeteria at 9 p.m. (1530 GMT). "The concerned students/individuals are firmly advised to cancel the proposed programme immediately, failing which a strict disciplinary action may be initiated as per the university rules." She declined to comment on the university's threat of disciplinary action, however. The BBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the threat of disciplinary action.

"Germany will always be at the forefront when it comes to supporting Ukraine," Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the German parliament, to applause. "At a critical moment in Russia's war, these tanks can help Ukraine defend itself, win and stand as an independent nation," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said. [1/13] Germany delivers its first Leopard tanks to Slovakia as part of a deal after Slovakia donated fighting vehicles to Ukraine, in Bratislava, Slovakia, December 19, 2022. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said any U.S. tanks sent to Ukraine would "burn like all the rest". Ukraine defeated Russia's troops on the outskirts of Kyiv last year and later drove them out of swathes of occupied land.

☆ Fact Check-Photo of ‘District 5’ road sign is digitally altered
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A photo of a British road sign that appears to indicate motorists are leaving a so-called “District 5” has been digitally altered. The doctored image, seen here and here, was captured on an unidentified road and shows a blue vehicle passing two signs: one says “police enforcement cameras” are in operation, while another underneath says road users are “now Leaving District 5”. Moreover, the original photo can be traced back to a 2016 article in The Telegraph (here) and shows that only the “police enforcement cameras” sign is real. Professional photographer Eleanor Bentall (www.eleanorbentall.com/), who has worked for The Telegraph (here and twitter.com/EleanorBentall), is credited in the caption. The “now leaving District 5” comment was digitally added to the photograph.

[1/4] People wait in line at a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) test centre in Xinyang, China, this still image obtained from social media video released December 15, 2022. China reported 2,157 new symptomatic COVID-19 infections for Dec. 15 compared with 2,000 a day. There is particular concern about China's hinterland in the run up to China's Lunar New Year holiday starting on Jan. 22. The COVID scare in China also led people in Hong Kong, Macau and in some neighbourhoods in Australia to go in search for fever medicines and test kits for family and friends on the mainland. JP Morgan on Friday revised down its expectations for China's 2022 growth to 2.8%, which is well below China's official target of 5.5% and would mark one of China's worst performances in almost half a century.

☆ Police officer killed during protests in Jordan over high fuel prices
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Suleiman Al-Khalidi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

AMMAN, Dec 16 (Reuters) - One senior police officer was killed on Thursday in clashes with demonstrators in the southern Jordanian city of Maan during protests over high fuel prices that spread to several cities across the kingdom, police and witnesses said. A police source had earlier said the officer was shot by unknown assailants during clashes in the Husseiniya area of Maan. Witnesses said a long convoy of armoured vehicles was seen entering Maan as reinforcements were sent to the neighbourhood where the police officer was killed. Tensions have been mounting in Maan and several cities in southern Jordan after days of sporadic strikes by lorry drivers protesting high fuel prices. Some activist strikers have threatened to stage street protests in provincial cities on Friday.

SYDNEY/BEIJING, Dec 15 (Reuters) - The rising alarm over COVID-19 spreading in China was felt in pharmacies in Hong Kong, Macau, and in some neighbourhoods in Australia, as people hunted for fever medicines and virus test kits to send to family and friends on the mainland. Several shops have since imposed limits on how much customers can buy, and drugmakers are ramping up production. They like to hoard medicines before they even get sick," said a doctor in Shanghai. "I have friends in Beijing who asked me to send over some flu medicines and rapid tests. And the government-backed Sinopharm Group has tripled daily production capacity of key drugs, state run CCTV reported, due to a sharp increase in demand for medicines to treat fever and cough symptoms.

☆ Medieval-inspired communal bakery aims to help with cost-of-living crisis
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Her solution is "The People's Oven", a monthly event where locals can come to the bakery she set up six months ago in a former warehouse near a canal in Hackney. In an area where artist and design studios in old industrial buildings rub shoulders with newly-built apartment blocks, the bakery, "Hearth", has a hipster vibe. "I came here for like the experience, also to make friends and kind of seek out a community in east London," Ren said. "For sure to help people to save some money, but also to create a sort of community in the area." Reporting by Aiden Nulty and Ben Makori; Writing by Sarah Young; Editing by Alex RichardsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ India's capital blanketed in smog; private construction banned
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

NEW DELHI, Dec 5 (Reuters) - India's capital, New Delhi, was engulfed in thick smog early on Monday as cooler weather exacerbated pollution and the government banned private construction in and around the city to try to limit dust and emissions. Residents of New Delhi and its suburbs endure poor air every winter as colder, heavier air traps construction dust, vehicle emissions and smoke from the burning of crop stubble in the nearby states of Punjab and Haryana. The air quality index in several parts of the city was between 350 and 400 on Monday, meaning it was "very poor", according to the Central Pollution Control Board. The central government banned all private construction in the city and surrounding areas on Sunday. Authorities also sprayed water in some neighbourhoods to try to clear the air.

His children's school expenses are mostly covered by a charity and a portion of his medicine is subsidised by the state. Before, we used to plan for a month or a year or two ... now, we've lost that ability," he said. The government says it remains committed to implementing reforms that would pave the way for an IMF deal. While Lebanon had long relied on remittances, the flow has increased as some 200,000 people had emigrated since 2019, he said. Meanwhile, basic state functions are increasingly propped up by international donors seeking to prevent total state failure.

☆ Beijing, Shenzhen loosen more COVID curbs as China fine-tunes policy
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Brenda Goh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The southern city of Shenzhen announced it would no longer require people to show a negative COVID test result to use public transport or enter parks, following similar moves by Chengdu and Tianjin. A video showing workers in Beijing removing a testing booth by crane on to a truck went viral on Chinese social media on Friday. CHINA OUTLIERThree years into the pandemic, China has been a global outlier with its zero-tolerance approach towards COVID that has seen it enforce lockdowns and frequent virus testing. China reported 32,827 new local COVID-19 infections for Dec. 2, down from 34,772 a day earlier. As of Friday, China reported 5,233 COVID-related deaths and 331,952 cases with symptoms.

☆ Russia's war on Ukraine: latest news
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Dec 2 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin is open to talks on a possible settlement in Ukraine but the West must accept Moscow's demands, the Kremlin said on Friday, a day after U.S. President Joe Biden said he would be willing to speak with Putin on ending the war. FIGHTING* Ukraine's armed forces have lost somewhere between 10,000 and 13,000 soldiers so far in the war against Russia, presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told a Ukrainian television network. * Russia's Defence Ministry and the head of Ukraine's presidential administration said the two countries had swapped 50 service personnel in the latest prisoner exchange between the two sides. * Ukraine's armed forces reported heavy shelling of a number of eastern frontline villages near the city of Bakhmut. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein 1 2 3 4 5DIPLOMACY, FOREIGN RESPONSE* Putin told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in a phone call on Friday that the German and Western line on Ukraine was "destructive" and urged Berlin to rethink its approach, the Kremlin said.

But among critics, their appearance has evoked parallels with the civil war when the state collapsed, militias controlled the streets and Beirut split into cantons. Such criticisms are rejected by Gemayel, a lawmaker in the Kataeb Party whose father, Bashir, led the main Christian militia in the civil war until he was assassinated in 1982 after being elected president. Lebanon's sectarian parties disarmed at the end of the war, bar Hezbollah, which kept its arsenal to fight Israel. Their pervasive influence is never far from the surface and tensions are common in a country awash with guns. Supporters of different groups fought deadly clashes in Beirut as recently as last year.

☆ Chinese cities including Beijing report record COVID cases
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"Currently COVID cases are rising in major cities such as Guangzhou and Chongqing, and zero-COVID policy continues, suggesting down-side risks to the near-term growth outlook," said analysts at U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs in a note on Monday. Shares of consumer staples (.CSICS) remained subdued on Monday, while stocks in tourism (.CSI930633) and transport (.CSI000957) slumped as domestic COVID cases surged and some investors booked profits on previous COVID easing bets. Beijing reported 407 cases on Monday, compared with 235 the previous day. Major manufacturing hub Zhengzhou in central China reported 2,981 new infections versus 2,642 a day prior. Chongqing, a southwestern city of more than 32 million people, also saw a jump in cases to 2,297 compared with 1,820 the previous day.

☆ Guangzhou's COVID outbreak deepens as more lockdowns loom in China
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The increase was modest by global standards but significant for China, where outbreaks are quickly tackled when they surface. Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, reported 2,377 new local cases for Nov. 7, up from 1,971 the previous day. "The lockdown situation has continued to deteriorate quickly across the country over the past week, with our in-house China COVID lockdown index rising to 12.2% of China's total GDP from 9.5% last Monday," Nomura wrote in a note on Monday. "We continue to believe that, while Beijing may fine-tune some of its COVID measures in coming weeks, those fine-tuning measures could be more than offset by local officials' tightening of the zero-COVID strategy." In the southwest metropolis of Chongqing, the city reported 281 new local cases, more than doubling from 120 a day earlier.

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