Desperately building in Turkey and Syria
Two days after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake killed more than 12,000 people in Turkey and Syria, families huddled under makeshift tents in the cold rain, resting on pieces of furniture pulled from rubble. On the border between the two countries, the bodies of Syrian refugees who died in the earthquake were brought home – but humanitarian aid is not allowed in.
Many in Turkey are angry that it took so long for the rescue team with heavy machinery to arrive. In Kahramanmaras, where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited yesterday, three bodies were recovered from a six-story building. There are at least six more victims in the wreckage. “Volunteers were here, but not the state,” said one relative.
Buildings collapsed across the streets of southern Turkey, making them impassable, and a fire station in Pazarcik was turned into a makeshift funeral home. Cracks in the walls of the still-standing buildings were wide enough to slip through. Shards of broken glass littered the ground, threatening to cut the legs of survivors, many of whom were still wearing their pajamas when the quake struck.
Zelensky calls for fighters
England will train Ukrainian pilots on NATO-standard jets British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak yesterday said it was a “first step”, stressing the commitment to training was a prelude to supplying Ukraine with advanced British fighter jets to help counter Russian forces. aggression. He added: “As for the plane, we said nothing could happen.
The announcement was made at a joint press conference with Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, who yesterday made a surprise visit to London in which he thanked Britain for its strong military support for his country. but made a blunt request: supply Ukraine with fighter jets, a step that the British government and the Biden administration have so far opposed.
Britain pioneered the supply of tanks to Ukraine and has promised to send 14 Challenger 2 tanks, which Sunak said will arrive within “a few weeks”. Zelensky has called for more advanced weapons from the West, without which, he warned, the war in Ukraine could come to a standstill with Russia.
Agenda: The press conference follows Zelensky’s speech to the British Parliament and his meeting with King Charles III at Buckingham Palace, and he arrived in Paris yesterday evening for another stop on a short tour in Europe, where he met Presidents Emmanuel Macron of France and Germany. Prime Minister Olaf Scholz at the Elysee Palace.
In other news from the war:
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There are “strong indications” that Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, approval to supply missile systems which separatists used in 2014 to bring down a Malaysia Airlines flight over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board, an investigation has found.
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A mobile clinic in Ukraine is trying restore health services to villages once occupied by Russian forces during fierce fighting nearby. “They will never defeat our people,” said one team member.
China’s Global Spy Balloon Program
Officials at US intelligence agencies say China’s spy balloon program is part of a global surveillance effort designed to gather information about the military capabilities of other countries. A Pentagon spokesman said balloons had been detected operating in the Americas, Southeast Asia, East Asia and Europe over the past few years.
The balloons have several advantages over satellites that orbit the earth in a conventional pattern, US officials said. They fly closer to earth and drift in wind patterns that are not as predictable as the fixed orbits of satellites, and they can evade radar. They can also hover over areas — satellites are often in constant motion — and can produce clearer images.
China’s military modernization is driven by the belief that the People’s Liberation Army must catch up with advanced adversaries like the United States, as well as develop weapons and strategies that can be beneficial. surprise for them. Balloons become a small but active part of that strategy.
Recent events: American officials say their knowledge of what China can gain from its hot air balloon program has increased dramatically, especially after last week. In the United States, three balloons were observed under the Trump administration and two under the Biden administration.
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ARTS AND IDEAS
rush in
At 9 a.m. New Year’s Day, 130 New Yorkers jumped together into the icy Atlantic. Some have been doing it for months: They’re members of the New York Dippers Club, one of many cold water therapy groups starting this winter.
Cold plunge is increasingly common, Alyson Krueger writes in The Times, partly driven by health influencers and social media celebrities. But the idea isn’t new: The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates believed that water therapy could relieve fatigue, and 18th-century physicians recommended cold baths to treat fevers.
The Wim Hof method combines cold exposure with breathing and meditation to help manage anxiety and stress. Proponents say that cold water provides an initial feeling of panic before the body relaxes and the mind calms. But the science behind it is still unclear.
PLAY, WATCH, EAT
What to cook?
That’s it for today’s briefing. See you tomorrow. — Natasha
PS The Times added more than a million digital subscribers by 2022.
“daily” about the Memphis police unit charged with the murder of Tire Nichols.
You can contact Natasha and the team at [email protected].
