jtrent238 test blog: Evening Briefing: Earthquake kills thousands in Turkey and Syria

February 6, 2023

By Matthew Cullen

Good evening. Here's the latest at the end of Monday.

People searching through the rubble of collapsed buildings in Harem, Syria, today.Ghaith Alsayed/Associated Press

1. More than 3,800 are dead after a powerful earthquake devastated Turkey and Syria.

Rescuers spent much of today desperately combing through rubble in search of survivors after a magnitude 7.8 quake struck early this morning near the border of the two countries. Thousands of buildings collapsed, raising the specter of a new humanitarian disaster in an area wracked by war and a refugee crisis. Here are maps of the damage and scenes of the aftermath.

It was the deadliest earthquake to hit Turkey in more than 20 years and the strongest since 1939. A second major tremor measuring 7.5 hit hours later.

For survivors, near-freezing temperatures provided another threat. "This is a race against time and hypothermia," said Mikdat Kadioglu, a professor of meteorology in Istanbul.

In Syria, infrastructure was already in a fragile state after years of airstrikes. "Anywhere else in the world this would be an emergency," said Mark Kaye, spokesman for the International Rescue Committee. "What we have in Syria is an emergency within an emergency."

Many Syrian war refugees are also in the quake-stricken area of Turkey, which has taken in more than any other country, according to the U.N. refugee agency. One of its largest operations is in Gaziantep, near the earthquake's epicenter.

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A Chinese balloon floating off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday.Chad Fish, via Associated Press

2. Balloon incidents turn attention to the leadership of President Xi Jinping.

China confirmed today that it was responsible for another balloon, which was spotted floating over Latin America and the Caribbean. Officials claimed that the balloons, including one shot down by the U.S. over the weekend, were solely for civilian purposes. The Pentagon insists that they are surveillance devices.

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The incidents raised concerns about Xi's leadership and how China wields its power in a fraught climate where one wrong move could set off a wider conflict. As my colleague David Sanger explains, spying is nothing new — but for pure gall, this was something different.

The funeral of a Ukrainian soldier in Kharkiv today.Lynsey Addario for The New York Times

3. Ukrainians in the East are bracing for a Russian assault.

Military officials reported dozens of Russian attacks across the eastern front today. Moscow's assaults are intensifying, and Ukrainian officials believe Russia's largest offensive since the first weeks of the war is coming.

Civilians in the eastern area known as Donbas stand in the way of Russia's planned advance and, once again, face the agonizing decision of whether to leave. The area was among the last to be liberated in a Ukrainian offensive last fall.

In other news from the war, Ukrainian soldiers began training outside the country on German-made Leopard 2 tanks, speeding up the training process in anticipation of the expected Russian offensive.

A memorial in Memphis for Tyre Nichols, who was brutally beaten by police officers this month.Desiree Rios/The New York Times

4. Memphis was one of several cities that brought back an elite crime unit in recent years.

The specialized police units have been criticized for their aggressive tactics. Some were disbanded following the 2020 racial justice protests. But such teams have since been created or revamped in Denver, New York, Atlanta, Portland, Ore., and elsewhere as cities have looked to confront a nationwide rise in violent crime.

The 14-month-old Scorpion unit in Memphis, five of whose officers are now charged with murder in Tyre Nichols's death, quickly developed a reputation for pretextual traffic stops and aggressive treatment of detainees. The department announced this month that it was disbanding the unit.

Vice President Kamala Harris greeted supporters after a rally in November.Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

5. Kamala Harris is struggling to define her vice presidency.

Harris made history when she became the first woman, the first African American and the first Asian American to serve as second-in-command. But after two years in office, she has been largely unable to define her role or prove herself as a future leader of the party.

One main area of her focus that has proved intractable is immigration. Today, Harris announced almost $1 billion in new pledges by private companies for communities in Central America, part of an effort to address the root causes of migration. Also, the Biden administration has accelerated visa processing, helping to replenish the American labor force.

In other news from Washington, a new study found that graduates of Harvard, Yale or Princeton have a significant edge in obtaining coveted Supreme Court clerkships.

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Jason Henry for The New York Times

6. Elon Musk pledged to cleanse Twitter of child abuse content. It has continued to spread.

A review by The Times found that child sexual abuse material continued to persist on Twitter — including widely circulated material that the authorities considered the easiest to detect and eliminate. That's despite a declaration from Musk, who bought the platform last year, that "removing child exploitation is priority #1."

Twitter executives said they were aggressively suspending accounts that posted banned materials, but when Musk took the reins, the company fired much of the staff experienced with preventing the abusive images.

In other Musk news, experts are questioning whether Tesla's long-upcoming pickup truck is a work of genius or folly. And, for better or worse, Musk has become his own spokesman.

Beyoncé won the Grammy for Best Dance/Electronic Music Album last night.Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

7. The Grammys succeeds when it builds bridges between generations.

At last night's 65th annual awards show, during which Beyoncé broke the record for most career wins, Madonna made an appearance to introduce a theatric collaboration between Sam Smith and Kim Petras. It was the kind of intergenerational handoff that major awards shows need to survive, our critic wrote.

One of the show's highlights was a celebration of hip-hop's 50-year history squeezed into a 15-minute presentation, a rare and pleasing tribute to rap produced by Questlove. And, of course, there were a lot of red-carpet looks.

Manchester City said it was "surprised" by the charges.Peter Powell/EPA, via Shutterstock

8. Accused of financial violations, Manchester City could be booted from the Premier League.

The British soccer powerhouse — league champions for four of the past five years — was charged with more than 100 violations over several years, including failing to provide accurate financial information and failing to cooperate with investigators. The accusations could result in the most severe punishments in league history.

In other sports news, the Brooklyn Nets traded their star guard, Kyrie Irving, to the Dallas Mavericks. The team has failed to meet its ambitious expectations.

John Craven/Getty Images

9. Colette was perhaps the greatest French writer of her era. Here's where to start with her work.

Born in Burgundy, France, in 1873, Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette wrote more than 40 books that were often autobiographical. Her first novels were wildly successful, and, by the time of her death, in 1951, she was one of the country's most famous people.

For those new to her books, a good place to start is with "Gigi," an effervescent novella that became Colette's most famous work after an American stage adaptation starring Audrey Hepburn.

The fly agaric toadstool is a poisonous mushroom.Neil Bromhall/Getty Images

10. And finally, our fear of mushrooms is deep-seated, but misplaced.

In HBO's new series "The Last of Us," characters seek to evade a parasitic fungus that turns them into zombies. It appears to have touched a collective nerve among Westerners who know very little about mushrooms, but worry about them nonetheless.

Since the show premiered, experts have been called on, over and over, to assure us that while mushroom species that zombify insects are real, a mutation that thrives in humans is pure fiction. "It is natural for humans to fear that which is powerful, but mysterious and misunderstood," one mycologist said.

Have a soothing night.

Sarah Hughes compiled photos for this briefing.

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