jtrent238 test blog: Evening Briefing: Erdogan visits quake zone

February 8, 2023

By Matthew Cullen

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

Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited the site of destroyed buildings in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, today.Adem Altan/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

1. Turkey's president visited the disaster zone as the earthquake's death toll passed 12,000.

Two days after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake toppled thousands of buildings and plunged cities across Turkey and Syria deep into crisis, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit to an area near the epicenter today was met with frustration.

Many survivors — who hitched tarps to make tents in the frigid rain and rested on bits of furniture pulled from the wreckage — were angry that it was taking so long for rescue crews with heavy machinery to arrive. "The volunteers were here, but not the state," said a relative of two victims.

Erdogan, who faces a difficult quest for re-election this spring, insisted that the situation was under control and urged people to "show patience." Turks around the world rallied to raise money and gather supplies to send home: Members of the diaspora held a bake sale in London and gathered donations at a nursing home in Berlin.

As of this afternoon, no humanitarian aid from Turkey has been able to get into northwestern Syria, where at least 2,992 people died in the quake. Only the bodies of victims were making the border crossing — many of whom had fled the war in Syria for the safety of Turkey.

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President Biden discussed his economic plan and job growth in Wisconsin today.Kenny Holston/The New York Times

2. President Biden is seeking to win working-class voters through their wallets.

Facing a House of Representatives led by Republicans who are poised to block him from securing signature legislative accomplishments, Biden is hoping that continued government spending and a resilient economy will convince white working-class Americans to vote for Democrats in 2024.

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In his State of the Union address last night, he called for a "blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America." Instead of conceding to conservatives who have accused him of running the country into crisis with government borrowing, he asked for trillions in new spending that he said would benefit workers without college degrees.

President Volodymyr Zelensky, right, with Rishi Sunak, Britain's prime minister.Peter Nicholls/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

3. Ukraine's president asked again for fighter jets during a surprise visit to London.

In only his second trip outside Ukraine since Russia invaded last year, President Volodymyr Zelensky received a hero's welcome in meetings with top leaders including Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and King Charles III. But he was blunt with his central demand: "Combat aircraft for Ukraine, wings for freedom."

Sunak, who along with other Western leaders has yet to commit to supplying Ukraine with jets, signaled that he was open to eventually sending planes.

Rose Ramierez, 10, center, traveled to Canada with her family.José A. Alvarado Jr. for The New York Times

4. New York City is buying asylum seekers bus tickets to Canada.

Months ago, city officials condemned Texas leaders for busing migrants to northern cities. Now New York is funding travel for newcomers who want to seek asylum in Canada.

Mayor Eric Adams, who said that the city was buckling from the strain of absorbing more than 42,000 people in need, argued that he was not telling people to leave. "We are not telling anyone to go to any country or state," he said. "We speak with people and they say their desire is to go somewhere else."

A photograph provided by the U.S. Navy of a Chinese balloon recovered in the waters off South Carolina on Sunday.U.S. Navy, via Getty Images

5. China sends spy balloons over military sites around the world, U.S. officials said.

The balloon flights are part of an ambitious effort by China to gather data about the military capabilities of at least a dozen countries, with a special interest in American bases, U.S. officials added.

The balloons have some advantages over satellites, the officials said: They can hover in one place, they can evade radar and they fly closer to earth, allowing them to produce clearer images and pick up more signals from the ground.

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A mink on a farm in Denmark in 2020.Mads Claus Rasmussen/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

6. A bird flu outbreak put mink farms back in the spotlight.

Scientists discovered in the fall that the mink on a fur farm in Spain had become infected with H5N1, a highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza. A recent paper reported that the virus contained an unusual mutation that might be a sign of adaptation to mammals.

Experts stressed that the outbreak was not a cause for panic. But it served as a reminder of some of the risks posed by mink farms and highlighted the need for more proactive surveillance and other precautions, they said.

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7. For LeBron James, 38,390 is more than just a number.

When the 38-year-old Lakers forward broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's decades-old career scoring record last night, it was celebrated as one of the most impressive individual achievements in basketball history.

For James, the moment was a long time coming, but it required him to adapt to the shifting style of play. With no active players within 10,000 points, the record will be safe for many years to come.

Gustavo Dudamel was a symbol of youth and inspiration in L.A.'s Latino community.Philip Cheung for The New York Times

8. Gustavo Dudamel's departure to the New York Philharmonic is a blow to L.A.

From the moment that Dudamel, a little-known 26-year-old conductor from Venezuela, was signed in 2009 as the Los Angeles Philharmonic's music director, he emerged as a celebrity in a city that celebrates celebrities.

Dudamel's announcement yesterday that he is leaving L.A. for New York was a strike at the soul of the city. But his departure will also give the Philharmonic the chance to do what the New York Philharmonic did not: to become the biggest major American orchestra to appoint a woman as its music director.

An artist's concept of the giant penguin, named Kumimanu by researchers.Simone Giovanardi

9. New fossils show that penguins were once as large as gorillas.

Using 3-D modeling and enormous 60-million-year-old fossils discovered on a beach in New Zealand, researchers were able to determine that the area was once home to penguins that weighed nearly 350 pounds — about four times as heavy as their biggest modern-day counterparts.

Yuji Ryuzaki, the softball team's manager, was once a top executive in Japan's largest mob organization.Shiho Fukada for The New York Times

10. And finally, a softball team with 100 years of hard time under its belt.

On paper, the Ryuyukai were Japan's most fearsome team: a former mob consigliere as a manager, a relief pitcher who had once been sent to kill the manager and a roster full of hardened gangsters. But on a cloudless day last March, the squad stood no chance against its opponents, the Parent-Teacher Association of Nakanodai Elementary School.

The team is a sort of mutual aid society for retired gangsters, established in 2012 to help the once imposing yakuza members integrate into a society that has become less tolerant of the mob.

Have a revitalized night.

Allison Zaucha compiled photos for this briefing.

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