A Major Quake Hits & Australia Legalizes ‘Shrooms
February 7, 2023
Tragic Quake Hits Turkey & Syria
On Monday, Turkey and Syria were hit by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake, one of the strongest quakes to hit the region in the last century. The tremor’s epicenter was located almost 20 miles south of the city of Gaziantep, and struck at 4:17 am local time. Current death tolls have counted over 4,300 fatalities across Turkey and neighboring Syria, though those numbers are expected to rise in the coming days.
In Turkey, at least 2,921 people were killed by the earthquake, with 15,800 injured. Syria, which is still the site of a civil war, has reported deaths of 1,451 so far, with 711 of those in government-controlled territories and 740 in opposition-held regions. The World Health Organization expects death counts to balloon in the coming days as Turkey and Syria slowly take stock of the earthquake’s effects. For reference, Turkey’s two other major earthquakes in the last century – one magnitude 7.4 in 1999 and another magnitude 7.8 in 1939 – took the lives of over 17,000 and 33,000, respectively.
The effects of the first tremor were made worse by a major aftershock nine hours later. That quake, a magnitude 7.5, struck roughly 60 miles north of the original epicenter, disrupting rescue and relocation efforts. Those efforts are worsened thanks to freezing temperatures and snow in Gaziantep province, which have forced people to seek shelter in cars as many buildings have been destroyed – according to a preliminary announcement from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, roughly 3,000 buildings have collapsed so far, including hospitals and other important infrastructure.
According to a professor at Georgia Tech, the part of Turkey hit hardest by the quake is prone to seismic activity. “It’s a very large fault zone, but this is a larger earthquake than they’ve experienced any time in recent memory,” he said. Counting this disaster, Turkey has experienced six earthquakes over a magnitude 6.0 since 2010.
Some Good News
- You can now add top-surgery scars, binders and hearing aids to your ‘Sims’ characters (CNN)
- Iran’s Shervin Hajipour Wins Grammy With Protest Song ‘Baraye’ (Variety)
NHS Stands For National Healthworker Strikes
- On Monday, British health workers staged the largest-ever strike in the history of Britain’s state-run National Health Service. Tens of thousands of nurses and ambulance service staff walked out of work in unison to start the week, changing tactics from separate strikes the two groups have been conducting over the last year.
- The NHS has lost 25,000 health workers in the past year, leading to long waitlists for its millions of patients, with some even failing to receive prompt emergency care. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has asked NHS leadership for a raise of 5% over the level of inflation and has promised to meet the government “half way” – unfortunately, this hasn’t panned out, leading to the current round of strikes.
- Strikes are expected to continue both this week and next week. Nurses will stage a walkout today, physiotherapists will follow suit on Thursday, and ambulance workers will walk out again on Friday. Over the weekend, the RCN wrote a letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak asking to bring strikes to a “swift close” by making workers a “meaningful” pay raise, but Sunak hasn’t budged – yet.
Putting That Shiny New Law Into Use
- On Monday, the trials for 47 Hong Kong pro-democracy leaders began. The group of activists, lawmakers, and academics had all planned to run for Hong Kong’s local legislature in 2020, just one year after the city was disrupted by mass protests calling for freedom from China. Only 16 of the 47 are contesting their charges, with all of them expected to face prison sentences ranging from three years to life behind bars.
- In 2020, China enacted a new national security law to better exert control over Hong Kong by criminalizing acts of secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with foreign forces. The group of 47 is being charged with subversion under the new legislation for their participation in an unofficial “primary election,” marking the largest legal case so far under the law.
- “The trial of the 47 represents a turning point in the crackdown because it reveals the true purpose of the national security law,” said one Hong Kong expert. “They’re not targeting a small minority of people throwing petrol bombs. Those people have already been arrested. Instead, they’re targeting the legitimate opposition, people who believed there was still a little bit left to defend Hong Kong’s autonomy and freedom.”
Additional World News
- Palestinian gunmen killed in Israeli raid in Jericho (BBC)
- Pope says Church conservatives exploited death of ex-pope Benedict (Reuters)
- Senior Taiwan opposition leader to visit China amid continued tensions (Reuters)
- Cyprus presidential election heads for runoff next Sunday (Politico)
- Japanese official’s homophobic remarks highlight lagging LGBTQ rights (WaPo, $)
- Pakistan blocks Wikipedia, says it hurt Muslim sentiments (AP)
- Ukraine’s defence ministry in turmoil as Russia readies offensive (Reuters)
“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” – Edith Wharton
White Power Versus The Power Grid
- Brandon Russell, 27, is a neo-Nazi leader who was just recently released from prison. He and Sarah Clendaniel, 34, whom he met while locked up, appeared in court on Monday on a charge of conspiring to destroy an energy facility, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
- The two were accused of planning an attack on a Maryland power grid, nearly two months after the attacks on North Carolina power substations left 45,000 without power for several days. That attack, and others like it, remain unsolved, but the FBI said they coincided with white supremacists showing interest in attacking critical infrastructure.
- In conversations about the plot, according to court documents, Clendaniel “described how there was a ‘ring’ around Baltimore and if they hit a number of them all in the same day, they ‘would completely destroy this whole city.’” The FBI reportedly has “no indication” that this plot was part of “anything larger,” but it’s hard not to speculate considering the circumstances. (WaPo, $)
Burn, Baby, Burn
- Late on Friday evening, a 150-car train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, risking an explosion from the chemicals that were on board. The Ohio National Guard was deployed on Sunday evening, going door to door to ensure residents evacuated the area of East Palestine and Pennsylvania’s Darlington Township.
- The train was carrying vinyl chloride, a toxic, flammable gas used to produce vehicle interiors and PVC piping. On Monday morning, officials confirmed that they had successfully released the toxic chemicals, which they had warned could be deadly if inhaled. Continued burn-off was expected into the evening.
Additional USA News
- Hawaii firefighter dies after being swept into a storm drain while helping residents (NBC)
- 2 abducted Missouri children are found in Florida after being missing nearly a year (NPR)
- Atlanta area residents report finding antisemitic flyers in driveways (CNN)
- Buffalo, New York, area is hit with the strongest earthquake in 40 years (NBC)
- Ice-laden trees have caused widespread power outages in Austin, Texas (NPR)
- Former Manhattan attorney says ‘many bits and pieces of evidence’ exist to charge Trump (CNN)
- America’s top cyber diplomat says his Twitter account was hacked (CNN)
Trying Tripping To Treat Your Mental Health
- Late last week, Australia became the first country in the world to recognize MDMA and psilocybin as medicines. The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approved MDMA to treat PTSD and psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms) to help with treatment-resistant depression. Technically, anybody prescribed the use of these drugs will be using “unapproved” treatments, as the TGA has yet to approve any medicine containing the substances.
- While the move is undoubtedly a big change, the future of the two substances in Australia’s medicine market is still a bit hazy (whoops, wrong drug!). The TGA has yet to specify how doctors will be approved to dole out the uppers and psychedelics to their patients, and it’s also unclear what the minimum training standards will be around the drugs. Finally, costs will likely be a big barrier: insurance won’t cover the use of MDMA or psilocybin, so they’re “probably initially going to be a therapy for relatively well-off people”, according to one mental health expert.
- While long-term effects of the substances are still unclear – the longest-term study on their effects only examines a 12-month period – “the benefit, particularly for the treatment-resistant conditions that they’re talking about—PTSD and depression—could be really huge,” says the same expert.
Additional Reads
- Central Park Zoo owl on the loose after exhibit vandalized, zoo says (ABC)
- George Santos claimed he produced Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark for some damn reason (AV Club)
- A Patient Declared Dead Is Found in a Body Bag Gasping for Air (NYT, $)
- How scientists are kept fed and happy in one of the most remote places on Earth (CNN)
- Endless Seinfeld episode grinds to a halt after AI comic violates Twitch guidelines (Ars Technica)
- School food vendor apologizes — again — for ‘inexcusable’ Black History Month menu (NBC)
- The world is creating more single-use plastic waste than ever, report finds (CNN)