The world at aglance NEWS 91February2020 THE WEEKSivrice,Turkey
Deadlyquake:Atleast 41 peoplewere
killed,andmore than 1 ,600injured,in
apowerfulearthquakeof6.8-magnitude
thatstrucksoutheastTurkeylastFriday
evening.Theepicentrewasclosetothe
townofSivrice,inthesparsely-populated
provinceofElazig,wherepeoplerushed
ontothestreetstoescapecollapsing
buildings.Sivrice,atownofabout4,00 0
people,isatouristspotontheshoreof
LakeHazar,thesourceoftheTigris.
Tremorswerealsofeltinneighbouring
Syria,LebanonandIran,andmorethan
950 aftershockswererecordedoverthe
weekend.Turkey’sgovernmentisnow
openingacriminalinvestigationinto
“provocative”socialmediapostsattacking
theofficialresponsetothequake:President
Erdoganhasfiercelydeniedcriticismthat
thecountrywasill-preparedtodealwithit.
Baghdad
Anti-USrally:Hundredsofthousandsof
IraqistooktoBaghdad’sstreetslastFriday
toprotestthekillingofIraniangeneral
QassemSoleimanibyaUSdroneandto
demandanendtotheUSmilitarypresence
inIraq.Itfollowsaparliamentaryvotelast
monthcallingfortheexpulsionofforeign
forces.OnSunday,threerocketshitthe
USembassyinBaghdad’sheavilyfortified
GreenZone–thefirstdirectstrikeafter
monthsofnearmisses.Threepeople
werereportedinjured.Washingtonblames
Iran-backedIraqimilitiasfortheattacks.
Alongsidetheanti-Americanprotests,
therehasalsobeenaresurgenceinthe
anti-governmentprotests–overcorruption
andthelackofjobs–thathaveshaken
southernIraqsinceOctober.Morethan
500 peoplehavebeenkilledinthebrutal
responseofthesecurityforces.Harare
Generous émigré:
The four-month
long doctors’ strike
that hascrippled
Zimbabwe’s health
service is nowat an end. Strive Masiyiwa,
aZimbabwe-borntelecomsbillionaire,
has stepped in andoffered personally
to paythemaguaranteedsubs istence
allowanceforthe next sixmonths–and
thedoctorshave acceptedhis offer. It
means that2,000hospitaldoctor swill
now receiveaminimum ofaround $
amonth ,fromafundofabout $6.25m:
some of those whohavebeenonstrike
currently receive less than $100. Masiyiwa,
the London-based founderofthe
telec omms group EconetWireless, hasan
estimated fortuneof $1.1bn .Zimba bwe is
currentlyplague dbytriple-digitinflation
which iseroding salaries andsavings.Pyongyang
Here’sauntie:KimJong
Un’saunt,theonlysister
of the lateNorthKorean
leader KimJongIl,has
appearedinpublic for the
firsttimein sixyears –
puncturingthe widespread
beliefthatshehadbeen
purged along withher
powerfulhusband, Jang
SongThaek,backin
2013 ,whenhe was
executed oncharges of
plottingacoupagainst
KimJongUn.Theaunt,
KimKyongHui,appeared
withKim andhiswifeat a
concert inPyongyang; her
suddenre-appearance
is seenasanotable
displayof
theunity
of the Kim
dynasty.Peshawar,
Pakistan
Seditioncharges:
Theleaderofa
protestmovement
thatcampaigns
againsthuman
rightsabuses
andkidnappings
carriedout
byPakistan’s
powerfulmilitary
andpoliceforce,
hasbeenarrestedonchargesofcri minal
conspiracyandsedition.Eversincethe
extra-judicialkillingofaPashtunman
byKarachipolicetwoyearsago,Manzoor
Pashteen,leaderofthenon-violentPashtun
Tahafuz(Protection)Movement(PTM),
hasdrawntensofthousandsofsupporters
tojoinpeacefulprotestsacrossPakistan.Sydney, Australia
“InvasionDay”:Tensoft housands of
people in cities across Australia marked
its nationaldaylastSunday by holding
“Invasion Day” protests, drawing attention
to injustices sufferedby Aboriginal
Australians.Campaigners forindigenous
rights have longobjectedto holding
AustraliaDay on 26 January,thedate
when thefirst British colonists landed
at Sydney Cove in 1788.Ith as become
adivisive issue. The conservativePM
Scott Morrisonis astrong supporter of the
statusquo:new rules require municipalities
to hold citizenship ceremonies onthat day.Nairobi
Locustplague:
Avastareaof
east Africa is
experiencing
its worst
infestation
of locustsfor
decades. Huge
swarmsare
destroyingcrops
andfodder and
threateningan
already vulnerable regionwithfamine.
Thelocust “mega-swarms” emergedin
Yemenlastsummer, andinrecentmonths
havewiped outfarms in Ethiopia and
Somalia.Theyhavenow spreadsouth
to Kenya:last weekaswarm measuring
60km by 40kmwas seen inthenortheast
of thecountry. In thelast major locust
crisisof2003-5,itcostsome$570m to
bring theinfestation undercontr ol.