Turkey-Syria, Cameroon, Iraq.

Today's three stories you should know.

Feb 06, 2023

Turkey-Syria

Horror, absolute horror, in Turkey and Syria. The death toll from the massive earthquake that rocked southeastern Turkey near its border with Syria has, at the time of writing, surpassed 2,600. Rescuers are now racing against time to find survivors trapped under the rubble of hundreds of buildings destroyed in both nations with freezing weather hampering efforts. The quake, and several aftershocks, were so strong that they could be felt in Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus and Israel. It is the biggest earthquake to hit Turkey since 1999, when a tremor of similar magnitude killed more than 17,000 people in the eastern Marmara Sea region near Istanbul.

Cameroon

One of Cameroon’s biggest business tycoons was arrested today in connection with the killing of prominent journalist Martinez Zogo, who was kidnapped and murdered last month. Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga, owner of L'Anecdote media group, was arrested at dawn, his company said. Zogo, who often covered corruption and had reported on Belinga, was abducted on January 17th and his badly-mutilated corpse was found five days later. The killing caused revulsion across Cameroon, which piled pressure on President Paul Biya to find the culprits. The Reporters Without Borders group ranks Cameroon 118th out of 180 countries in its press freedom index.

Iraq

Iraqis are protesting to demand a law against domestic violence be introduced after a young YouTube star, Tiba al-Ali, was strangled to death by her father, causing widespread anger. Demonstrators gathered in the streets of Baghdad today, where police prevented them from reaching the country’s Supreme Judicial Council, waving placards reading “Stop killing women” and “Tiba’s killer must be held to account.”