RT News - February 7 2023 (09:00 MSK)

Warning: Earthquakes. Disturbing images/footage. Türkiye/Syria Earthquake updates. 2921 have been confirmed dead and more than 15,000 injured in Türkiye in the worst earthquakes in 100 years. 711 confirmed dead in Syria caused by aftershock tremors, many thousands injured.

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A new tremor hits Türkiye just a day after one of the strongest earthquakes ravaged parts of the country, destroying homes and leaving thousands dead and injured. Children are pulled from the rubble as disastrous aftershocks hit Syria. More than three thousand people have been confirmed dead in Türkiye and Syria, and the death toll is still rising. The awful situation is being hampered by the cold and lack of readily available equipment
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Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visits Mali to improve relations, after tensions erupted between the West African nation and the UN, as Mali expelled the UN's human rights envoy.
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Russian troops have gained advantage in Artyomovsk. Murad Gazdiev reports.
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Israel's FM is visiting Kiev as the Israeli embassy reopens there. Kiev wants more arms from Israel and has issued "a list of demands". See recent previous posts for written catch up. Maria Finoshina discusses.
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Africa: The EU has interests in Africa's resources to enable it to produce "green energy". Meanwhile the EU demands that Africa goes green and bribes it with loans and threatens them with sanctions. South Africa is just about to (or already has done) declare a state of disaster with power only available for a few hours a day. Africans are pretty ticked off with it all.
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Below, via RT website N1) --- Russia sends rescue teams to Türkiye and Syria
N2) --- Hundreds killed, infrastructure and historic sites damaged: What is known about horrific quakes in Türkiye and Syria (RECAP)
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1) --- Bank of England blames Brexit for excess inflation
2) --- World heading into ‘wider war’ – UN chief
3) --- UK military running out of money and ammo – media
4) --- India and Russia ditching dollar in energy deal – Novatek
5) --- India wants Russian LNG – Reuters
6) --- Palestinians killed in West Bank raid
7) --- Google reveals new ‘conversation’ AI
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6 Feb, 2023 22:00

N1) --- Russia sends rescue teams to Türkiye and Syria

Four aircrafts with more than 100 emergency response specialists onboard set off for the earthquake-hit regions

Russia has dispatched over a hundred emergency response specialists to aid in the search and rescue efforts in Türkiye and Syria in the wake of powerful earthquakes that struck the nations, the Russian Emergencies Ministry said on Monday.

Four of the ministry’s transport planes with more than 100 rescue workers on board in total have been sent to the affected countries at the direct order of President Vladimir Putin, the ministry’s spokesman, Roman Okhotenko, said.

watch them leaving yesterday right here on Rumble https://rumble.com/v28jf0q-russian-rescuers-prepare-to-deploy-to-quake-stricken-trkiye-and-syria.html?mref=6zof&mrefc=2

The group includes seven canine teams and an airmobile hospital with 40 medics capable of providing “qualified medical assistance” on the spot, the spokesman said. All specialists sent to Türkiye and Syria were supplied with the necessary equipment needed for search-and-rescue missions, Okhotenko added.

The teams include professionals with extensive experience in natural disaster management who are prepared to carry out their missions under the most difficult circumstances, the ministry said in a Telegram post.

Two powerful earthquakes claimed more than 1,600 lives in Türkiye and 968 in neighboring Syria, as well as leaving thousands injured and destroying thousands of buildings.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the quake the “biggest disaster since the 1939 Erzincan earthquake,” which killed an estimated 32,000 people. Ankara declared the highest nationwide emergency level in the wake of the disaster.

According to Erdogan, priority has been given to search and rescue efforts, with over 9,000 people involved in these efforts. The Turkish government also issued a statement on Monday requesting aid from any nation that could provide it.
https://www.rt.com/russia/571068-russia-rescue-teams-turkiye-syria/
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6 Feb, 2023 12:45 RECAP

N2) --- Hundreds killed, infrastructure and historic sites damaged: What is known about horrific quakes in Türkiye and Syria (RECAP)

Powerful tremors continue to hit both countries, compounding the death and devastation

On Monday morning, a powerful earthquake struck in southern Türkiye, causing significant destruction across the country and in neighboring Syria. Over a thousand people were reported killed, as buildings collapsed and infrastructure was damaged on both sides of the border.

Here is what is known about the disaster so far.

Worst in decades

The quake was detected at 4:17am (0117 GMT), according to the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD). It was centered in the Pazarcik district in the southern province of Kahramanmaras at a depth of 7 kilometers.
The agency initially measured the quake at 7.4 magnitude, but later revised it to 7.7. Dozens of aftershocks were detected later in the day in southern Türkiye, the Gulf of Alexandria and Syria, according to quake monitors, with the strongest spike reported at 7.5 magnitude.

https://twitter.com/amitsahujourno/status/1622548757542998017

The earthquake was felt across the region, with tremors noted by people as far as Baghdad, Iraq, and Beirut, Lebanon, hundreds of kilometers away.

Hundreds killed, thousands injured

Türkiye is located in a seismically active part of the world, but Monday’s quake was one of the strongest in its history, with more than 1,000 people killed, according to Turkish authorities.
President Recept Tayyip Erdogan said the disaster destroyed some 2,800 buildings. He called it the worst earthquake in the country since 1939.

https://twitter.com/amitsahujourno/status/1622559608668852224

The wave of destruction swept through 10 Turkish provinces, including Kahramanmaras, Gaziantep, Sanliurfa, Diyarbakir, Adana, Adiyaman, Malatya, Osmaniye, Hatay, and Kilis.
In Syria, the health ministry said it recorded over 400 deaths and over 1,000 injured people, with damage reported in Northern Aleppo, Hama, Latakia, and Tartus.

Crucial infrastructure damaged

In both Türkiye and Syria, the quake caused damage to key infrastructure. In the Turkish Kilis Province, natural gas pipelines ruptured, with the fuel bursting into large plumes of flame, according to footage circulating online. Operator BOTAS said it cut the flow, but pressurized gas in the pipeline continued to feed the fires.

In Syria, a refinery in the city of Baniyas, one of the largest in the country, had to be shut down for at least 48 hours due to cracks in the chimney of its power unit, the Ministry of Oil and Mineral Resources reported.

https://twitter.com/guyelster/status/1622483850705108995

The Syrian government also ordered all trains to be stopped as a precaution following the earthquake.

Turkish authorities closed the Hatay Airport due to the damage it sustained and suspended all civilian flights via the Gaziantep International Airport amid the emergency. The ports of Ceyhan and Iskenderun were reportedly closed too.

National heritage at risk

The Gaziantep Castle, a hilltop fort located in the center of the city of Gaziantep was heavily damaged by the quake, according to Turkish media. The structure dates to the second and third centuries, though it was repeatedly renovated over the course of history, and is considered the symbol of the city.

https://twitter.com/gazzetecii/status/1622473062917500928

In Syria, the quake reportedly caused a crack to appear in the Citadel of Aleppo, a UNESCO heritage site located in Aleppo’s old city. Houmam Saad, who heads the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums in the Culture Ministry, told media that a team had been dispatched to assess the scale of the damage.

International assistance

Many nations, including Azerbaijan, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Russia, Serbia, Spain, the UK and the US, have offered their assistance in responding to the disaster.

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent messages of condolence to Erdogan and Syrian President Bashar Assad and said his government was ready to help. Russian rescue teams have been sent to both countries to assist at the disaster sites.
https://www.rt.com/news/571034-t%C3%BCrkiye-syria-powerful-quake/
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7 Feb, 2023 05:23

1) --- Bank of England blames Brexit for excess inflation

The country’s withdrawal from the EU free-trade area has fueled the surge in prices, the BoE’s Catherine Mann claims

Britain’s departure from the EU and the subsequent trade barriers have contributed to the inflation crisis in the country, Bank of England (BoE) policymaker Catherine Mann has claimed.

According to Mann, as cited by Bloomberg, there were signs that the cost-of-living crunch was beginning to abate in the US and the EU, but not yet in the UK.

All three had faced shocks to demand and supply driven by the “Covid and lockdown-induced global demand rotation and subsequent supply bottlenecks,” and the energy shock caused by Ukraine-related sanctions on Russia, Mann reportedly said on Monday at the Lamfalussy Lectures Conference in Budapest.

“However, the UK has also been affected by a third type of shock which makes it unique: no other country chose to unilaterally impose trade barriers on its closest trading partners,” she pointed out.

Mann’s comments come as inflation in the UK, which hit a four-decade high of 11.1% in October, has slightly cooled down to 10.5%, staying well above the BoE’s 2% target. Meanwhile, in the Eurozone, inflation has fallen back to 8.5%, while in the US it has declined to 6.5%.

Addressing inflation rates, Mann wondered: “Is there a turning point already visible in the data? For the US and the euro area, yes; for the UK, maybe stabilization.”

Last week, the BoE slashed its estimate of potential output, or the economy’s growth speed limit, to 0.7% for the next three years, blaming a “constellation of economic shocks” including Brexit. The figure is down from its 0.9% estimate in November.

The central bank has reiterated its predictions that the UK’s “level of productivity would be around 3.25% lower in the long run” because of its withdrawal from the EU free-trade area.
https://www.rt.com/business/571035-uk-brexit-inflation-driver/
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6 Feb, 2023 20:43

2) --- World heading into ‘wider war’ – UN chief

Nations need to “wake up” if they hope to preserve peace, Antonio Guterres has said

The world has come close to a global conflict, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Monday. The global community is not “sleepwalking” into “a wider war” but marches towards it “with its eyes wide open,” he stressed in a speech to the General Assembly.

“The prospects for peace keep diminishing. The chances of further escalation and bloodshed keep growing,” Guterres said, denouncing the lack of “strategic vision” and “bias” that prevent political decision-makers from taking steps in the right direction.

“This near-term thinking is not only deeply irresponsible – it is immoral,” he argued, adding that politicians and entrepreneurs became too absorbed with clinging to power and their business cycles.

The secretary-general also blasted the erosion of international law and order based on UN principles, which, according to him, led to the present sorry state of affairs.

“If every country fulfilled its obligations under the [UN] Charter, the right to peace would be guaranteed,” he noted, calling on UN members to “to transform our approach to peace by recommitting to the Charter – putting human rights and dignity first, with prevention at the heart.”

“We need to wake up – and get to work,” Guterres said, adding that 2023 had placed humanity in front of a “confluence of challenges unlike any in our lifetimes.”

The UN chief also pointed to the fact that scientists have moved the symbolic “Doomsday clock,” which reflects the potential annihilation of humanity, to 90 seconds to midnight – the closest it has ever been to a possible Armageddon.

The UN chief’s words came after the US and its allies vowed to send dozens of Western-designed modern battle tanks to Ukraine amid the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev. The Pentagon also announced supplying the Ukrainian forces with munitions that have a 150-kilometer range, adding that it would allow Kiev to use them as it sees fit.

Moscow has previously repeatedly warned that continued weapons supplies to Ukraine by the US and its allies risk further escalation that might spiral into a direct conflict between Russia and NATO.

watch on Rumble https://rumble.com/v28m9v2-world-is-marching-into-wider-war-with-eyes-wide-open-un-chief.html?mref=6zof&mrefc=5
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https://www.rt.com/news/571065-world-wider-war-un-chief/
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6 Feb, 2023 18:44

3) --- UK military running out of money and ammo – media

Britain is “under-delivering” on its NATO commitments, a source told Sky News

The UK does not have enough money to fulfill its military commitments after digging deep into its stockpiles to fund and equip the Ukrainian war effort, unnamed defense sources told Sky News on Monday.

Britain’s self-defense is in jeopardy because the government is giving away critical military assets to Kiev, including tanks and artillery, sources warned, explaining that “it is no good having a small number of high-end, exquisite platforms when you have not got capacity around it.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak recently promised Ukraine 14 Challenger 2 main battle tanks and 30 AS90 artillery guns – the remainder of the British army’s artillery stocks – leaving the home front vulnerable, according to the sources.

While Sunak inherited a “refresh” of defense policy formulated in 2021, prioritizing investment in high-tech submarines and the development of a new fighter jet, the sources who spoke to Sky argued this plan ignores the military’s immediate needs — a lack of ammunition, artillery, and missile defense systems.

The sources said they had already urged the Treasury to add £3 billion annually to the defense budget and ease restrictions on arms procurement, but Chancellor Jeremy Hunt was playing “hard ball.”

“[The Treasury] recognize[s] the threats. They recognize the pressure defense is under from inflation, the nuclear deterrent, stockpiles, and Ukraine. But despite recognizing the threats and the pressure, they say there is no more money,” one source told Sky.

Making matters worse, the government is actually cutting the size of the military from 82,000 to 73,000 troops. London will thus only be “credibly” able to supply a brigade, numbering between 5,000 and 10,000 soldiers plus supporting equipment, to a new NATO force that would normally expect three to six times that number from a major bloc power such as the UK.

Retired General Richard Barrons warned earlier this month in an op-ed that the country’s army had been so “hollowed out by spending cuts” that it could run out of ammunition “in a busy afternoon” and was by no means prepared to withstand a “surprise attack.”

Sky’s insiders at the Ministry of Defence confirmed the military would “already run out of ammunition within a few days if called upon to fight” and warned that putting together a “modern warfighting division of some 25,000 to 30,000 troops” would take “up to ten years.”
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7 Feb, 2023 05:52

4) --- India and Russia ditching dollar in energy deal – Novatek
Payments for LNG supplies could be settled in national currencies, the head of the Russian firm has revealed

Russia’s largest independent gas producer, Novatek, is in talks with India over long-term contracts on supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG), the company’s CEO, Leonid Mikhelson, announced on Monday.

Negotiations with several Indian companies are underway as Russia is keen to invest in the country’s energy sector and further expand cooperation, he told reporters on the sidelines of the India Energy Week forum.

“We want to be not just LNG suppliers, Indian engineering companies are already taking part in our projects and there’s a certain share of Indian suppliers in equipment. We want to expand and increase it,” Novatek’s CEO pointed out. Mikhelson added that his company was interested in a broader investment into the Indian market, including the construction of regasification terminals for LNG production.

He also revealed that the sides were considering settling LNG supply payments in national currencies – rupees or rubles – bypassing US dollar transactions.

“We discussed it with the energy minister [Hardeep Singh Puri],” Mikhelson confirmed without specifying exact numbers.

Earlier, Reuters reported that India’s main gas distributor GAIL was discussing the terms of a long-term contract on LNG imports with Novatek. The companies are close to signing a preliminary agreement, according to sources in the industry.
https://www.rt.com/business/571040-india-russia-lng-rupee-ruble/
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6 Feb, 2023 08:23

5) --- India wants Russian LNG – Reuters

New Delhi is looking for a long-term contract to ensure its energy security

Russia’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer, Novatek, is poised to clinch a deal with India’s main gas distributor GAIL on long-term supplies, Reuters reported on Friday, citing industry sources.

A preliminary agreement may be signed as early as this week during a visit by Novatek Chairman Leonid Mikhelson to India for an energy conference, people familiar with the matter told the news outlet on condition of anonymity.

The news comes as GAIL struggles to recover from its 93% slump in profits in the three months to December compared to a year earlier, resulting from a supply disruption on the part of a former unit of Russian energy giant Gazprom.

GAIL had a 20-year contract with Gazprom Marketing and Trading Singapore (GMTS), a former unit of Berlin-based Gazprom Germania. Last year, German authorities took over Gazprom’s subsidiary, now called Sefe, as part of anti-Russia sanctions, without providing compensation payments.

The Indian utility company was forced to resort to gas rationing, and slashed output at its petrochemicals plants after supplies under the deal with GMTS fell through.

Novatek and GAIL are now negotiating terms, and will have to decide on the volume of supplies, which will depend on insurance and shipping.

“We are actively in discussion with a couple of long-term LNG suppliers... Hopefully, we should be able to conclude at least one contract shortly,” the executive director of GAIL, A Kaviraj, stated.

According to Reuters, Novatek is offering monthly LNG supplies to GAIL under a long-term deal on a free-on-board basis, meaning the buyer has to charter ships, and pay freight, insurance and delivery costs.

The Indian company, however, is asking Novatek to ensure the transfer of cargo to Indian ports and cover insurance and freight expenses, as insurance companies are reluctant to provide shipping services for Russian energy cargoes due to Western sanctions.

India is keen to expand its energy cooperation with Russia as a means of boosting its energy security. New Delhi has been Russia’s top oil consumer for several months, having imported a record 1.17 million barrels a day in December.
https://www.rt.com/business/570926-india-russia-lng-supplies/
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7 Feb, 2023 04:44

6) --- Palestinians killed in West Bank raid

Israeli forces say they were searching for militants suspected of plotting a mass shooting

Several people were killed by Israeli troops during a raid on a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said, claiming the slain men were “armed terrorists.” The Palestinian Authority condemned the operation as a “crime,” while local militants vowed to respond in force.

The IDF said it carried out the raid in the early hours of Monday morning alongside members of the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, targeting a home inside the Aqbat Jabr refugee camp near the city of Jericho. Gunfire allegedly erupted from the house as Israeli troops approached, resulting in a firefight.

“The purpose of the operation was to stop a Hamas terrorist cell that carried out the shooting attack on a restaurant in Jericho on January 28, 2023,” the military added, claiming the gunmen had planned a “mass murder campaign.”

The IDF also shared footage captured during the mission, filmed from soldiers’ helmet cameras. At one point, the sound of gunfire can be heard amid the chaos.

https://twitter.com/idfonline/status/1622570336582508544

Though the January 28 incident ended with no casualties, as the assailants quickly fled after one of their guns jammed, the IDF said the suspects had been hiding away in the Aqbat Jabr camp in the days since “while declaring their intention to continue to attack.”

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas later noted the raid, saying “The new Israeli government is continuing its series of crimes against our Palestinian people.”

Following a similar violent incursion in another refugee camp in Jenin last month which left ten people dead, the Palestinian Authority – a governing body which exercises limited control in the occupied region – declared that it would halt all security cooperation with the Israeli government. The earlier raid prompted clashes between Palestinian fighters and the IDF, seeing a salvo of rockets fired from Gaza, while Israel responded with airstrikes.

The Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed that five people were killed in the raid on Monday, while Hamas, the political party and militant group which controls Gaza, said all were members of its armed wing.

“Our people and their resistance will not delay in responding to this crime,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said.

According to the governor of Jericho, Jihad Abu al-Assal, eight people were arrested in addition to the five killed, and the bodies of the dead are still in the IDF’s custody.

Violence has continued to spiral since the deadly raid on Jenin last month, which Israeli officials say targeted a “terror squad” that had been planning an attack. Soon after the operation, a Palestinian man opened fire on Jewish worshippers at a synagogue in occupied Jerusalem, leaving seven dead, while a Palestinian teenager shot and wounded two Israelis the following day.

In addition to its retaliatory airstrikes on Gaza, the IDF has carried out a flurry of raids in the West Bank in recent months, killing a total of 41 Palestinians so far in 2023, according to the Israeli rights group B’Tselem.
https://www.rt.com/news/571070-israel-raid-refugee-camp/
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6 Feb, 2023 22:26

7) --- Google reveals new ‘conversation’ AI

Dubbed Bard, the service will compete with the Microsoft-backed ChatGPT

An “experimental conversational AI service” named Bard will be made available to “trusted testers” on Monday, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai has announced. Google will also start using AI technology to improve and expand searches.

“Bard seeks to combine the breadth of the world’s knowledge with the power, intelligence and creativity of our large language models. It draws on information from the web to provide fresh, high-quality responses,” Pichai wrote in a blog post.

The AI is powered by Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA) technology, which Google unveiled two years ago. Pichai said the testing was intended “to make sure Bard’s responses meet a high bar for quality, safety and groundedness in real-world information,” after which the AI can be made “more widely available to the public in the coming weeks.”

According to Pichai, Google “re-oriented the company around AI six years ago,” and developed a set of AI technologies that are “creating entirely new ways to engage with information, from language and images to video and audio.” The company is now rolling out these technologies to its signature web search service.

“Soon, you’ll see AI-powered features in Search that distill complex information and multiple perspectives into easy-to-digest formats, so you can quickly understand the big picture and learn more from the web,” Pichai wrote.

LaMDA previously made headlines in June 2022, when Google engineer and ethicist Blake Lemoine claimed that the program had become self-aware. The company said Lemoine’s claims were “wholly unfounded” and fired him for violating “employment and data security policies.”

The Bard reveal comes less than three months after ChatGPT, developed by the Microsoft-backed OpenAI, became available to the general public. Within weeks, the AI became wildly popular – and caused alarm at schools and universities, due to its ability to mimic the academic style of writing. It has also raised questions about the political and cultural bias of the humans training it to “think,” as well as ethical concerns about hiring low-paid African labor to help with censorship.

Pichai sought to head off criticism by saying that Google’s AI will be developed “responsibly” and in line with the principles published in 2018. The company also provides “education and resources” for everyone involved with the project in order to “make AI safe and useful,” he said.
https://www.rt.com/news/571067-google-ai-bard-chatgpt/
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