MSF fortifies Syrian aid, Reporters on the frontlines, What's up in Iowa + bye bye BlackBerry and rise of the tigers!
NewsHero - Feb 4, 2020 - Issue 26
Welcome to today’s edition of NewsHero for Tuesday, February 4, 2020.
We hope you’ve been liking the new daily version of our newsletter. We’ve been liking putting each one together, discussing in editorial meetings what to include and how to deliver it (and just who the hero of the story might be).
We’ve opted to stick with a consistent layout: two quick mentions called NewsHero Notes, followed by three items for our Afternoon Brief. Next there’s one story that we go a wee bit deeper with, then the Extra! Extra! we end with, which serves as an editorial space where sometimes we have a bit of fun.
Please consider showing your support by signing up to activate a subscription. You’ll be helping us not only keep up what we’re doing, but also grow as an independent news source and be able to offer more for our readers.
Thanks for everything!
Team NewsHero
Image: Beautiful News
NewsHero Notes
Good news? Grrreat news! According to the World Wildlife Fund, the number of wild tigers is on the rise. Thirteen countries are working together to preserve habitats and combat poaching.
The end of an era? It is for someone somewhere. The company that makes BlackBerry smartphones has announced it will stop selling the mobile devices in August. TCL Communication said in a tweet that it no longer has the rights to “design, manufacture or sell” any new BlackBerry devices.
Afternoon Brief
Freedom Of the Press?
Bloomberg News reporter Jennifer Jacobs was escorted out of a press conference in West Des Moines on Monday. The Trump campaign said in December it would not grant media credentials for rallies and other campaign events to Bloomberg News journalists.
More Freedom Of the Press!
Arash Shoa-Shargh, an Iranian journalist living in exile in Turkey, was arrested and sentenced in 2018 to ten years in prison for “insulting the Supreme Leader,” “acting against national security,” “encouraging the public to misconduct,” and “spreading corruption on the land of God.” Arash Shoa-Shargh tops One Free Press Coalition’s “10 Most Urgent” list this month of cases of journalists under attack.
Iowa Caucus
Everyone is still waiting to find out just what went wrong Monday night in Iowa for the Democratic caucuses after election results were delayed due to apparent difficulties counting votes. The New York Times reported: “On a conference call with the presidential campaigns, Iowa Democratic Party officials said the delay was because of the new rules requiring caucus leaders to report three sets of numbers to party headquarters, rather than just the delegate totals.” Hey, who’s up for a good ol’ fashioned round of hanging chads?
MSF Fortifies Medical Support Amid Syrian Airstrikes
#NotATarget campaign shows solidarity for civilian protection
Dr. Abu Wasim, a surgeon, stands next to a damaged ward on the upper floors of a hospital in East Aleppo, Syria, after it was hit by an airstrike in mid-October 2016. He is one of seven surgeons left in East Aleppo. MSF
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has ramped up its support to four hospitals near the front lines of the conflict in Syria, as it “condemns recent violations of international humanitarian law in the destruction of medical facilities and their use for military purposes.” Syrian government forces have recently intensified their offensive in Idlib, in western Syria, the last rebel-held province. Nearly 390,000 people have been displaced in the last two months, and MSF says “the humanitarian situation is deteriorating as people are squeezed between the Turkish border and the advancing front lines, and hospitals are under threat from airstrikes and ground forces.”
Reports came Monday following attacks exchanged by Turkey and Syria near their shared border that at least six Turkish soldiers were killed. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group based in Britain, said the number of military personnel killed was at least 13. Also, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Monday that Russian armed forces downed a drone near their base in northwestern Syria.
Medical facilities and aid workers continue to be threatened by violence. “Multiple hospitals in northwestern Syria have been hit and either partially or fully destroyed in just a few months,” said Cristian Reynders, MSF project coordinator for northern Idlib. “As the fighting continues, people must go farther to be treated, and the chances that their injuries worsen or that they die is only getting higher. Even if our regularly supported facilities, located farther north in the region, are not receiving patients from areas closer to the front line, there's a clear call for help from the facilities acting as first-line responders.”
A doctor managing a health facility recently supported by MSF said, “The bombings of medical facilities in the area are happening all the time these days. The hospital that I manage is still standing, but just in the past few weeks, five facilities around us were partially or fully destroyed and went out of service.” The Maarat al Numan hospital, one of the largest hospitals in southern Idlib, was recently put out of service because of bombing in the area.
Credit MSF
MSF has launched the #NotATarget campaign, a social media act of solidarity to stand up for the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure, patients, medical staff and hospitals in conflicts, it says. More than 100 health structures belonging to or supported by MSF have been bombed since 2015, most of them in Syria.
“We are very concerned about the recent escalation of violence in North-West Syria, and we strongly condemn the attack of hospitals and health facilities,” said Ahmed Mahmoud, Islamic Relief’s Syria Country Director. “Our teams are gravely worried that the increase in violence in recent days could signal the start of another major offensive to re-take the area, home to some 3 million people—half of whom are children.” Islamic Relief is one of the few international non-governmental organizations still operating directly on the ground in Idlib, where more than 517,000 people have fled their homes since Dec. 1 due to ongoing violence, according to the U.N.
Extra! Extra!
Take that Coney Island Polar Bear Club! This swimmer took a dip in the waters of East Antarctica—in a tiny little suit, no less. 55-year-old Lewis Pugh was out to make a point on climate change though, not just make a splash in the news. Pugh, who became the first person to swim in a lake formed by melting ice on top of a glacier, said his swim should not have been possible, but was because of cracks in the glacier. He said the swim was “terrifying for a number of reasons.” Not only because of the just-above-freezing temperature of the water, but because of what the swim signifies for climate change—“it illustrates very very graphically what is happening in East Antarctica,” Pugh said. Terrifying indeed, and it’s brave to take on both the cold and the crisis. Brrrrravo!
Sources:
The Number Of Wild Tigers Is Rising - Beautiful News
Somewhere, someone is still using a Blackberry phone. They're about to be very disappointed. - CNN
Trump campaign removes Bloomberg News reporter from Iowa event - Washington Examiner
Trump campaign removes Bloomberg News reporter from Iowa event - The Hill
Trump campaign boots Bloomberg News reporter from Iowa event - The Blaze
Iranian Journalist Arash Shoa-Shargh Tops February Ranking Of One Free Press Coalition’s “10 Most Urgent” Press Freedom Cases - Forbes
Iranian journalist Arash Shoa-Shargh tops ‘10 Most Urgent’ list of press freedom cases - Boston Globe
One Free Press Coalition Spotlights Journalists Under Attack - Wired
Live Updates: Iowa Caucus Results - New York Times
Iowa caucus live updates: Democrats in limbo after results chaos - NBC News
What Happened in Iowa - Slate
Turkey, Syria Trade Deadly Strikes As Russia Watches Uneasily - NPR
Turkey Launches Deadly Airstrikes Against Syrian Forces - New York Times
Islamic Relief-supported hospital hit in Idlib as latest escalation in Syria displaces thousands - Relief Web
21 White Helmets volunteers killed since the start of Assad’s offensive in rebel-held Idlib - Enab Baladi
“We might be the next ones hit”: The medics risking their lives to care for people in war-torn Syria - MSF
#NotATarget: No more attacks against civilians and healthcare workers in conflict zones - MSF
Northwestern Syria: Hospitals attacked while hundreds of thousands flee the front lines - MSF
RUSSIA SHOOTS DOWN DRONE AMID UNREST AFTER SYRIA-TURKEY TENSIONS TURN DEADLY - Newsweek
A climate activist swam under the Antarctic ice sheet to prove how quickly glaciers are melting - CNN