Good morning.
Pressure is mounting on the UN to provide urgent support to north-western Syria, which is yet to receive meaningful aid five days after the earthquake that devastated the region, and with the chance of finding any survivors beneath the rubble almost gone.
The first convoy of humanitarian assistance for victims of Monday’s earthquake crossed into the region on Thursday, as the death toll in Turkey and Syria climbed to more than 21,000 people.
Six trucks passed through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing from Turkey carrying tents and hygiene products, as Turkey said it was working to open two more border crossings with Syria to allow in more humanitarian aid.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that without quick help, tens of thousands of people living in the open could be under threat from the harsh conditions, with the death toll likely to rise significantly higher.
Erdoğan’s earthquake response tarnishes brand. His refusal to accept criticism of the state’s response has done little to quell growing public anger at a wholly inadequate disaster response.
‘I am lucky.’ Wisam Afisa, a British-Syrian dual citizen, has been walking through the streets of Aleppo in pyjamas, boots and a parka since Monday.
Russia has begun major offensive in eastern Ukraine, Luhansk governor claims
Russia has launched a major offensive in eastern Ukraine and is trying to break through defences near the town of Kreminna, the governor for the Luhansk region has said.
Serhiy Haidai told Ukrainian TV that Russian troops had gone on the attack and were trying to advance westwards across a winter landscape of snow and forests. There had been “maximum escalation” and a big increase in shooting and shelling, he said.
“These attacks are practically a daily occurrence. We see small groups [of Russian soldiers] trying to advance, sometimes with the support of heavy armour – infantry fighting vehicles and tanks – and sometimes not. There is continuous firing.”
Russia plans major assault? Western governments believe it could come possibly as early as next week, before the 24 February anniversary of the full-scale invasion. Its main goal is believed to be to capture the Donbas region, including Luhansk, which Ukraine partly controls.
Mike Pence subpoenaed in Trump special counsel investigations – reports
The former US vice-president Mike Pence and the former national security adviser Robert O’Brien have been subpoenaed by the special counsel leading investigations into classified documents found at former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and efforts to overturn the 2020 election result, according to media reports on Thursday.
Pence was issued a subpoena by special counsel Jack Smith, though the nature of the request was not immediately known, ABC News reported, citing sources. The action follows months of negotiations involving federal prosecutors and Pence’s lawyers.
O’Brien has been asserting executive privilege in declining to provide some of the information that prosecutors are seeking from him, according to CNN.
Domino effect. In late January, Pence said he was not aware though he takes “full responsibility” after classified documents were found at his Indiana home after a review conducted in the wake of classified material being found at Joe Biden’s home in Delaware.
In other news …
Stone tools up to 3m years old have been unearthed in Kenya, putting in doubt the assumption that homo sapiens created the so-called Oldowan toolkit. The newly discovered artefacts are now thought to be the oldest known specific set of stone tools for butchery.
The Republican-led Missouri state house has voted against banning minors from openly carrying firearms on public land without adult supervision. “While it may be intuitive that a 14-year-old has no legitimate purpose, it doesn’t actually mean that they’re going to harm someone,” said a GOP lawmaker.
Australian researchers have found a protein in the lungs that sticks to the Covid-19 virus like Velcro and immobilises it, which may explain why some people never become sick with the virus while others suffer serious illness.
Nigeria’s election on 25 February has been described as pivotal to the progress of democracy in Africa, where military coups and attempts by longstanding rulers to cling to power have raised fears of a “democratic retreat” from advances made since the end of the cold war.
Stat of the day: UK narrowly avoids recession after figures show growth flatlining
The UK narrowly avoided entering a recession at the end of last year, official figures have revealed, after economic growth flatlined in the final three months of 2022. Negative growth in the fourth quarter would have signalled recession, after the UK economy shrank by 0.3% in the third quarter.
The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, said the figures underscored Britain’s resilience, adding that they showed the economy was the fastest growing in the G7 group of rich nations last year. However, the economy remains 0.8% below its pre-pandemic peak in 2019, in contrast to the US, which has experienced growth of 5.1% over the same period, and the 2.4% improvement among the 19 members of the eurozone.
Don’t miss this: 12 ways to meditate – without actually meditating
Meditation isn’t for everyone, writes Amy Fleming. Or at least not when life has taken you so far from calm that your brain is soup. “It’s the nature of the mind to have this ongoing conversation in the background,” says Joy Rains, a mindfulness practitioner and author of Meditation Illuminated: Simple Ways to Manage Your Busy Mind. “I call this ‘Stuff’, which is an acronym for stories, thoughts, urges, frustrations and feelings. When you’re in a meditative state, you’re in the here and now and you’re releasing your Stuff. You’re not getting caught up in judgments, thoughts about the past, worries about the future.”
There is a growing body of evidence that “releasing our Stuff” like this is an effective antidote to 21st-century life, helping us to concentrate, remember things and become more self-aware, while reducing anxiety, depression and stress. The good news is that we don’t have to be brilliant at sitting still and focusing on our breath to get meditation’s recuperating benefits, says psychologist Suzy Reading.
… or this: ‘No more skewed history’: why Black families homeschooling grew fivefold
Since she began homeschooling her children in Louisiana in the early 90s, Joyce Burges has watched the practice explode in popularity among families like hers. “Parents nowadays – this woke generation of 25- to 40-year-old parents – their eyes are open. They’re just not having that whitewashed, skewed history any more,” she says.
Back when she started homeschooling, it was against the advice of friends and family who questioned how she could teach effectively without a college degree. “Here I am, Black woman, and our children are not welcomed into the system. So homeschooling was the only option at that time that we had.”
Climate check: ‘monster profits’ reveal self-destructive fossil fuel resurgence
While 2022 inflicted hardship upon many people around the world due to soaring inflation, climate-driven disasters and war, the year was lucrative on an unprecedented scale for the fossil fuel industry, with the five largest western oil and gas companies alone making a combined $200bn in profits.
In a parade of annual results released over the past week the “big five” – Exxon, Chevron, Shell, BP and TotalEnergies – all revealed that last year was the most profitable in their respective histories, as the rising cost of oil and gas, driven in part by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, helped turbocharge revenues, writes Oliver Milman.
Last Thing: ‘Brian Eno left a note’ – how fate intervened for ambient music pioneer Laraaji
Laraaji wears the mantle of new age pioneer lightly. “I can relate to people not being able to relate to new age music,” he says. “Call it what you like. Experimental music. Psychedelic experience integration music. I call it beautiful and groovy music. To hear people use it how they do lets me say hello to that child within me that wanted to be like Jesus and inspire people’s spirits to soar – I feel as if I’m still connecting with my childhood vision.”
A chance encounter while playing on the streets of New York with Brian Eno led to an album, Day of Radiance, which remains one of his most known works. In the years since, he has built an eye-wateringly voluminous discography, performed for meditation groups, studied with gurus such as Swami Satchidananda and developed a lucrative sideline as a laughter therapist, writes Stevie Chick.
Sign up
First Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you’re not already signed up, subscribe now.
Get in touch
If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.com
