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The Week In News
B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M
THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME
AUGUST 19, 2021
The Week In News
Haiti Hit with Earthquake, Storm
A magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit Haiti on Saturday, killing at least 1,419 people. The next day, Tropical Depression Grace dumped heavy rain on the area, bringing with it gusts of winds. In addition to the known deaths, the weekend’s earthquake injured at least 6,900 people, numbers that are only expected to rise as search and rescue efforts continue. Tens of thousands of homes were destroyed or damaged. Roads were blocked; infrastructure was wrecked. Efforts are underway to repair the roads between the cities of Les Cayes and Jeremie – roads which were further obstructed overnight due to aftershocks and mudslides. After the quake, Haiti Prime Minister Ariel Henry tweeted that he would mobilize all government resources available to help his country, and declared a month-long state of emergency. “The most important thing is to recover as many survivors as possible under the rubble,” he said. “The needs are enormous. We must take care of the injured and fractured, but also provide food, aid, temporary shelter and psychological support.” On Monday, Henry promised to accelerate aid and rescue efforts. “We will increase our efforts tenfold to reach, in terms of assistance, the maximum number of victims pos-
sible,” he wrote on Twitter. “Faced with this emergency, there is no respite.” Authorities have been going from house to house in search of survivors – efforts which demand a tremendous amount of resources. Haiti – mired with a floundering economy and grappling with the July assassination of its late President Jovenel Moise – relies heavily on donor countries and organizations for its relief efforts. U.S. President Joe Biden said after the quake, “In what is already a challenging time for the people of Haiti, I am saddened by the devastating earthquake that occurred in Saint-Louis du Sud, Haiti this morning. We send our deepest condolences to all those who lost a loved one or saw their homes and businesses destroyed. “The United States remains a close and enduring friend to the people of Haiti, and we will be there in the aftermath of this tragedy.” The earthquake struck at 8:30 a.m. local time on Saturday, at a depth of about 6.2 miles; its epicenter was about 7.5 miles northeast of SaintLouis-du-Sud in the southwest part of the country. That location is 60 miles west of the epicenter of the disastrous 7.0-magnitude quake that killed an estimated 220,000 to 300,000 people in 2010.
sian and the other three were Turkish nationals. The plane, a Be-200 amphibious craft, crashed near Adana as it was preparing to land. The Russian Defense Ministry has sent a commission to the crash site, to help determine the cause of the crash. Ömer Faruk Coşkun, governor of Turkey’s southern Kahramanmaras district, told the country’s state news agency Anadolu, “This is still very new right now. We sent a large number of teams to the area where the plane crashed.” The plane had been sent by Russia to Turkey on July 8, to help fight the wildfires which have been raging across the country, TASS said. Wildfires in Turkey’s Mediterranean region began in late July and have incinerated thousands of acres of forests, mostly in the seaside provinces of Mugla and Antalya. The fires came as Turkey and the whole Mediterranean endured a prolonged heat wave. At least eight people have died in Turkey’s wildfires. Northern Turkey was hit by flashfloods this week, leading to the deaths of at least 44 people.
Modi to Spend $1T on Infrastructure
Russian Firefighting Plane Crashes in Turkey
A Russian aircraft deployed to Turkey to help fight wildfires crashed on Saturday, killing all eight people on board, officials said. State news agency TASS quoted a Saturday statement by the Russian Defense Ministry, according to which five of the crew members were Rus-
for the common man and the productivity of our industry will also increase,” he said during an address to the nation in the capital New Delhi on Sunday. Although there was no specific time for when the plan would be rolled out, Modi said that it would launch in the “near future.” He added that it would go a “long way” toward making “local manufacturers globally competitive,” without going into specifics. Modi frequently uses the anniversary of the India’s independence to make ambitious proposals for its future, including spending on infrastructure, one of his key goals for economic development. Last year, the leader promised to spend a similar amount on infrastructure “to pull the people and the economy of our country out of this [coronavirus] pandemic.” “It is often said that during crises, the emphasis should be given on infrastructure so that economic activity is [faster] and people get employment and it generates a cascading effect,” he said in a speech on August 15, 2020. A former finance minister — from the opposition Congress Party — mocked Modi for making similar promises on infrastructure expenditure for three years in a row, without providing any updates on past initiatives. “India is thrice blessed. We now have a [300-trillion rupee] plan that will be launched in the near future,” P Chidambaram wrote on Twitter.
Hacker Group Was Behind Iran Train Cyberattack Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has renewed a pledge to spend more than $1 trillion on infrastructure to create jobs for hundreds of thousands of young Indians and boost the economy. The 100-trillion rupee ($1.35 trillion) plan — called “Gati Shakti,” which means momentum — was announced on India’s 75th Independence Day. Modi said that it would “break the silos” preventing more efficient transportation in Asia’s third-largest economy. “This will reduce the travel time
A report released Saturday by the Israeli-American cybersecurity company Check Point Software Technologies has named Iranian opposition
