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Hard Numbers: Turkey/Syria quake death toll, Modi ally’s biz empire crumbles, West Bank violence, AMLO believes in elves

February 27, 2023
Benjamin Dooley
Destroyed buildings in the aftermath of the deadly earthquake, in Antakya, Turkey February 19, 2023..
Destroyed buildings in the aftermath of the deadly earthquake, in Antakya, Turkey February 19, 2023.
REUTERS/Nir Elias

50,000: The death toll of the Feb. 6 Turkey/Syria earthquakes topped 50,000 on Sunday. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is feeling the heat over allegedly corrupt practices that led to so many collapsed buildings on his watch ahead of the May 14 election.

145 billion: The industrial empire of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani lost $145 billion — 60% of its value — in the month following allegations of fraud by Hindenburg Research, a US-based short seller, which Adani virulently denies. The Adani Group has faced years of corruption allegations, but it remains to be seen if the longtime ally of PM Narendra Modi is too big to fail.

2/1: Violence ensued in the West Bank on Sunday after a Palestinian gunman killed two Israeli settlers. That sparked a retaliatory rampage by settlers on the village of Hawara that killed at least one Palestinian, bringing the West Bank to boiling point.

7 million: Did someone leave the wardrobe open?! Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, known as AMLO, tweeted a photo of what he claims is an “aluxe”, a mischievous woodland spirit from Mayan folklore requiring gifts to appease it. The tweet had 7 million views as of Monday morning and is not out of character for AMLO, who has long revered indigenous beliefs and culture.
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