We are talking about a deadly earthquake in Afghanistan and the consequences of the Chinese ban on a Taiwanese fish.
At least 1,000 dead in Afghanistan earthquake
An earthquake yesterday struck a remote and mountainous part of Afghanistan, killing more than 1,000 people and injuring at least 1,600 others.
The quake, measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale, struck about 45 kilometers southwest of the city of Khost, but the most damage was in the neighboring province of Paktika, which lies along the border with Pakistan and where some residents live. houses of clay and straw. It was the deadliest earthquake to hit Afghanistan in more than two decades, and casualties are expected to rise, a UN agency said.
The search and rescue efforts, led by the Afghan Defense Ministry, were hampered by wind and torrential rain, preventing helicopters from landing safely. A UN representative to Afghanistan reported that nearly 2,000 homes were destroyed. Afghan families tend to be large and families sometimes live together, the representative said, and the earthquake is likely to displace many people.
Eyewitness: Sarhadi Khosti, 26, who lives in the Sperah district of Khost province, said the earthquake woke him after 1 am and destroyed a number of houses, especially those made of earth or wood. “For the time being, we are still working hard to get the dead or injured from under the rubble,” he said.
Pakistan: The earthquake was felt in several parts of Pakistan, but the country was spared the kind of damage seen in neighboring Afghanistan.
Government: The earthquake is just the latest challenge to face the fledgling Taliban government.
The slow, brutal advance of Russian troops has tightened their vise around Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk — the neighboring towns where Ukrainian forces have tried to prevent Russia from taking the entire province of Luhansk. Moscow’s forces already control most of Sievierodonetsk, making the defense of Lysychansk a key showdown for control of the Donbas region.
Russia controls about half of Donetsk province and is pushing from the east, north and south to try to take more territory there. But analysts say Russia’s battered troops in Donetsk face an even tougher battle than in Luhansk.
More news from the war in Ukraine:
Finland and Sweden, which had applied to join NATO after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, expected rapid accession to the alliance. Turkey had other ideas.
China puts pressure on Taiwan with fishing ban
China’s recent ban on importing groupers from Taiwan has quickly turned a lucrative industry into one seeking support, threatening the livelihoods of the fish farmers there and demonstrating the magnitude of China’s economic power.
Without the Chinese market, the grouper, which is known for its lean and juicy meat, drops in price. Last year, the vast majority of Taiwan’s grouper exports — 91 percent and worth more than $50 million — went to China. Most of those groupers were shipped alive, and moving markets elsewhere would most likely require a system of refrigerated or frozen transportation, which would incur additional costs.
The ban came as Chinese leader Xi Jinping — who has said Taiwan’s unification with China is inevitable — stepped up pressure on the island, sending military planes to the island almost daily, peeling off his diplomatic allies and preventing it from joining. to become international organizations. Recently, Beijing has attempted to restrict the island’s access to China’s vast consumer market by banning Taiwanese pineapples and wax apples — and now grouper.
What’s next: Taiwan’s Council of Agriculture has said it will consider filing a complaint about the grouper ban with the World Trade Organization. In the meantime, grouper farmers said they would have to settle for selling the fish in the domestic market at a huge loss.
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Families whose relatives have been kidnapped or imprisoned by North Korea are trying to sue the country in hopes of holding it financially liable. The odds of collecting money from the isolated country are slim, but a few recent payouts from seized North Korean assets have given some families reason to be cautiously optimistic.
ART AND IDEAS
Cooking for beginners
When it comes to cooking, we all have to start somewhere — and for some of us, that starts with slicing an onion or cracking an egg in a pan. Maybe you’ve just graduated and are on your own for the first time, or you’ve never quite mastered cooking. Anyway, there is hope.
Nikita Richardson, an editor for the Food section of The Times, rounded up these ten recipes for beginners who can barely boil water. Ranked from easy to difficult, they include a no-cook tuna mayo rice bowl on the easy end, and oven-roasted chicken thighs with potatoes and lemons for more of a challenge.
With practice, repetition, and patience, you’ll not only develop a set of skills that you can apply to other kitchen explosions, but you’ll also have 10 delicious dishes under your belt that are worth repeating. Enjoy your dinner! † Natasha Frost, Briefing Writer