Latest / Apple News Today / They survived ongoing civil war. Now they face earthquakes.

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They survived ongoing civil war. Now they face earthquakes. · Apple News Today

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  Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Friday, February 10th. I'm Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." On today's show, a new program lets you help refugees get to America, a preview of the Super Bowl matchup, and Rihanna talks about what she's got planned for the big halftime show.
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  But first... The death toll from the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria is now above 21,000, making it the deadliest earthquake disaster in more than a decade. Aid is now trickling into Syria, but there's a long way to go. There are fears of what the World Health Organization calls the "secondary disaster." People who lost their homes now face bitter cold and snow without vital food, water, and power.
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  Sarah Dadouch: Humanitarian efforts have been halting and inadequate.
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  "Washington Post" reporter Sarah Dadouch covers Syria and the wider region. She spoke to us from Beirut.
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  Dadouch: The roads from Turkey to Syria had been so heavily destroyed that they had to find alternative routes, but the aid's coming in is likely not going to be enough.
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  Dadouch explained that even before the earthquakes, millions of Syrians relied on humanitarian assistance.
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  Dadouch: People in Syria's rebel held Idlib province and its surroundings have really been largely left to dig out their dead on their own. There's been more than a thousand killed and many, many injured. But the area is run by a local government that isn't recognized by any country, and there's, out of the 4.5 million people living in that pocket, there's nearly 2.9 million who have been displaced from elsewhere in Syria.
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  Beyond the physical dangers, survivors face an agonizing wait for news about missing loved ones, trapped under the rubble.
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  Dadouch: Even the rescuers themselves told me that one of them said he went 18, 19 hours without even knowing if his family was alive or not.
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  Many of the rescues happening in areas held by Syrian opposition are being done by the volunteers known as the White Helmets. This part of the country has been the target of relentless bombing by the Assad regime and its allies. So the White Helmets have a lot of experience rescuing people from destroyed buildings and making temporary shelters.
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  Dadouch: You could see the men just like a well-oiled machine putting up tents despite the wind, hammering the tarp onto the metal, because they've done this so many times because they keep putting up temporary encampments every time there's been bombardments. But this time you can't even point blame at Russian war planes or Syrian war planes. It's just a human disaster, and I think they're just struggling to understand why no one is sending them enough help.
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  We've talked before about how the earthquake damage is intensifying the refugee crisis in an area where millions were already displaced by civil war. So, it's worth taking a moment to talk about a U.S. government program launched just before the earthquake. "Vox" reports on what's called the Welcome Corps, which lets groups of Americans sponsor refugees to help them settle in the United States.
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  At least five adults need to commit to form a group. They need to raise a total of $2,275 for each person they plan to help resettle. Sponsors also help with securing housing, employment, places in school for children. In other words, they're a ready-to-go social support system from the moment a refugee arrives in the country.
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  This program could help fill gaps in refugee resettlement. The Biden administration has been criticized for falling short. It had a target of resettling 125,000 refugees last year. But it only took care of 25,000 people. That was a record low since the Refugee Act was signed into law in 1980.
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  Recent programs have focused on refugees from specific places, like Afghanistan and Ukraine. But with this new Welcome Corps program, private citizens can sponsor refugees who qualify from anywhere. If you're interested in sponsoring someone, you can read "Vox's" article with a step-by-step guide, on the Apple News app.
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  Basu: Super Bowl weekend is upon us. I've got Apple News Sports editor, Shaker Samman here with me now to talk about it. Hey, Shaker.
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  Shaker Samman: Hey, how's it going?
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  Basu: Good. So, we've got the Philadelphia Eagles versus the Kansas City Chiefs. Two really strong teams, a great matchup in a lot of ways. How did we get here?
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  Samman: These have been, for the majority of the season, the best two teams in football. They both went 14 and 3 in the regular season. They were both the number one seeds in their conference. They both pretty much dispatched anyone who stood in their way in the playoffs. On one side you have the Eagles who are a little more well-rounded by football outsiders metrics. They have the number three offense and the number six defense in the country. Whereas the Chiefs on the other hand have by far the most explosive offense in the NFL. Patrick Mahomes has these guys running on all cylinders, and the Eagles on the other hand, kind of use a rushing attack to try to stifle their foes. It should be a really fun clash of styles and should hopefully be a high scoring game.
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  Basu: Yeah. And this year, for the first time in Super Bowl history, we will see two Black starting quarterbacks. Patrick Mahomes, you already mentioned him. The chief's quarterback and Jalen Hertz on the Eagles. So, tell us about them.
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  Samman: Yeah. So, there was a really interesting story in "The Ringer" about how Mahomes for years was almost this sort of trick shot wizard. He
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  was pretty naturally talented. He could throw the ball a country mile and he was doing things that blew our minds, but he would often make mistakes when he didn't need to. And his sort of development this season from all world quarterback to maybe the best passer we've ever seen happened by getting more boring. He did the simple things. He went back to basics and he just started picking teams apart.
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  Samman: Jalen Hurts on the other hand, he was a starter at Alabama before he got benched for Tua Tagovailoa and the National Championship game. He transfers to Oklahoma and sort of explodes and comes into himself, gets drafted by the Eagles. People still aren't sure about him there. And then in the last year and a half has just gone out and shown like, no, this is a genuine NFL superstar. Whereas Mahomes does it all with his arm, Hurts has just devastating, like running abilities and instincts and he's a big reason why the Eagles have the best rushing offense in the NFL.
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  Basu: So, who's the favorite to take the title?
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  Samman: Vegas wants you to know that the Birds are favored, just slightly. But honestly it's pretty wide open. If someone wants to tell you with certainty that one of these teams is gonna win it all, they either have insider information or they're trying to sell you a bridge.
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  Basu: [LAUGHS] Shaker Samman, thanks so much.
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  Samman: Thank you.
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  Basu: And of course the Super Bowl is about much more than the football. The halftime show is the biggest stage in music. And this year, Rihanna is the headliner. This will be her first live performance in years. She told Apple Music's Nadeska Alexis that she went through dozens of possible setlists to pack the right combination of songs into thirteen minutes. And Rihanna says it'll be a celebration of her catalogue and her Caribbean heritage.
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  Rihanna: I mean, that's a big part of why this is important for me to do this show. Representation, representing for immigrants, representing for my country, Barbados, representing for Black women everywhere. I think that's really important. That's key for people to see the possibilities. And I'm honored to be here. I'm honored to be doing this.
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  You can find more about the Super Bowl, the game, the halftime show, the ads, plus all of today's news, in the Apple News app.
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  And check out the latest episode of our interview show, "In Conversation." I talk with Julia Carpenter, personal finance reporter from the "Wall Street Journal," about money and relationships. She talks about what the research says, and offers some advice. Like how to stop fighting about money and start talking about it instead.
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  Julia Carpenter: Start by asking someone about their earliest experiences with money. So you just ask someone, "How did you talk about money growing up?" And I think learning about how someone learned about those things is hugely informative, but it's also a way to grow closer.
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  Also, if you called in and left us a voicemail about your money fights with your partner, you might hear it in this episode. That's queued up to play next if you're listening in the Apple News app. Have a good weekend, and I'll be back with the news on Monday.
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