INQ Roundup: Good news and light-hearted stories from February

Early in the month of February, a massive earthquake rocked Turkey and Syria killing more than 50,000 people and flattening or severely damaging 160,000 buildings. It is now among the deadliest natural disasters of the past 100 years.

Even though stories of unimaginable destruction dominated the internet, newspapers and television, there are still some incredible stories of survival that emerged following the devastating magnitude 7.8 earthquake.

Along with miracle stories of people being pulled alive from the rubble, here are the other positive and light-hearted news for this month:

EDITORS NOTE: Graphic content / A newborn baby who was found still tied by her umbilical cord to her mother and pulled alive from the rubble of a home in northern Syria following a deadly earthquake, receives medical care at a clinic in Afrin, on February 7, 2023. AFP

Syria newborn pulled alive from quake rubble

JINDAYRIS, Syria — Extended family members pulled a newborn baby alive from the rubble of a home in northern Syria, after finding her still tied by her umbilical cord to her mother, who died in Monday’s massive quake, a relative said.

The infant is the sole survivor of her immediate family, the rest of whom were all killed when the 7.8-magnitude quake that struck Syria and neighboring Turkey flattened the family home in the rebel-held town of Jindayris, Khalil al-Suwadi said.

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FILE PHOTO: Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and Vice President William Lai attend a news conference on new measures to reinforce the island’s civil defence amid the rising China military threat in Taipei, Taiwan, December 27, 2022. REUTERS/Ann Wang

Taiwan president to donate a month’s salary for Turkey relief efforts

TAIPEI — Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and Vice President William Lai will each donate a month’s salary for Turkish earthquake relief efforts, the presidential office said on Thursday, adding to existing aid already sent by the island.

Tsai and Lai, who is widely expected to stand for the presidency in elections due next year, “hope to do their part to help Turkey rebuild its homeland as soon as possible”, the presidential office said in a statement.

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Mr Anson Ng | The Straits Times/Asia News Network

Man who pays for strangers’ funerals, medical bills: ‘I can’t bring my money with me when I die’

SINGAPORE — A second-hand car dealer who has made it his life’s mission to help strangers in need was named The Straits Times Singaporean of the Year 2022 on Thursday.

Mr Anson Ng, 55, gets calls and messages throughout the day from friends and strangers who need help paying medical bills or covering funeral fees.

He started helping out at old age homes and hospices more than 20 years ago, befriending seniors and cooking for the terminally ill. Learning about their last wishes, he offered to make arrangements for those who could not afford it.

Mr Ng, owner of second-hand car dealership Presto Expat Motoring Services, said: “I can’t bring my money with me when I die. I would rather spend it to make these people happy and provide them with the send-off they deserve. Money is really not everything.”

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Handout picture released by El Salvador’s presidency press office showing members of El Salvador’s Urban Search and Rescue Team (USAR) carrying a woman during rescue operations in Sehit Aileleri, Kahramanmara?, Turkey on February 12, 2023. AFP

Miracle rescues a week after Turkey-Syria quake

KAHRAMANMARAS — Rescuers pulled more survivors from the rubble a week after an earthquake struck Turkey and Syria leaving more than 33,000 dead, as the UN warned the toll was set to rise far higher.

A young boy and a 62-year-old woman were the latest miracle rescues after nearly seven days trapped under the wreckage of collapsed buildings since last Monday’s devastating quake.

Seven-year-old Mustafa was rescued in southeast Turkey’s Hatay province while Nafize Yilmaz was pulled free in Nurdagi, also in Hatay, the Anadolu state news agency reported early Monday. Both had been trapped for 163 hours before their rescue late Sunday.

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INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

In a first for India, transgender couple become biological parents

NEW DELHI — A transgender couple are the first in India to become parents biologically, after one of the partners gave birth on Wednesday in Kerala state.

The birth of the baby is a milestone for the South Asian nation, where transgender people continue to face discrimination and stigma despite being officially recognized as a “third gender” since 2014.

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The Nation/Asia News Network

Journey for love: Man in Thailand walks 1,200 km to propose marriage to his girlfriend

BANGKOK — A besotted 56-year-old left his hometown in Thailand’s Nakhon Nayok on foot on January 14 with the aim of getting to Satun on Valentine’s Day to ask for his girlfriend’s hand in marriage.

“I want people who abuse their families and loved ones, as well as those who are unfaithful to their wives, to pay attention to this journey,” Suthep “Maew” Promjit said.

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Chinese tourists board a fast boat for their trip from Serangan Island to Lombok Island in Denpasar, on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali, on January 25, 2023. AFP

Pandemic to paradise: Chinese tourists return to Bali after three years

DENPASAR — Donning yellow “Bali” hats featuring a surfer as the last letter, Chinese tourists walked along the Indonesian backpacker hotspot’s pristine blue waters, forgetting three years of Covid-19 misery.

Exploring “turtle island”, taking day trips to neighboring Lombok and hitting Bali’s famed beaches, the world’s biggest-spending tourists were back after the Lunar New Year kicked off and Beijing reopened to the world last month.

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A view shows the aftermath of the deadly earthquake in Hatay, Turkey, February 9, 2023. REUTERS

Three women, two children pulled from rubble in Turkey, some aid reaches Syria

KAHRAMANMARAS, Turkey/JANDARIS, Syria — Two women were pulled from the rubble in Turkey’s southern city of Kahramanmaras and a mother and two children were rescued from the city of Antakya on Wednesday, as rescue efforts shifted to getting relief to survivors nine days after a deadly earthquake.

Rescuers could be seen applauding and embracing each other as an ambulance carried away a 74-year-old woman rescued in Kahramanmaras, and earlier in the day, a 46-year-old woman was rescued in the same city, close to the epicenter of the quake.

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Revellers take part in a street party called “Amigos Da Onca” close to Flamengo beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on February 18, 2023. AFP

Rio holds first all-out carnival since COVID-19

RIO DE JANEIRO — With a swirl of glitter, sequins and samba, Rio de Janeiro will kick off its famed carnival parades Sunday, the climax of the festival’s first full-on edition since Covid-19 and Brazil’s bitterly divisive elections.

The world’s biggest carnival, which officially opened Friday, will hit peak party level at the all-night parade competition Sunday and Monday, where the city’s top 12 samba schools will vie to become the champions with dazzling floats, thundering music and thousands of singers, drummers and dancers in skimpy, feather-covered costumes.

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In this handout image released on May 17, 2022 by the Spanish Prime Minister’s press office, La Moncloa, Spain’s Minister for Equality Irene Montero speaks during a press conference following a weekly cabinet in Madrid. AFP

Spain passes law for Europe’s first ‘menstrual leave’

MADRID — Spain’s parliament approved Thursday a law granting paid medical leave to women suffering severe period pain, becoming the first European country to advance such legislation.

The law, which passed by 185 votes in favor to 154 against, is aimed at breaking a taboo on the subject, Spain’s left-wing government has said.

Menstrual leave is currently offered only in a small number of countries across the globe, such as Japan, Indonesia and Zambia.

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South Sudanese audience react as comedian David Lodiong (not seen) imitates Pope Francis during his performance, at the Kilkilu Ana Comedy Show in Juba on February 9, 2023. AFP

The best medicine: South Sudan’s comedians tap the power of laughter

JUBA — It is a Thursday evening, and the young audience crammed into a concert hall in South Sudan’s capital city is howling with laughter as a comedian lands his closing punchline.

“South Sudan got what?” shouts the host, Isaac Anthony Lumori, at the full house for a weekly comedy night that’s become one of Juba’s most popular entertainment fixtures.

“Talent!” roars the crowd, mostly in their late teens and 20s munching popcorn and ice cream, dressed in their best for a fun night out.

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A digitally colorized scanning electron microscopic image depicts a single, red colored H9-T cell that had been infected by numerous, spheroid shaped, mustard colored human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) particles attached to the cell’s surface membrane. Courtesy NIAID

Third person cured of HIV after stem cell transplant–study

PARIS — A man known as “the Duesseldorf patient” has become the third person declared cured of HIV after receiving a stem cell transplant that also treated his leukemia, a study said on Monday.

Two other cases with both HIV and cancer, patients in Berlin and London, have previously been reported as cured in scientific journals following the high-risk procedure.

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Participants wave rainbow flags during the Korea Queer Culture Festival 2022 in central Seoul, South Korea, July 16, 2022. REUTERS FILE PHOTO

South Korean court recognizes spousal insurance coverage for same-sex couple

SEOUL — A South Korean court on Tuesday recognized spousal coverage by state health insurance for a same-sex couple, overturning a lower court’s ruling that denied the benefits.

The Seoul High Court’s ruling is the court’s “first recognition of the legal status of a same-sex couple,” said lawyer Ryu Min-hee, part of a team of lawyers that represented the plaintiff.

South Korea does not legally recognize same-sex marriage.

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A child wearing a ‘Gilles’ costume holds a basket of oranges while taking part in the Binche carnival, a UNESCO World Heritage event, in Binche, Belgium February 21, 2023. REUTERS

With ostrich feathers and flying oranges, Belgian carnival returns after COVID-19

BINCHE, Belgium — Around a thousand performers clad in traditional costumes featuring white wax masks and hats adorned with huge ostrich feathers paraded to the sound of drums in Belgium’s most famous carnival on Tuesday, the first to be held in three years.

Their wooden shoes thudding rhythmically on the cobbled streets of the medieval town of Binche, the entertainers waved willow sticks in the air to chase away bad spirits and the winter in a tradition dating back as far as some 800 years, now part of Unesco’s intangible world heritage.

Some 55,000 visitors came to the town each of the three festive days culminating in Mardi Gras, said a spokesman for the carnival in Binche, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of Belgium’s capital Brussels.

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Tourist guides prepare inflatables to cross the Guape canyon in La Uribe municipality in the Meta Department, Colombia, on February 19, 2022. AFP

Hidden Colombia canyon transformed from rebel route to tourist draw

LA URIBE, Colombia — For years, the crystal clear river flowing between giant boulders served as a strategic guerilla route in Colombia’s bloody armed conflict.

But today tourists bob happily down it in multi-colored inflatables, accompanied by birdsong and the rush of water.

The Guape Canyon, a 35-meter (115-foot) deep natural wonder in the town of La Uribe in the southern Meta department, was hidden for decades by the fighting between Bogota and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

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Women waste pickers from the city of La Paz pose near the musicians of the Paraguayan Cateura Recycled Instruments Orchestra, at the Sak’a Churu landfill in Alpacoma, in La Paz, Bolivia February 27, 2023. REUTERS

Orchestra turns trash to music and environmental activism in Bolivia

LA PAZ, Bolivia — In a creative bid to raise environmental awareness, a group of musicians from Paraguay belted out familiar tunes at a hilltop concert just outside Bolivia’s capital city on Monday, overlooking a not-so-scenic and sprawling garbage dump.

But the garbage was the point, as the young musicians who make up Paraguay’s Cateura orchestra use recycled materials to make their own instruments, “transforming trash into music,” according to Fabio Chavez, one of the performers.

The orchestra has performed in over 50 countries.

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