The Daily Populous

Wednesday February 15th, 2023 day edition

image for Resurfaced videos from 2019 shows Turkish president bragging about builders skirting earthquake construction codes in areas now turned to rubble

Footage emerged of Turkey's president promoting a policy that weakened building standards, per local media.

Ahead of 2019 elections, Erdoğan boasted of how the policy helped hundreds of thousands of people.

At least 70,000 buildings in areas where last week's earthquake struck used the policy, experts say.

Resurfaced videos from 2019 show Turkey's president boasting about granting amnesty for buildings that didn't meet earthquake construction codes, according to local media.

The videos of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan are circulating widely in Turkey as the death toll from this month's devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake surpassed 33,000 people.

Erdoğan made similar boasts in campaign stops in the cities of Hatay and Malatya, both also now ravaged by the earthquake, Duvar reported.

Estimates vary as to how many buildings in the earthquake zone had taken advantage of the amnesty policy. »

Sanders calls for minimum salary of $60,000 for public school teachers

Authored by thehill.com

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called for a minimum salary of $60,000 for public school teachers, capitalizing on the push by President Biden in his State of the Union speech to give public school teachers a raise.

“We should be paying public school teachers a minimum of at least $60,000 a year,” Sanders said at a town hall at the Capitol on Monday night with national teachers union leaders.

Sanders’s call for a minimum salary for public school teachers comes after Biden made a pitch for a number of education policies during his State of the Union, including providing increased access to preschool and giving teachers a raise. »

Apex Legends Devs Want it to 'Last 20 Years Like Counter-Strike'

Authored by ign.com

"Where we want to get to is that Apex is going to last for 20 years like Counterstrike.

Nikolich likens Apex Legends to traditional sports, explaining that games like basketball have evolved over the years as well.

Apex Legends Season 16, which adds the first new weapon in a while in the Nemesis energy assault rifle, launches today. »

What China Has Learned From the Ukraine War

Authored by foreignaffairs.com

Historically, China has criticized sanctions launched unilaterally by countries—most notably, the United States—as an illegitimate incursion on the targeted country’s sovereignty.

China will, however, try to absorb lessons from Russia’s Ukraine experience about how to plug vulnerabilities, assure resilience, and create more options.

China can wield frightening influence over its individual trading partners, but it does not have a corresponding coalition to muster. »