Environment
UPDATE: Death toll over 22,000 after massive earthquake in Turkey, Syria

UPDATE:
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared the areas hit by the massive 7.8 earthquake Monday, a disaster zone. According to reports from the AP and Reuters, the 10 provinces affected by the devastating earthquakes in southern Turkey, now have been placed under a state of emergency for three months.
By Tuesday, 70 countries had offered to help the Turkish government with search and rescue operations.
According to the latest reports, the combined death toll in Turkey and Syria to over 22,000. The vicious aftershocks of the quake were responsible for 18,991 of those deaths and over 75,000 more injuries.
A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey and northern Syria early Monday morning, leaving 3,500 lives lost and many buildings destroyed. There is an ongoing search and rescue mission for survivors, according to reports.
According to Fox News, The World Health Organization (WHO) the death toll could increase as much as eight times as rescuers work to find more victims. WHO’s senior emergency officer for Europe, Catherine Smallwood, told AFP that, “We always see the same thing with earthquakes, unfortunately, which is that the initial reports of the numbers of people who have died or who have been injured will increase quite significantly in the week that follows.”
To make matters worse, a mixture of rain and snow fell throughout the areas Turkey and Syria that were devastated by the earthquake. Eyewitness accounts described citizens as they ran out of their homes after waking up to the violent and thunderous shakes of the earthquake.
The massive earthquake toppled buildings in regions of Syria, which were held by the opposition due to the ongoing civil-war. Access to health and medical services was limited in the impoverished areas.
According to a doctor in Atmeh Syria, 11 people were killed with an unknown number of citizens buried underneath the debris from the toppled apartment buildings and other infrastructure.
The quake was so fierce that it could be felt in Cairo Egypt. The center-point of the quake was located 60 miles from the Syrian border according to Fox News.
Hours later a series of at least 20 aftershock followed the quake. According to Turkish authorities the largest aftershock measured in at a 7.5 magnitude.
On twitter Turkish President, Reccep Tayyip Erdogan said, “We hope that we will get through this disaster together as soon as possible and with the least damage.”
The death toll continues to rise in Turkey and Syria.

China
Electric Vehicle company with Chinese ties awarded $500 million of taxpayer money for 2nd U.S. plant

With a little help from their Democrat friends, a Chinese electric vehicle (EV) battery company with ties to the Chinese Communist Party just announced the opening of its second plant in the United States.
Fox News reports Gotion Inc., whose parent company Gotion High-Tech is based in Hefei, China, unveiled plans to build a $2 billion lithium battery plant in Manteno, Illinois, alongside Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who cheered the project.
The announcement comes amid growing opposition to the company’s plans to build a billion-dollar factory in Mecosta County, Michigan.
In order to make the expansion happen, lobbyists for the Chinese Communist Party-tied electric vehicle company funneled cash to Democrats. “Individuals at a law firm registered as foreign agents to lobby on behalf of Gotion, a Chinese electric vehicle battery company developing a controversial project in Michigan, and wired campaign contributions to several top Democrats” reports Fox News.
“According to state and federal filings, Monique Field-Foster, an attorney at the Lansing office of the Warner Norcross + Judd law firm who is acting as a foreign agent on behalf of Gotion, donated to the campaigns of Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Whitmer’s sister Liz Gereghty and Michigan Democratic Senate hopeful Rep. Elissa Slotkin” the Fox News report continued.
“With the right incentives, nation-leading infrastructure, world-class workforce and booming clean energy production, we have transformed ourselves into an attractive location for global manufacturers. Today, we take another leap forward. It’s my pleasure to welcome Gotion to Illinois and to show the world yet again that Illinois is ready to be a player on the world stage.”
Pritzker delivered remarks late last week thanking Gotion for choosing Illinois to call “home” in a ceremony with leaders from Gotion High-Tech, including Li Zhen, the company’s chairman and president, who said he expected the factory to open in less than 12 months.
“All that we see here [in Illinois] are of enormous value to us: an enabling business environment, a supportive state government for the new energy industry and their highly efficient work, as well as the prospects of the State of Illinois in the coming years,” the Gotion president added. “We believe that Gotion’s battery technology will help to boost e-mobility in North America and the economic and trade exchanges between China and the U.S.”
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