Biden Set To Sign Military Aid Law, Gaza Mass Graves, Orange Athens

💡 SPOTLIGHT

LSD vs. fibromyalgia: one woman's psychedelic search for chronic pain relief

While more than 2 million Italians and millions more around the world are thought to have fibromyalgia, the hunt for a cure for this chronic pain disorder is a long road. Between small legislative advances and psychedelics, Mariachiara Rafaiani shares her hopes for understanding and relief in Italian multimedia magazine Lucy Sulla Cultura.

When I was 14, I had back pain that constantly plagued me as an injustice. To exorcize it, I would immerse myself in a crumpled copy of Emily Dickinson's Silences or in my melodramatic diary, which I called "The Dying Animal," influenced by the Philip Roth books circulating around the house.

As the aches and pains ate away at my muscles, I was taken from doctor to doctor. Even to adults, it seemed strange that a 14-year-old girl spent her days in bed, dependent on painkillers and unable to cope with the simplest daily tasks without sinking into a painful state of exhaustion.

After about two years, I was diagnosed with myalgic fibrosis. That diagnosis took a lot of tests, a variety of specialists and an outrageous amount of money — which, as an Ancient Literature graduate with chronic pain, I will never be able to repay to my parents.

The doctor who diagnosed me was quite well known. And I, after two years of needles and MRIs and in the acerbity of adolescence, told him that he and his colleagues didn't really seem like "luminaries" to me. I was only 16, and they hadn't been able to solve my backache.

Annoyed at first, the doctor then looked condescendingly at my parents and reassured them: I was a smart girl — maybe too smart — and it is typical for smart girls to suffer more, especially with these kinds of issues. Smart girls are more emotional. Emotionality destroys the muscles. [...]

— Read the full article by Mariachiara Rafaiani for Lucy Sulla Cultura, translated into English by Worldcrunch.

🗞️ FRONT PAGE​​

Argentine daily Diario Río Negro lends its front page to the “million voices in the streets” to protest on budget cuts to higher public education in the country, gathering hundreds of thousands of citizens. President Javier Milei's austerity measures, aiming to reduce the budget deficit, have led to significant cuts in subsidies and public spending. Led by students, teachers, parents, and alumni from state-run universities and backed by labor unions, opposition parties, and private universities, the protests occurred in major cities like Buenos Aires and Cordoba.

🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW

• The U.S. Senate gave final approval to a $95bn foreign aid package. It encompasses military support for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan and President Joe Biden is expected to sign the legislation into law on Wednesday. It includes $61 billion in military aid for Ukraine, which the Pentagon says can start being delivered to the war-torn nation “within days.”

• The UN's human rights chief calls for probe into destruction of Gaza hospitals and reports of mass graves. Palestinian officials said they had exhumed 283 bodies at Nasser hospital, some with their hands tied. It is not clear how they died or when they were buried. Israel's military said claims that it buried bodies there were “baseless.”

• Deputy Russian Defense Minister was arrested on corruption allegations. Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov was detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB) on suspicion of taking bribes. Meanwhile, Russian missiles damaged residential buildings and injured six people in Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, early on Wednesday.

• Antony J. Blinken arrived in China amid growing tensions between the two countries. The U.S. Secretary of State landed on Wednesday just hours after the Senate passed a bill that provides $8 billion to Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region, and could also lead to a nationwide ban on the Chinese-owned app TikTok. This law, which President Biden is expected to sign today, further increases clashes over trade, territorial disputes and national security. Read more on China in this analysis translated from French to English: Power, Wealth, Ambivalence — How China's Contradictions Weigh On The World.

• Tesla reported a 55% drop in profit amid fierce E-vehicle competition. The Austin, Texas-based company reported profits of $1.1 billion in the first quarter, down from $2.51 billion a year ago. But shares of Tesla soared by 11% after CEO Elon Musk said that production of new, more affordable vehicles would begin in the second half of next year “if not late this year.”

• Haiti police bolster security around the National palace ahead of a government transition. Soldiers armed with rifles also patrolled the international airport's diplomatic entrance. The palace has come under repeated fire from gangs that have paralyzed the capital Port-au-Prince. A nine-member presidential transition council is to be sworn in at the palace, and although no date has been announced, rumors circulated that it could happen this week. What If Haiti Can't Be Saved?, asked France Inter’s Pierre Haski in this recent piece, translated from French by Worldcrunch.

• A Belgian man was acquitted of drunk driving due to auto-brewery syndrome (ABS). This rare condition makes the body produce alcohol on its own. On top of this, the man coincidently works at a brewery, but three doctors who independently examined him confirmed he suffered from ABS.

📰 STORY OF THE DAY

Syria's child soldiers: Armed factions are sending kids to the front lines

After more than a decade of war in Syria, where some 90% of the population now lives in poverty, children are working as fighters for the armed factions to help feed their families, reports Samer al-Mahmoud in Arabic-language independent digital media Daraj.

🇸🇾 To feed his family, Marwan Qaiquni had no other option but to have his two children, Rabah and Shehadeh, to work as day soldiers with the armed opposition groups in northwestern Syria. Rabah and Shehadeh, who earn up to $4 a day, guard Turkish military points or are stationed on the first and second front lines. With no guarantees or compensation in the event of death or injury, the brothers are among hundreds of children and adults who have resorted to such work in the war-torn country in recent years.

📈 A UN report last June said that armed groups have recruited children throughout the conflict and civil war in Syria. And that the number of children recruited has risen steadily over the past three years — from 813 in 2020 to 1,296 in 2021 and 1,696 in 2022. Many of these children have died on the front lines. The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) reported in November that at least 12 children were killed while fighting alongside the factions allied with the opposition forces in 2023.

⚠️ These children are exposed to harsh and traumatic experiences that affect their psychological and social development, said psychological researcher Ahmed Jumaa. Child soldiers suffer from serious psychological disorders, including psychological trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, psychological tension, sleep problems and hostile behavior, he added.

➡️ Read more on Worldcrunch.com

📹 THIS HAPPENED VIDEO — TODAY IN HISTORY, IN ONE ICONIC PHOTO

➡️ Watch the video: THIS HAPPENED

#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS

$139 million

The United States Justice Department has agreed to pay nearly $139 million to victims of Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics team doctor convicted of sexually abusing hundreds of individuals over nearly two decades. The settlement addresses 139 claims and aims to provide support for Nassar's victims, including top Olympic gymnasts like Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, and McKayla Maroney. This agreement follows criticism of the FBI's handling of complaints against Nassar, which allowed him to continue his abuse unchecked.

📣 VERBATIM

“It was just an agreement among friends.”

— During the second day of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial, David Pecker testified that a meeting between Trump, himself, and attorney Michael Cohen at Trump Tower lasted 20 to 25 minutes and concluded with a verbal agreement. Pecker stated that this agreement, aimed at aiding Trump's campaign, was informal and not documented in writing, emphasizing its confidential nature. 

📸 PHOTO DU JOUR

The view from Filopappou Hill, Athens, as an impressive yellow-orange haze of dust from the Sahara desert has blanketed parts of Greece, prompting authorities to issue health warnings. — Photo: Marios Lolos/Xinhua/ZUMA

👉MORE FROM WORLDCRUNCH  

• What Record Spending On Weapons Means In A World Where The Next War May Be Virtual — FRANCE INTER

• Israel Enters "Phase Two" Of Gaza War — With Same Disregard For Civilian Deaths — DARAJ

• How Iran's New Local Headscarf Crackdowns Blend With Looming Wars Abroad— KAYHAN-LONDON

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