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The world, which struggled with many challenges, from natural disasters to climate crises, political conflicts to refugee problems, has entered an intense agenda in 2020. B2Press has compiled 10 highlights of Turkey and the world in the first 75 days of 2020.

*** This release is originally published in Turkish.
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ISTANBUL (TR) - After a politically, economically, environmentally and socially challenging 2019, the world hopes that 2020 will be a healthy and peaceful year, while negative developments have followed since the first day of the year. Started with a busy agenda from natural disasters to wars, economic fluctuations to epidemics, 2020 has seen many negative developments in just 75 days. Online PR agency B2Press focused on 10 developments in Turkey and the world as it completed the first quarter of 2020, which it described as a "challenging test” for the whole world.

1- 1 billion lives were destroyed in Australia.

2- Elazig earthquake gave Turkey a deep shock.

3- Avalanche disaster took 41 lives in Van.

4- 36 soldiers were killed in Idlib.

5- Turkey opens border crossings for Syrian refugees to go to Europe.

6- Corona epidemic affected the whole world.

7- Oil prices fell the harshest since the 1991 Gulf War.

8- World stock markets are on the brink of a crisis.

9- Fed cut the interest to zero.

10- Locust invasion threatens agricultural areas.

1- 1 billion lives were destroyed in Australia

Forest fires that started in New South Wales in Australia in July 2019 continued until March 2020. At the end of 8 months, 28 people died in fires that could be extinguished, while more than 1 billion creatures disappeared. More than 2,500 buildings have become unusable in the fire, where a total area of ​​8 million hectares is ash. The fire, which has been recorded as the biggest natural disaster in the history of Australia, has been memorized as an ecological tragedy.

2- Elazig earthquake gave Turkey a deep shock

On January 24, 2020, an earthquake of 6.8 occurred in Sivrice district of Elazig. In the earthquake, 41 people died, 1.607 were injured, 35 in Elazig and 4 in Malatya. As a result of the search and rescue work carried out after the earthquake with a depth of 6.75 kilometres, 45 people were survived under the rubble. In the days after the earthquake, more than 1,000 aftershocks occurred in the same region. While the largest of these earthquakes were measured as 5.4, the total number of aftershocks over 4 reached 22. 87 buildings were demolished in Elazig and Malatya. Severe damage was detected in 1287 buildings, moderate damage in 56 buildings and little damage in 876 buildings. The number of buildings that need to be demolished urgently was announced as 12. The earthquake was felt in neighbouring provinces such as Adıyaman, Kahramanmaraş, Diyarbakır and Tunceli, but did not cause any damage in these cities.

3- Avalanche disaster took 41 lives in Van

There were two different avalanche disasters in Bahçesaray district of Van on February 4-5, 2020. On February 4, an avalanche fell on a moving van on Bahçesaray highway. While 6 people were taken out from the avalanche, the bodies of 5 people were reached. On 5 February, when the efforts to rescue 2 people believed to be in the minibus continued, the Gendarmerie, AFAD, UMKE, other teams and the supporters fell in love. On February 6, three more lifeless bodies were removed from the disaster area, while 41 people were killed due to an avalanche disaster.

4- 36 soldiers were killed in Idlib

On February 27, 2020, the Russian-backed Syrian Armed Forces carried out an airstrike on the infantry battalion of the Turkish Armed Forces, which had 400 soldiers in Idlib as part of the Syrian Civil War. As a result of the attack, 36 Turkish soldiers were martyred. The scope of Idlib attack Twitter, Instagram, Youtube and Facebook access was closed to Turkey. Followed by Turkey of officials of the Syrian troops attack a "legitimate target" on the description that 329 Syrian military and the Turkish Armed hitting the target with more than 200 artillery made by Force defused.

5- Turkey opens border crossings for Syrian refugees to go to Europe

As a result of the Idlib attack on February 27, 2020, it was announced that border gates were opened to refugees within the scope of the changed policy with the instructions of President Recep Tayip Erdoğan. Immediately after the announcement, mainly Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan refugees and migrants set out to Greece and Bulgaria via Edirne to go to Europe. Greece, which did not allow refugees to cross the borders, blocked immigrants with tear gas. this approach is in the focus of criticism was also helping to boost Turkey's decision calls for the direction of the EU. Finally, as the records of 3 million 587 thousand 266 it was announced that the Syrian refugees left Turkey 100 thousand 577’s.

6- Corona epidemic affected the whole world

Emerging in Wuhan, China, Covid-19 coronavirus (corona virus) spread to all continents and over 120 countries, except Antarctica. The virus, called "2019-nCoV", appeared in December 2019, was first seen in a 49-year-old woman who was a fishmonger in the animal market in Wuhan. As a result of testing the patient samples in the laboratories, Chinese officials and the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded that the infection was Coronavirus (Corona Virus), and on 11 March 2020 the coronavirus was now at the "pandemic" level. Coronavirus, which shows 85 percent similarity to the bat virus, was found to be transmitted by droplet and close contact. On January 1, 2020, the animal market in Wuhan, which is thought to be the exit of the virus, was closed. March 11, 2020 has announced the date of the Minister of Health Fahrettin husband has seen the first cases in Turkey coronavirus suspected of having the virus and test results of a person's positive. Four days later, this number increased to 18. As of March 16, the number of people with coronavirus worldwide exceeded 160 thousand, and the number of people who died as a result of the virus exceeded 5 thousand.

7- Oil prices fell the harshest since the 1991 Gulf War

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-Russian-led organizations have acted together voluntarily for three years, acting together under the name OPEC +. However, last week's negotiations to extend the deal, which pulled 2.1 million barrels of oil daily, causing prices to rise, failed because Russia did not agree to cut production further, and the parties gave up the deal. So oil prices dropped 30 percent on Monday, March 9, 2020. As a result, crude oil prices have dropped to their lowest levels since February 2016. It also recorded the hardest daily loss on a percentage basis since the Gulf War in January 1991, with a drop of more than 30 percent.

8- World stock markets are on the brink of a crisis

American stock markets encountered heavy sales traffic after the World Health Organization (WHO) stated on the evening of March 11 that the Coronavirus was now at the "pandemic" level. The US stock market, which closed March 11 with a 4 per cent drop, experienced a 7 per cent drop on March 12 after the announcement that US President Donald Trump had suspended all travels from Europe for 30 days. After this drop, transactions were stopped for 15 minutes. Apart from the US stock markets, TR, Germany and Brazil also experience a decline. Dollar / TL exchange rate exceeded 6.35. On the 16th of March from Borsa Istanbul BIST 100 Index, transactions were realized with a depreciation of more than 5 per cent. In the sectoral indices, tourism is at the forefront with a decline exceeding 10 per cent and banking exceeding 6 per cent. In Germany, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange fell by 5.8 percent and fell to its lowest level since July 2016, with 9,829 points. Thus, the DAX index in the stock market has experienced more than 16 per cent depreciation since the beginning of March.

9- Fed cut the interest to zero

The US Federal Reserve (FED) lowered the interest rate to almost 0-0.25 after the Coronary Virus (Kovid-19) outbreak. A total of 700 billion USD monetary expansion was initiated, of which 500 billion USD was treasury and 200 billion USD was Morgage bonds. "The coronavirus epidemic harms societies and the economic activity will be negatively affected in many countries, including the USA," the Fed said in a statement. The Fed also lowered reserve provision rates for thousands of banks to zero. In order to increase the liquidity of the dollar, it reopened the 'swap' lines with Canada, England, Japan, Switzerland and the European Central Bank. This move was a step taken in a coordinated manner by the banks.

10- Locust invasion threatens agricultural areas

The biggest desert locust invasion took place in East Africa in the last 70 years. Locust invasion spread after it started in Africa and entered the world agenda. The United Nations (UN) said that the herds of desert grasshoppers, which made the lives of farmers in East African countries difficult, could again increase the impact. In the situation report published by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the situation in the Africa region, especially in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, is critical and new grasshopper herds are beginning to form. According to the report, it was stated that grasshoppers began to reproduce and these flocks threaten food safety in an unprecedented manner. So far, 70 thousand hectares of land have been invaded by grasshoppers.