Hannah Beech

@hkbeech.bsky.social

Asia reporter at The New York Times. Noodles, pickles, spice.

A large part of Zeitoun, a neighborhood in Gaza City, was still standing just three weeks ago. But as Israeli forces have expanded their military campaign, the area has been turned into a barren wasteland, according to satellite images reviewed by The New York Times. nyti.ms/4lVj3bR

Two satellite images show Zeitoun on Aug. 8 and Aug. 28. A headline reads: A Gaza City Neighborhood Is Now a Wasteland. The source is satellite images via Planet Labs.

The Trump administration terminates funding for polio, HIV, malaria and nutrition programs around the world. “People will die,” said Dr. Catherine Kyobutungi of the African Population and Health Research Center, “but we will never know, because even the programs to count the dead are cut.”

U.S. Terminates Funding for Polio, H.I.V., Malaria and Nutrition Programs Around the World

Here are some of the 5,800 contracts the Trump administration formally canceled this week in a wave of terse emails.

nytimes.com

Is Trump helping China? Nepal pushed away China to take a $500 million US grant to build electricity lines and roads. US officials aimed to blunt China’s influence. Now it’s all frozen because of Trump’s foreign aid halt. Our @nytimes.com story: www.nytimes.com/2025/02/19/w...

Nepal Took a Risk on a $500 Million U.S. Grant. It May Now Regret It.

President Trump’s freezing of foreign aid provides an opening for China to portray America as an unreliable partner.

nytimes.com

Hundreds of thousands of Tibetan children are being separated from their families and placed in boarding schools by the Chinese government where they face political indoctrination. The children are at risk of abuse, and of being stripped of their Tibetan identity and bonds with family.

In Tibet, Chinese Boarding Schools Reshape the ‘Souls of Children’

Across China’s west, the Communist Party is placing children in boarding schools to assimilate a generation of Tibetans into the national mainstream and mold them into loyal citizens.

nytimes.com

Seeing the photos of Delhi pollution reminds me of living in Beijing during the crazy bad air years. We dealt with it. We kept going with our lives. But those were Dickensian times.