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Inside Aleppo, the first city to fall to Syrian rebels

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In Aleppo’s city centre, the huge billboard in the main square with a picture of President Bashar al-Assad, which used to be a feature in any Syrian town and village, was set on fire, then removed.
The red, white and black national flags that decorated the lampposts were also taken away and replaced with what is known as “independence flag”. Down the road, outside the city hall, a giant banner with a photo of Assad was taken down; another had his face riddled with bullets, and for whatever reason was being kept there.
Across Aleppo, residents and the new authorities seemed eager to get rid of anything symbolising the Assads – Bashar had come to power in 2000 after the death of his father Hafez, who ruled for 29 years.
I came to Aleppo for the first time as a student, in 2008, and banners with Assad’s face were prominent in public squares, streets and government buildings; all of them seemed to have been either removed or destroyed.
This was the first major city captured by Islamist-led rebels earlier this month, in their astonishing offensive that overthrew Assad and brought freedom to this country after five decades of oppression – at least for now.
One of the first things they did was to topple a large equestrian statue of the former president’s late brother, Bassel; a statue of Hafez was also vandalised.
Once a bustling commercial hub, Aleppo witnessed, and was ravaged by, intense battles between opposition fighters and government forces during the civil war, which started in 2011 when Assad brutally repressed peaceful protests against him.
Thousands were killed. Tens of thousands more fled.
Now, with Assad gone, many are coming back, from other parts of Syria and even abroad.
Jeremy Bowen: Assad’s palace, once a symbol of power, now an empty shell
Israel seizing on Syria chaos to strike military assets
Victims of Syria chemical attacks speak freely for first time

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International

Clampdown on fake Google reviews announced

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Google has agreed to make “significant changes to its processes” to help tackle fake reviews of UK businesses, the regulator has announced.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) says the firm – which accounts for 90% of search in the UK – will attach warnings to companies found to have artificially boosted their star rating.
The worst offenders will have their review function deactivated, meaning they cannot receive any new reviews.
Individuals who repeatedly post fake or misleading reviews will be banned from posting – regardless of where they are in the world.
Consumer group Which? called the changes “a step in the right direction” but said they would need to be backed up with strong enforcement action, potentially including “heavy fines” if Google failed to stick to them.

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Entertainment

How an epic series on Asia’s wildlife was filmed

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Filming the BBC’s landmark series Asia took its crew on a four-year-long odyssey from the open ocean to the “roof of the world”.

From frozen mountains to parched deserts, and lush tropical rainforest to vast grassland steppes – Asia is Earth’s largest continent and home to an incredible array of environments.
Perhaps because of that sheer size and variety, until last year the BBC had never devoted a wildlife series entirely to it. The vastness, the crowded megacities and the extreme diversity of environments makes it harder to encapsule in a handful of episodes.
The Natural History Unit’s landmark series Asia took four years to make. “Many parts of Asia are extremely remote, largely unknown, or frequently off-limits,” producer Matthew Wright says. “Its wildlife is less well-studied than that of Africa and the Americas, so we had fewer leads to go on when we started our research.”
“We started by scouring scientific papers, books, websites and social media looking for stories. We spoke to colleagues, conservationists and tour guides too. Once running orders were drawn up, we spent two years and over 2,500 days filming,” said Wright.

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Entertainment

The far-reaching impacts of wildfire smoke – and how to protect yourself

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The air we breathe can have profound effects on our physical and mental health. Is there any way of protecting yourself from this pervasive problem?

All but 1% of the world’s population is exposed to unhealthy air that exceeds World Health Organization (WHO) limits for pollutants. In parts of the world, air quality has rapidly improved through policies that aim to limit pollution. But elsewhere, gains in air quality are at risk of being lost.
More than 25% of the US population is exposed to air considered “unhealthy” by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), according to a report by the climate non-profit First Street Foundation. By 2050, the number of people exposed to “unhealthy” days is set to increase by more than half. The worst days of air pollution (“hazardous” or maroon, under the EPA’s system) are expected to rise by 27%.
Wildfire smoke is one of the factors driving this trend. One study of PM2.5 (see fact box: What is PM2.5?) from wildfire smoke found that levels had increased by up to five micrograms per cubic metre in the western US in the past decade – enough to reverse “decades of policy-driven improvements in overall air quality”, the authors concluded.

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