ISTANBUL: Turkey’s state-run news agency says American actress Lindsay Lohan has visited Syrian refugees at an Istanbul hospital and the home of a refugee family from Aleppo.
The Anadolu agency reported Monday that the 30-year-old actress was accompanied by Turkey’s youth and sports deputy minister, Abdurrahim Boynukalin.
Boynukalin says media were not told about Lohan’s visit ahead of time to avoid creating a spectacle and he didn’t specify when it took place.
He said, “The important thing is that a Hollywood star take this matter seriously and bring it to the world stage.”
Boynukalin says the star of such films as “Mean Girls” and “Freaky Friday” was moved by the hospital, which employs only Syrian doctors and treats refugees, and offered to volunteer there.
Lohan also gave gifts to the refugee family.
Posting an image of her cuddling the family’s young child on her Instagram, Lindsay crafted a lengthy, inspiring post for her followers.
She said: ‘Meet the Hussein Family. The father, Mohammad, was injured severely in Aleppo and his wife left him and her three kids after they migrated to Turkey. The lovely girl is Heya (9) and her twin brother is Leys.’
’The Sultanbeyli Municipality is covering their rent and kitchen expenses but the conditions of the house are very bad.
’The older brother was not in the house with us because although he is 17, he had to work in order to take better care of his family.’
She then finished her post with the hashtag ‘The world is bigger than five’ — the phrase often used by Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to refer to the unfair advantage of five members of their Council, who can veto any decision.
Lohan visits hospital for Syrian refugees in Turkey
Lohan visits hospital for Syrian refugees in Turkey
Fans bid farewell to Japan’s only pandas
TOKYO: Panda lovers in Tokyo said goodbye on Sunday to a hugely popular pair of the bears that are set to return to China, leaving Japan without the beloved animals for the first time in half a century.
Loaned out as part of China’s “panda diplomacy” program, the distinctive black-and-white animals have symbolized friendship between Beijing and Tokyo since the normalization of diplomatic ties in 1972.
Some visitors at Ueno Zoological Gardens were left teary-eyed as they watched Japan’s only two pandas Lei Lei and Xiao Xiao munch on bamboo.
The animals are expected to leave for China on Tuesday following a souring of relations between Asia’s two largest economies.
“I feel like seeing pandas can help create a connection with China too, so in that sense I really would like pandas to come back to Japan again,” said Gen Takahashi, 39, a Tokyo resident who visited the zoo with his wife and their two-year-old daughter.
“Kids love pandas as well, so if we could see them with our own eyes in Japan, I’d definitely want to go.”
The pandas’ abrupt return was announced last month after Japan’s conservative premier Sanae Takaichi hinted Tokyo could intervene militarily in the event of any attack on Taiwan.
Her comment provoked the ire of Beijing, which regards the island as its own territory.
The 4,400 lucky winners of an online lottery took turns viewing the four-year-old twins at Ueno zoo while others gathered nearby, many sporting panda-themed shirts, bags and dolls to celebrate the moment.
Mayuko Sumida traveled several hours from the central Aichi region in the hope of seeing them despite not winning the lottery.
“Even though it’s so big, its movements are really funny-sometimes it even acts kind of like a person,” she said, adding that she was “totally hooked.”
“Japan’s going to be left with zero pandas. It feels kind of sad,” she said.
Their departure might not be politically motivated, but if pandas return to Japan in the future it would symbolize warming relations, said Masaki Ienaga, a professor at Tokyo Woman’s Christian University and expert in East Asian international relations.
“In the future...if there are intentions of improving bilateral ties on both sides, it’s possible that (the return of) pandas will be on the table,” he told AFP.
