This is Aleppo

After a while I complied with my grandmother's request to switch on the radio, and searched round for a station. I found one as the clock turned seven.
'This is Aleppo.'
I drew a veil of silence over the voice.
'Let's hear the news,' protested my grandmother.
Flicking through the pages of the morning paper, I said:
'It's stale news.'
'New things may happen, my son,' exclaimed the old lady, suddenly conscious of her age.

Walid Ikhlassi. The Dead Afternoon in Modern Arabic Short Stories. Denys Johnson-Davies (trad). OUP (1967)