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The U.N. Security Council includes five permanent members—the U.S., Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom—as well as 10 nonpermanent members. U.S. allies are considering denouncing Russia’s arrest and detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in the United Nations Security Council Monday, when Russia assumes the rotating monthly presidency of the body. Mr. Gershkovich, 31 years old, was detained March 29 while reporting in Yekaterinburg, more than 800 miles east of Moscow. Russian authorities have accused him of espionage, which the Journal and the Biden administration deny.

☆ U.N. Sees Wide Range of War Crimes by Russian Forces in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Daniella Cheslow | Isabel Coles | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The conflict in Mariupol, Ukraine, has left apartments destroyed and residents devastated. United Nations investigators have gathered evidence of a range of atrocities that Russian forces committed against Ukrainians that amount to war crimes, a United Nations commission found. An independent commission formed under the U.N. Human Rights Council cited evidence of killings, imprisonment, torture, sex crimes and the deportation of civilians, according to a report released on Thursday. Ukrainian forces also committed “a small number of violations” of international law, the commission found, including the shooting and torture of Russian prisoners of war, the report stated.

☆ Can the Army Be All It Can Be? Service Revives Slogan to Solve Recruiting Woes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Daniella Cheslow | Ben Kesling | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The U.S. Army is relaunching the phrase ‘Be All You Can Be’ in an effort to boost its recruiting numbers. WASHINGTON—The U.S. Army is dusting off its slogan from the 1980s in hopes of boosting recruiting after its most challenging year since the advent of the all-volunteer force in 1973. At an event near the White House, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth announced the official launch—or relaunch—of the slogan “Be All You Can Be,” which Army pollsters found was likely to resonate as much with a new generation as it did for teens in the post-Vietnam, Cold War era.

☆ Turkey’s Culinary Capital Opens Its Kitchens to Feed the Hungry After Earthquakes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( Daniella Cheslow | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

GAZIANTEP, Turkey—This southern Turkish city was often hailed as the country’s food capital for its rich variety—from liver kebabs and yogurt-thickened stews to an intricate dessert known as a nightingale’s nest. After this month’s earthquakes, many of its eateries switched to simpler fare to feed thousands of people across the devastated region. Scores of restaurants, cafes and street food vendors joined spontaneous efforts to feed the city of about two million people and its neighbors immediately after the Feb. 6 earthquakes.

ANTAKYA, Turkey—Two weeks after earthquakes devastated swaths of Turkey, the government and aid groups are rushing to bolster the area’s heavily damaged health system, which is struggling to treat tens of thousands of injured and those who require routine care. The death toll from the Feb. 6 quakes has risen to more than 48,200—about 42,300 in Turkey and at least 5,900 in Syria. In Turkey, some 108,000 were injured and at least two million lost their homes, authorities and experts estimate. Health professionals are also warning of a heightened risk of infectious disease outbreaks in the disaster zone.

☆ Syrian Brothers Reunite for Desperate Search After Turkey’s Quake
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Daniella Cheslow | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

ANTAKYA, Turkey—Alaa Sannaa received a text message from his mother after twin earthquakes rocked Turkey and Syria, telling him to fly immediately from his home in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to Antakya, where his brother Abdo’s wife and three children were buried under the rubble of their 12-story apartment building. Alaa, 37 years old, quickly messaged his other three brothers, who live in Germany and the U.S. They immediately booked tickets to Turkey.

ANTAKYA, Turkey—Marketed as “a little piece of heaven,” the 12-storey Ronesans Residence apartment complex opened in 2013 and stood until last week as a symbol of this southern city’s rapid urbanization and the two-decade expansion of Turkey’s middle class. Now the 249-unit development is a tomb and a crime scene after toppling over sideways in a devastating earthquake and trapping hundreds of bodies below. Its developer, Mehmet Coskun, is under arrest. Mr. Coskun, who was detained at Istanbul airport en route to Montenegro, said he obtained all necessary permits and inspections and denied that the building collapsed, telling a prosecutor: “Our building just laid on its side.”

☆ Turkey Faces Acute Homelessness Crisis After Earthquakes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Sune Engel Rasmussen | Daniella Cheslow | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

ADIYAMAN, Turkey—Turkey is dealing with one of the world’s worst homelessness emergencies following earthquakes that devastated swaths of the country, with the government scrambling to provide shelter to hundreds of thousands of displaced people a week after the disaster. More than 41,200 died in Turkey and Syria from the Feb. 6 earthquakes. At least two million people in Turkey, a nation of 85 million, have lost their homes, experts estimate.

GAZIANTEP, Turkey—Turkish authorities widened a crackdown on those allegedly involved in shoddy construction practices and looting in cities across southern Turkey devastated by last week’s earthquakes, making dozens of new arrests as hopes faded of finding many more survivors in collapsed buildings. The death toll from the massive quakes has reached over 35,000, with 31,600 fatalities in Turkey and 3,500 deaths in Syria, according to authorities, who say they expect the casualty numbers to continue to rise sharply.

GAZIANTEP, Turkey—Aid is now rushing into Turkey since twin earthquakes devastated vast swaths of the country, but anger is growing in destroyed towns over a stuttering government response and allegedly shoddy construction that has led to dozens of arrests of contractors. The death toll across Turkey and Syria has reached over 28,000, with 24,600 dead in Turkey and another 3,500 dead in Syria.

☆ Frozen Afghan Funds Have Done Little to Sway Taliban
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Daniella Cheslow | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The U.S. wants Kabul’s central bank, the Da Afghanistan Bank, to show it is independent and ready to counter money-laundering and terrorism financing. When the Biden administration seized $7 billion of Afghanistan’s central bank reserves two years ago, it set aside half for victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, and deposited the rest in a Swiss-based fund that it said would benefit the Afghan people. Today, that $3.5 billion remains frozen. The Taliban-controlled central bank says it wants the money to stabilize its crippled financial sector. In the U.S., officials close to the situation say the money hasn’t been enough of an enticement to dissuade the Islamist regime from policies the U.S. and the West find objectionable.

☆ IMF Warns Unraveling Economic Ties Could Shrink Global Output
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Daniella Cheslow | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Trade restrictions, such as export bans on foodstuffs and other goods, could take a toll on the global economy, the IMF said. Declining international cooperation and commerce could shrink the global economy, particularly harming low-income countries, the International Monetary Fund said in a new study. The report cited several ways that government policies are driving a reversal of global economic integration, such as by restrictions on trade, immigration and cross-border capital flows. The authors labeled this process geoeconomic fragmentation and warned it could lower global gross domestic product by up to 7% over an unspecified “long-term” period.

☆ McCarthy Renews Calls for Spending Cuts to Raise Debt Ceiling
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Daniella Cheslow | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Sunday didn’t commit to specific cuts, nor did he rule out any parts of the budget for reductions. WASHINGTON—House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) said Sunday he would seek to negotiate with President Biden over raising the federal debt ceiling but renewed his calls for cuts in spending, days after the Treasury Department said the government may not be able to pay its bills by early summer. “Let’s sit down together. Let’s look at the places that we can change our behavior,” Mr. McCarthy said in an interview on Fox News. “Why would we sit back and be so arrogant to say, ‘No, there’s no waste in government?’”

☆ House GOP Seeks Biden Residence Visitor Logs as Classified-Document Saga Continues
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Daniella Cheslow | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Republicans want to see visitor logs from the home of President Biden, who was at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on Sunday. House Republicans are seeking two years of visitor logs from President Biden’s Delaware home as part of a push for more details about documents marked as classified that were found in Mr. Biden’s home and at a Washington office he used after his vice presidency. “Given the serious national security implications, the White House must provide the Wilmington residence’s visitor log,” House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R., Ky.) wrote in a Sunday letter to White House chief of staff Ron Klain .

☆ West Faces Hurdles Delivering Drone-Fighting Technology to Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Daniella Cheslow | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Pentagon approved a contract for a counterdrone system, called Vampire, that is designed to fit in the bed of a pickup. WASHINGTON—More than three months after Russia started using large numbers of Iranian-made drones against Ukraine, the U.S. is struggling to supply effective systems that can meet the threat, according to Western officials and analysts. The Pentagon first said it would provide a counterdrone system called Vampire in August, but only approved the $40 million contract for the weapons in mid-December, according to the company that makes them. The delivery of the first four systems won’t take place until mid-2023, with 10 more arriving by the end of the year.

☆ U.S. Has Made ‘Dramatic Change’ in Technology Used for Nuclear Code System
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Daniella Cheslow | Photographs Elizabeth Frantz For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

FORT MEADE, Md.—The museum of one of the nation’s most secretive government agencies has recently reopened following a two-year pandemic closure, and among its new exhibits is one that provides a rare window into a technological upgrade to the nation’s nuclear command and control system. The National Cryptologic Museum located outside Washington, D.C. is now home to several pieces of equipment that were in operation until just a few years ago to generate the codes the president could use to authorize the launch of nuclear weapons. The placement of the retired equipment in the National Security Agency’s museum reveals an upgrade to the classified system that is rarely talked about by government officials.

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