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☆ Europe’s Largest Nuclear Reactor Launches as Continent Splits Over Atomic Energy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Sune Engel Rasmussen | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Olkiluoto island, off Finland’s west coast, houses three nuclear reactors. Finland has started regular electricity output at Europe’s largest nuclear reactor, a move that contrasts with developments in other European countries, where opposition to nuclear power is stronger. The long-delayed Olkiluoto 3 reactor is the first new European nuclear-power facility to open in 16 years. Alongside two other nuclear reactors on the Olkiluoto island off Finland’s west coast, the new 1.6-gigawatt reactor will eventually produce nearly one-third of the country’s electricity.

☆ Iran Makes Fresh Push to Force Women to Wear Hijab
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Sune Engel Rasmussen | Aresu Eqbali | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Some women without hijabs shopped in a Tehran bazaar on Thursday. TEHRAN—Iranian authorities launched a fresh campaign to force women to wear a headscarf, or hijab, as the clerical establishment seeks to reassert its grip on power months after women’s rights protests morphed into a nationwide movement against the Islamic Republic. As part of the new campaign, which began Saturday, Iranian police said they would use surveillance tools to identify and prosecute women who didn’t wear the headscarf.

☆ Norway to Expel 15 Russian Diplomats Accused of Espionage
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Sune Engel Rasmussen | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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☆ Donald Trump Hush-Money Case: Meet the Key Players
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Finland Joins NATO: What This Historic Alliance Expansion Means Finland became the 31st member of NATO in a historic expansion of the alliance in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. WSJ’s Sune Engel Rasmussen explains what this accession means for the bloc and security in Europe. Photo: Thomas Trutschel/Zuma Press/Johanna Geron

☆ Finland Joins NATO in Historic Move Prompted by Russia, as Sweden Waits
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Sune Engel Rasmussen | Daniel Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

BRUSSELS—Finland officially joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Tuesday, a historic security policy shift prompted by Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine that more than doubles the alliance’s border with Russia and rearranges the security landscape in Northern Europe. The Nordic nation became the 31st member of the alliance nearly a year after it applied for membership, alongside Sweden, a process delayed by NATO members Turkey and Hungary, which have hesitated to ratify Stockholm’s bid.

☆ Finland Joins NATO in Historic Move, Sparking Russian Outcry
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Sune Engel Rasmussen | Daniel Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

BRUSSELS—Finland officially joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on Tuesday, a historic security-policy shift that was prompted by Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and which has spurred a furious response from the Kremlin. With officials preparing to hoist Finland’s blue-and-white flag at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told a military conference in Moscow that the West was escalating its confrontation with Russia. He reminded participants that Belarus would soon have the ability to strike enemy targets with tactical nuclear weapons after Mr. Putin said last week that Moscow planned to base the Iskander-M missile system there.

☆ Sanna Marin Faces Tight Election as Finland Prepares to Join NATO
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Sune Engel Rasmussen | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Finns are voting in an election Sunday that could determine whether Prime Minister Sanna Marin will lead the country as it enters NATO in a few days’ time, after a campaign dominated by the economic and security aftershocks of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Though the outcome won’t affect Finland’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which marks a new course for the country after decades of nonalignment, polls indicate a tight race that could unseat Ms. Marin, who has gained international fame for her feminist politics. Given that no party is large enough to command a majority without governing partners, Finland may be headed into lengthy negotiations to form a ruling coalition.

☆ Finland’s Sanna Marin Defeated in Election Ahead of NATO Ascension
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Sune Engel Rasmussen | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin suffered defeat in Sunday’s general election, days before the country was set to enter NATO, after a campaign dominated by the economic and security aftershocks of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Petteri Orpo , the leader of the center-right National Coalition Party, claimed election victory and was projected to gain about 20.8% with nearly all the votes counted. Ms. Marin’s Social Democratic Party came third with 19.9% of the vote, narrowly behind the right-wing populist Finns Party gaining 20%, in its best result to date.

☆ Iran Protests in Far-Flung Enclave Pose New Challenge to Tehran
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Sune Engel Rasmussen | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

In a remote corner of southeastern Iran, protesters from a Sunni Muslim minority are pushing for more rights and autonomy in a sustained challenge to the government, which had largely managed to tamp down last year’s nationwide protests. On Friday, large crowds of residents of Zahedan, the provincial capital of Sistan-Baluchistan, took to the streets following noon prayers to protest against the government, according to unverified footage on social media.

☆ Turkey’s President Approves Finland’s NATO Membership Bid
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Jared Malsin | Sune Engel Rasmussen | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö, right, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met in Ankara on Friday. ANKARA, Turkey—Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that his country would allow Finland to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, paving the way for an important enlargement of the alliance in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Mr. Erdogan announced his decision standing alongside Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö in Turkey’s capital Ankara, following nearly a year of diplomatic wrangling after the Turkish leader threatened to block both Finland and Sweden from entering the alliance over concerns about their ties to Kurdish militant groups.

ROSTOCK, Germany—The small marina on the edge of this north German city is a popular summertime spot for recreational sailors. German intelligence believes it was also the jumping-off point for the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, an assault on Europe’s civilian energy infrastructure unprecedented since World War II. On Sept. 6, a small group set out from Rostock aboard a rented yacht, the Andromeda, a slender 50-foot-long, single-masted sloop, ostensibly on a pleasure cruise around Baltic Sea ports. Within two weeks, the group returned the boat and disappeared.

☆ Investigators Puzzle Over Yacht’s Possible Role in Nord Stream Blast
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( Bojan Pancevski | Sune Engel Rasmussen | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Nordstream gas pipeline, which runs between Russia and Germany, was damaged in September by what prosecutors said were planted explosives. Andromeda, a slender, 50-foot-long sailing yacht with a teak deck, has become a key piece of the puzzle that international investigators are trying to solve as they probe the blasts that destroyed the Nord Stream pipelines off Germany’s northern coast. German prosecutors said this week investigators had searched a boat in January they believed could have been used in relation to the bombings.

The gas leak at the Nord Stream gas pipeline in September. German authorities investigating blasts that tore through the Nord Stream natural-gas pipelines last year have identified a boat manned by a six-member crew that they say could have been involved in a sabotage operation, according to a senior government official. A summary report on the probe compiled for senior German officials said the vessel, a sport sailing boat, was rented in northern Germany days before the blasts by the six people, some of whom presented Ukrainian passports as identification, the official said.

☆ Afghan Women, Banned From Working, Can’t Provide for Their Children
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Margherita Stancati | Sune Engel Rasmussen | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Fawzia Anwari , an Afghan widow, used to earn enough from her job at a foreign nongovernmental organization in Kabul to support her five children, the eldest of whom enrolled at university to study economics. But in December, the family lost their sole livelihood when the Taliban banned women from working at NGOs, one of the few places where the Taliban had still allowed Afghan women to work.

☆ Iran Investigates Hundreds of Alleged Poison Attacks Against Schoolgirls
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Sune Engel Rasmussen | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

An image taken from a video shows a young woman in a hospital after allegedly being poisoned at an unspecified location in Iran. Iranian officials are investigating the alleged poisoning of hundreds of schoolgirls across the country after a wave of hospitalizations sparked anger against the government for initially playing down the incidents. Since November, hundreds of mostly female students in dozens of schools have been taken to hospitals with symptoms of poisoning such as nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath, dizziness and fatigue. In one video posted on social media on Wednesday, a girl with asthma said she had mentioned to her teacher that she had noticed a strange smell and struggled to breathe, after which the teacher asked the class if they smelled anything, and then the whole class fell ill.

☆ After Turkey Earthquakes, Families Grieve Missing Loved Ones Who Might Never Be Found
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Sune Engel Rasmussen | Vildan Ay | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

ANTAKYA, Turkey—For three weeks, Gülhan Aslan kept a vigil, sitting by the ruins of a high-rise building. Her 23-year-old daughter, Zeyna, was staying in a friend’s apartment inside when two earthquakes hit Turkey earlier this month. She hasn’t been seen since. About 80 people who were believed to be in the collapsed apartment complex, the Ronesans Residence, are still missing, relatives said. Rescue operations at the site have given way to reconstruction, with large excavating machines clearing away the rubble.

☆ Earthquake Aid Flows Increase Into Northwest Syria
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( Sune Engel Rasmussen | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Syrians affected by the deadly earthquake and aftershocks this month wait to re-enter Syria via a crossing from Turkey. REYHANLI, Turkey—Aid flows into northwest Syria have increased since deadly earthquakes devastated a swath of the country and disrupted lifesaving assistance to millions of people in an area that has been under a crippling siege for years. Nearly 200 trucks of United Nations aid have crossed the Turkish border into northwestern Syria since operations resumed on Feb. 9, after a pause caused by road destruction and the impact of the quakes on humanitarian staff.

☆ NATO Pledges Earthquake Aid to Turkey
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Sune Engel Rasmussen | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

ADANA, Turkey—NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg pledged the alliance’s support in housing hundreds of thousands of people displaced by last week’s earthquakes, as the death toll from the disaster rose to more than 42,000 across Turkey and Syria. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, of which Turkey is a member, is airlifting tens of thousands of tents to Turkey in the coming days and weeks, Mr. Stoltenberg said in a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

☆ A Cypriot High School Volleyball Team Lost 25 Children in the Turkey Quakes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Sune Engel Rasmussen | Photographs Emanuele Satolli For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

ADIYAMAN, Turkey—The Cypriot high school volleyball team were sleeping on the first and second floors of the Isias hotel the night after the girls team won their first match at a regional tournament in eastern Turkey when the first earthquake struck. The 7.8-magnitude tremor shook the earth beneath them, making the front of the hotel collapse. When the second, 7.5-magnitude quake hit, the building crumbled to dust, leaving 25 schoolchildren, age 12 to 14, and 10 adults accompanying them, eventually among the dead.

☆ 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.

KAHRAMANMARAS, Turkey—The political opposition in Turkey slammed the country’s ruling party over calls to postpone a pivotal election, while the United Nations said Syria yielded to international pressure to open border crossings in the aftermath of earthquakes that devastated both countries last week. The death toll from the Feb. 6 quakes rose to more than 37,700, including 31,900 in Turkey, 1,400 in the government-controlled portion of Syria and at least 4,400 in the country’s rebel-held northwest, according to official estimates. The disaster has destroyed thousands of buildings and left millions uprooted from their homes and living in tent cities, often in bitter cold.

KAHRAMANMARAS, Turkey—The political opposition in Turkey slammed the country’s ruling party over calls to postpone a pivotal election, while the United Nations said Syria yielded to international pressure to open border crossings in the aftermath of earthquakes that devastated both countries last week. The death toll from the Feb. 6 quakes rose to more than 41,200, including 35,400 in Turkey, 1,400 in the government-controlled portion of Syria and at least 4,400 in the country’s rebel-held northwest, according to official estimates. The disaster has destroyed thousands of buildings and left millions uprooted from their homes and living in tent cities, often in bitter cold.

☆ Earthquake-Hit Syria Sees Arrival of First Aid Convoys
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Sune Engel Rasmussen | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Aid began trickling into northwest Syria on Thursday, four days after deadly earthquakes battered an area that has been politically isolated by war, and left millions of displaced people and other Syrians living under continued hostilities without assistance. Six United Nations trucks crossed the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, which connects Turkey to the far northwestern corner of Syria. Before Thursday, the road to the crossing had been damaged by Monday’s earthquakes. The trucks carried shelter items and nonfood supplies, according to the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA.

☆ Syria Reels From Earthquakes but Struggles to Tap Outside Aid
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Sune Engel Rasmussen | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

As the scale of the devastation emerged in Syria from powerful earthquakes, the country faces hurdles tapping international aid because of border closures, the political isolation of President Bashar al-Assad and his government’s policy of starving antigovernment rebels of assistance. “The scale of destruction is enormous, and there is still no support from the outside,” said Ammar Alselmo , a volunteer in rural Aleppo province with Syrian Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, which leads relief efforts in areas outside the government’s control.

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