Greater than 20,000 lifeless

The dying toll from the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria surpassed 20,000 as rescue efforts faltered, at the same time as the primary U.N. assist convoy reached Syria.

“We are able to name it the catastrophe of the century,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan mentioned throughout a information convention within the Turkish metropolis of Osmaniye.

Truck shortages and blocked roads had been among the many many hurdles that rescue groups confronted as they labored to unearth victims and assist determined survivors. A whole bunch of hundreds of individuals have been left homeless in subfreezing temperatures.

In Kahramanmaras, a hard-hit Turkish metropolis close to the quake’s epicenter, survivors had been in search of lacking family members amongst plenty of lifeless our bodies. In Hatay, a car parking zone exterior a hospital served as an open-air morgue. There, a whole bunch of households looked for deceased relations, opening and shutting physique baggage, discouraged by the numerous rows of corpses.

What the balloon was as much as

The Chinese language balloon that was shot down by a U.S. fighter jet final week had a number of antennas and instruments able to accumulating communications, U.S. officers mentioned.

The Biden administration launched intelligence concerning the balloon to counter China’s claims that it was a civilian machine, used primarily for climate analysis, and that it had drifted astray.

The balloon’s gear “was clearly for intelligence surveillance and inconsistent with the gear on board climate balloons,” the State Division mentioned in a press release.

Whereas the balloon was nonetheless within the air, American U-2 surveillance planes took photos of it. The balloon had a number of antennas “seemingly able to accumulating and geo-locating communications” and photo voltaic panels massive sufficient to supply energy to function “a number of lively intelligence assortment sensors.”

U.S. officers say China has despatched balloons over greater than 40 international locations in a worldwide spying effort. For surveillance, balloons have some benefits over satellites. They’ll hover in a single place and fly decrease to supply clearer photos and choose up extra indicators from the bottom.

Had been secrets and techniques compromised? U.S. officers haven’t decided what websites the balloon was concentrating on. Whereas officers say they’re assured the balloon didn’t get any delicate knowledge on U.S. nuclear websites, they’re uncertain what it did gather. They anticipate the particles from the downed balloon to offer extra perception.

North Korean state media launched photographs of a nighttime army parade in Pyongyang this week that featured at the very least 15 ICBMs or ICBM mock-ups, greater than in any earlier army parade. The brand new missile that was displayed could have been a mock-up, specialists mentioned, however the North has typically proven mock-ups earlier than continuing with precise missile exams.

All ​three ICBMs that North Korea has examined thus far have relied on​ liquid gasoline, which, specialists mentioned, make them simpler to focus on for pre-emptive strikes as a result of it takes hours to load liquid gasoline onto missiles earlier than they’re launched.

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That’s it for right this moment’s briefing. Have a fantastic weekend! — Amelia and Mariah

P.S. Doug Schorzman will probably be our subsequent Asia editor.

“The Day by day” is about San Francisco’s battle to get well from the pandemic.

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