“The nuclear football (also known as the atomic football, the president's emergency satchel, the button, the black box, or just the football) is a briefcase, the contents of which are to be used by the President of the United States of America to authorize a nuclear attack while away from fixed command centers, such as the White House Situation Room. It functions as a mobile hub in the strategic defense system of the United States. It is a metallic Zero Halliburton briefcase carried in a black leather “jacket”. The package weighs around 45 pounds (20 kilograms). A small antenna protrudes from the bag near the handle”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A U.S. Military officer carries the “football”, which carries nuclear launch codes, on South Lawn after returning with U.S. President George W. Bush to the White House January 7, 2002 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

In one of the deadliest attacks in Turkey in recent years, two car bombs exploded near the border with Syria on Saturday, killing 43 and wounding 140 others. Turkish officials blamed the attack on a group linked to Syria, and a deputy prime minister called the neighboring country's intelligence service and military "the usual suspects."

The blasts, which were 15 minutes apart and hit the town of Reyhanli's busiest street, raised fears that Turkey could increasingly be drawn into Syria's brutal civil war.

Turkey already hosts Syria's political opposition and rebel commanders, has given shelter to hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees and in the past retaliated against Syrian shells that landed in Turkey.

A model of the New Horizons spacecraft is seen at a live television program on NASA television celebrating the spacecraft's closest proximity to Pluto, at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, site of the mission operations center, in Laurel, Maryland, USA, 14 July 2015. At approximately 7:49 am ET (11:49 am GMT), 14 July, New Horizons was scheduled to be as close to Pluto as the spacecraft will get; about 7,800 miles (12,500 kilometers) above the surface, following a journey of more than nine years and three billion miles. This is the first mission to the Pluto System and the Kuiper Belt. (Photo by Michael Reynolds/EPA)

A Salvadoran clown is seen wearing colorful clothes and face make-up during the parade within the framework of the National Salvadoran Clown Day that is celebrated on the first Wednesday of every December by legislative decree in San Salvador, El Salvador on December 07, 2022. After the pandemic crisis, dozens of Salvadoran clowns took to the streets to celebrate their day, and invite families to respect the work of bringing smiles to children and adults in El Salvador. (Photo by Alex Pena/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

A young person wearing military special forces gear holds a gun in the army village during Memorial Day weekend celebrations in Miami Beach, Florida, USA, 25 May 2024. The two day Hyundai Air & Sea Show event showcases the men, women, technology and equipment from all five branches of the United States Military as well as police, firefighters and first responder agencies. (Photo by Cristobal Herrera/EPA)

Young people play with foam during a march to commemorate Youth Day in Caracas, Venezuela, 12 February 2025. The president of Venezuela's National Assembly (AN, Parliament), Chavista Jorge Rodriguez, invited, before hundreds of followers who commemorated Youth Day, all young migrants to return to the country so that they can “build a prosperous homeland”. (Photo by Ronald Pena R./EPA)

Men try to get control of a bucking horse a Tradition Day rodeo exhibition during, in San Antonio de Areco, Argentina, Sunday, November 13, 2022. Tradition Day, aimed to preserve gaucho traditions, is celebrated to honor the birth of Argentine writer Jose Hernandez, author of the country's national poem, “The Gaucho Martin Fierro”. (Photo by Natacha Pisarenko/AP Photo)