Anadolu Agency’s Morning Briefing - March 1, 2023

ANKARA (AA) - Anadolu Agency is here with a rundown of the latest developments around the world.

The death toll from the devastating earthquakes that struck Türkiye has risen to 45,089, the country’s disaster management agency, AFAD, said early Wednesday.

New Zealand announced that it is extending the "Special Ukraine Visa" for another year as the war still continues in the region.

PKK/KCK terrorist Ramazan Gunes, who carried out 12 terror attacks that killed 60 security personnel, was captured by the Turkish intelligence service in northeastern Iraq and brought back to Türkiye, according to security sources.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu met UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell in the capital Ankara for talks.

Baku has filed an arbitration case against Yerevan under the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), an international agreement focusing on cross-border cooperation primarily in the fossil energy industry, for exploiting energy resources in the Karabakh region.

The normalization of ties between Azerbaijan and Armenia was in focus as President Ilham Aliyev held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the capital Baku.

The Afghan Taliban claimed that their forces killed the intelligence and military chief of Daesh/ISIS in the capital Kabul who was behind the attacks on diplomatic missions, mosques and other targets in the country.

The EU condemned the “deadly cycle of violence” in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev discussed bilateral relations and cooperation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who arrived in the capital Astana ahead of a meeting with other Central Asian diplomats in a C5+1 format.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met Geir Pedersen, the UN special envoy for Syria, for talks in the capital Moscow.

Japan decided to widen its sanctions against Russia, including on the private militia Wagner Group, over Moscow's war on Ukraine.

More than 3,800 children were found to be working at US firms in 2022 in violation of federal law, the Labor Department said and announced a new crackdown on child labor.

The Russian Defense Ministry accused the US of preparing a provocation with chemical substances in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country needs modern combat aircraft to defend against Russian strikes.

Around 42,000 Syrians in Türkiye voluntarily returned to their home country after the Feb. 6 earthquakes, said the Turkish defense chief.

Serbia and Kosovo have agreed that no further talks were needed to sign an EU proposal to normalize ties, the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell announced.

US Special Representative for Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr visited a Palestinian town that was attacked by Israeli settlers this weekend.

Law enforcement agencies in Moldova have strengthened security measures after claims that Russia plans to “destabilize” the capital Chisinau, the Moldovan interior minister said.

Türkiye pledged to reconstruct the country's southern region in the wake of powerful earthquakes that struck on Feb. 6.

Egypt said a consultation process will be launched with Türkiye to restore relations between the two countries.

Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the Federal Security Service to strengthen counterintelligence for a proportionate response to Western intelligence services.

The head of the UN Human Settlements Program (UN-Habitat), Maimunah Mohd Sharif, paid a visit to Gaziantep in Türkiye's quake-hit southern region.

At least 7,259 Syrians were killed in the deadly Feb. 6 earthquakes that rattled northern Syria and southern Türkiye, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights group.

Two Syrian refugees died when a fire caught refugee tents in the town of Arsal in eastern Lebanon, according to witnesses.

At least eight Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels were killed and nine others captured in an operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern North Kivu province.

The US Treasury Department sanctioned Jesus Cisneros Hernandez, a Mexican arms trafficker, for supplying US-sourced weapons to a Mexico-based organization that traffics drugs entering the US.

Germany criticized Israel’s planned legislation to introduce the death penalty in the country.

Northwest Syria is in the midst of a "very high number" of cholera outbreaks in the wake of deadly earthquakes, said the UN's humanitarian affairs chief, Martin Griffiths.

A magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck Türkiye’s central province of Kayseri, weeks after two massive tremors shook the country's southern region.

The government of Catalonia announced that it will enforce new water restrictions on nearly 6 million people due to a drought that has lasted more than two years.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law suspending Russia's participation in the only remaining arms control treaty with the US, the New START treaty, local media reported.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador confirmed that Tesla will set up shop in northern Mexico despite his initial reluctance because of a drought in the region.

The death toll rose to 66 from a shipwreck off southern Italy of a wooden boat carrying migrants, media reports said.

The US administration is taking "every step" to protect Americans' data amid a ban on the popular Chinese social media app TikTok, the White House said.

The death toll from a collision between a passenger train and a cargo train in Elassona municipality in northern Greece has risen to 32, according to reports.