Concepción (Chile) (AFP) – International experts joined Chile’s frantic fight against devastating, drought-fueled forest fires that have killed 26 people, injured hundreds and destroyed more than 1,100 homes in less than a week.
Washington (AFP) – US President Joe Biden promises Ukraine’s ambassador to Washington, Oksana Markarova, that the United States will support Ukraine for “as long as it takes” to fight off the Russian invasion, during his State of the Union speech. SOUNDBITE
Washington (AFP) – “As we made clear last week, if China threatens our sovereignty we will act to protect our country and we did,” US President Joe Biden says during his State of the Union speech. SOUNDBITE
Washington (AFP) – “Let’s sit down together and discuss our mutual plans together,” US President Joe Biden urges Republicans in Congress in his annual State of the Union address, amid deep political divisions. SOUNDBITE
Washington (AFP) – US President Joe Biden tells Americans that US democracy is “bruised” but “unbroken” in a State of the Union speech at the US Capitol. SOUNDBITE
Washington (AFP) – US President Joe Biden urges to “ban assault weapons now” in his State of the Union speech. “I led the fight to do that in 1994… Let’s finish the job and ban these assault weapons”, Biden says. SOUNDBITE
Washington (AFP) – US President Joe Biden offers in his State of the Union speech to “work together” with Republicans in Congress. “Fighting for the sake of fighting, power for the sake of power, conflict for the sake of conflict, gets us nowhere,” he says. SOUNDBITE
Washington (AFP) – The convoy of President Joe Biden arrives at the Congress of the United States, ahead of his State of the Union speech in Washington, DC. IMAGES
Istanbul (AFP) – The search for survivors continues in Diyarbakır, a town in southeast of Turkey, the day after a powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the country and neighbouring Syria, with the death toll rising to over 7,300.
Jandairis (Syria) (AFP) – Extended family members pull a newborn baby alive from the rubble of a home in northern Syria, after finding her still tied by her umbilical cord to her mother, who died in Monday’s massive 7.8-magnitude earthquake that killed thousands. She is the only survivor of her immediate family.
Jindayris (Syria) (AFP) – In the earthquake-devastated town of Jandairis in northern Syria, a man in shock stands next to a pile of rubble where his family once lived. “We’re completely broken,” sobs Samer al-Saraqbi who lost 12 of his family members, including his mother, his sister and her family — in the region’s biggest disaster of the century that killed at least 5,000 in Syria and Turkey.
Ankara (AFP) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declares a three-month state of emergency in 10 southeastern provinces hit by a major earthquake that has claimed at least 5,000 lives in Turkey and Syria. “We have decided to declare a state of emergency to ensure that our (rescue and recovery) work can be carried out quickly,” Erdogan says in televised remarks.
