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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.

Gaziantep (Turquie) (AFP) – Images of rescue efforts in the northern suburbs of Gaziantep, southern Turkey, where hundreds of people stand before the ruins of a collapsed building, waiting for news of their missing loved ones. An ambulance stands ready to take evacuees from the rubble. IMAGES

Besnaya (Syria) (AFP) – Countries all around the world have rapidly mobilised to send aid and rescue workers after a massive 7.8-magnitude earthquake killed more than 5,000 people in Turkey and Syria. The Syrian Red Crescent has pled for more Western aid for the country as efforts are complicated by sanctions and more than a decade of war.

Bamako (AFP) – Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, arrives in Mali in a sign of deepening political and security ties between Moscow and Bamako’s ruling junta, who are seeking Russia’s help in battling an Islamist insurgency that remains entrenched despite years of fighting. Lavrov, who was in Iraq on Monday, is welcomed off the plane in the early hours by his Malian counterpart, Abdoulaye Diop.

Incirlik Air Base (Turkey) (AFP) – French civil security rescue teams arrive at a NATO military base in the town of Incirlik in the southern Turkish province of Adana. The workers are here to assist the Turkish authorities in the search for survivors following a deadly earthquake that left more than 5,000 people dead in Turkey and Syria.