Magnitude 5.5 Quake Strikes Central Türkiye Region

A man walks by a collapsed building and rubble, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake, in Antakya, Hatay province, Türkiye, February 21, 2023. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
A man walks by a collapsed building and rubble, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake, in Antakya, Hatay province, Türkiye, February 21, 2023. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
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Magnitude 5.5 Quake Strikes Central Türkiye Region

A man walks by a collapsed building and rubble, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake, in Antakya, Hatay province, Türkiye, February 21, 2023. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
A man walks by a collapsed building and rubble, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake, in Antakya, Hatay province, Türkiye, February 21, 2023. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

A magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck Central Türkiye on Saturday, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Center said.

The quake was at a depth of 10 km, EMSC said.

The combined death toll in Türkiye and Syria from a devastating earthquake earlier this month surpassed 50,000.

The Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) announced the death toll in Türkiye due to earthquakes rose to 44,218 on Friday night.

With Syria's latest announced death toll of 5,914, the combined death toll in the two countries rose to above 50,000.



FBI Extends 2020 US Presidential Election Probe to Arizona

DORAL, FLORIDA - MARCH 09: US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters during a news conference at Trump National Doral Miami on March 9, 2026 in Doral, Florida. Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images/AFP
DORAL, FLORIDA - MARCH 09: US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters during a news conference at Trump National Doral Miami on March 9, 2026 in Doral, Florida. Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images/AFP
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FBI Extends 2020 US Presidential Election Probe to Arizona

DORAL, FLORIDA - MARCH 09: US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters during a news conference at Trump National Doral Miami on March 9, 2026 in Doral, Florida. Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images/AFP
DORAL, FLORIDA - MARCH 09: US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters during a news conference at Trump National Doral Miami on March 9, 2026 in Doral, Florida. Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images/AFP

The FBI has extended its investigation of the 2020 US election, which President Donald Trump falsely claims to have won, to Arizona, state officials said Monday.

The move comes six weeks after the Federal Bureau of Investigation seized 2020 election ballots in Fulton County, Georgia, as part of a probe into alleged "electoral impropriety”, reported AFP.

Warren Petersen, Republican president of the Arizona Senate, said he had complied last week with a federal grand subpoena for records related to the state senate's audit of 2020 voting in Maricopa County, Arizona's largest.

"The FBI has the records," Petersen said on X.

Trump on Monday posted a link on his Truth Social platform to an article on the right-wing news outlet Just the News about the Arizona records seizure, calling it "Great!!!"

Arizona and Georgia were among the states that Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

- 'Weaponization' -

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, said the 2020 election in the state had been "exhaustively reviewed."

"The election results were certified, litigated, and affirmed," Mayes said in a statement.

"Multiple audits, court proceedings, and independent investigations -- including those pursued by members of the same political party of the President -- found no evidence of fraud sufficient to alter the outcome," she said.

"What the Trump administration appears to be pursuing now is not a legitimate law enforcement inquiry," Mayes said. "It is the weaponization of federal law enforcement in service of crackpots and lies."

FBI agents had raided election offices in Georgia's Fulton County, which includes the heavily Democratic capital Atlanta, in late January, removing hundreds of boxes of ballots and other materials related to the 2020 vote.

According to the search warrant affidavit used to justify the seizure, the FBI investigation originated from a referral sent by Kurt Olsen, the "Presidentially appointed Director of Election Security and Integrity."

Olsen was among the members of Trump's 2020 legal team who filed dozens of lawsuits contesting the election results that were tossed out by courts around the country.

The Republican president and others were charged in Georgia over their alleged efforts to subvert the election, but the prosecutor became embroiled in scandal and the case was ultimately dismissed in November 2025.

Trump also faced federal charges over his alleged election subversion efforts that led to the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol by his supporters.

Those charges were dropped after Trump was elected in November 2024.


North Korea’s Kim Yo Jong Says US-South Korea Drills to Harm Regional Stability

 09 March 2026, South Korea, Paju: South Korean tanks stand on standby at a training ground in Paju as South Korea and the United States begin their annual joint springtime military exercise to strengthen their combined defense posture. (YNA/dpa)
09 March 2026, South Korea, Paju: South Korean tanks stand on standby at a training ground in Paju as South Korea and the United States begin their annual joint springtime military exercise to strengthen their combined defense posture. (YNA/dpa)
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North Korea’s Kim Yo Jong Says US-South Korea Drills to Harm Regional Stability

 09 March 2026, South Korea, Paju: South Korean tanks stand on standby at a training ground in Paju as South Korea and the United States begin their annual joint springtime military exercise to strengthen their combined defense posture. (YNA/dpa)
09 March 2026, South Korea, Paju: South Korean tanks stand on standby at a training ground in Paju as South Korea and the United States begin their annual joint springtime military exercise to strengthen their combined defense posture. (YNA/dpa)

North Korea's Kim Yo Jong, the sister of leader Kim Jong Un, said US-South Korea military drills that began this week were a "provocative and aggressive war rehearsal" that would harm regional stability, state media KCNA reported on Tuesday.

The annual Freedom Shield military exercises revealed the allies' "habitual hostile policy" toward North Korea and "will further destroy regional ‌stability," Kim said ‌in a statement.

Kim described the drills in ‌South ⁠Korea as involving ⁠more than 18,000 South Korean and US forces and being staged "day and night across the territorial ground, sea, air, outer space and cyberspace" of North Korea.

She said the display of military force could "lead to terrible consequences that are unimaginable."

Recent global geopolitical crises and various international events demonstrate that in all military maneuvers carried out by hostile forces, there ⁠is no distinction between defense and offense, nor between ‌drills and actual combat, Kim ‌said.

South Korea and the United States have said the drills, which run from ‌March 9 to 19, were "defensive in nature" and would incorporate ‌deterrence scenarios related to North Korea's nuclear weapons.

The exercise will also serve as an opportunity to support ongoing preparations for the transfer of US wartime operational control to South Korea, officials from both countries have said. South Korea aims to ‌complete the handover of military command from the US before President Lee Jae Myung's term ends ⁠in 2030.

Analysts say ⁠the drills come at a sensitive time for North Korea, as it witnesses the US and Israel carry out leadership-targeting operations against Iran that may reinforce Pyongyang's reliance on its nuclear capacity.

Kim's remarks that offensive power is the most reliable deterrent "reflects a determination not to suffer the same fate as Iran, serving as both a justification for self-defense and a renewed message at home and abroad that giving up nuclear weapons would mean doom," said Lim Eul-chul, a North Korea expert at South Korea's Kyungnam University.

The US-South Korea drills follow North Korea'sruling Party Congress in February, where leader Kim Jong Un said he would focus on expanding his country's nuclear arsenal.


New Mexico Investigators Search Epstein’s Former Ranch

 A drone view shows Zorro Ranch, a property formerly owned by Jeffrey Epstein, near Stanley, New Mexico, US, March 8, 2026. (Reuters)
A drone view shows Zorro Ranch, a property formerly owned by Jeffrey Epstein, near Stanley, New Mexico, US, March 8, 2026. (Reuters)
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New Mexico Investigators Search Epstein’s Former Ranch

 A drone view shows Zorro Ranch, a property formerly owned by Jeffrey Epstein, near Stanley, New Mexico, US, March 8, 2026. (Reuters)
A drone view shows Zorro Ranch, a property formerly owned by Jeffrey Epstein, near Stanley, New Mexico, US, March 8, 2026. (Reuters)

Investigators in New Mexico began searching on Monday the former high-plains ranch of Jeffrey Epstein where the late financier and his acquaintances are accused of sexually abusing women and girls, state authorities said.

Democratic-run New Mexico is acting on new information in documents released in January by the US Department of Justice, including an accusation that Epstein ordered the bodies of two foreign girls buried in hills near the secluded property.

The search follows New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez's decision last month to reopen the investigation ‌into the late sex ‌offender's alleged criminal activities at the ranch ‌30 ⁠miles (48 km) south ⁠of the state's capital of Santa Fe.

"The New Mexico Department of Justice will continue to keep the public appropriately informed, support the survivors, and follow the facts wherever they lead," it said in a statement.

On Monday, a Reuters witness heard dogs barking and saw a government vehicle bearing a paw-print symbol, ⁠suggesting it was carrying animals, leave the ranch. ‌State police and a county fire ‌and rescue vehicle were also spotted.

The Epstein files have become a ‌persistent political problem for President Donald Trump.

New Mexico closed its ‌previous Epstein investigation in 2019 at the request of federal authorities. There has never been a full investigation of the alleged assaults by Epstein, his partner Ghislaine Maxwell and ranch visitors.

Last month, New Mexico became ‌the first US state to launch a legislative "truth commission" to uncover possible public corruption that allowed ⁠Epstein to ⁠operate in secrecy at the ranch for 26 years before his death in 2019.

Epstein's estate sold the property in 2023 to Texas businessman Don Huffines who renamed it San Rafael Ranch.

The new owners are cooperating with the investigation and granted access for the search, the department said.

The January 30 release of millions more files exposed Epstein's social connections with politicians, business people and scientists who he invited to the ranch.

Reuters/Ipsos polling shows most Americans view the Epstein case as an example of wealthy and powerful people rarely being held accountable.