February 8, Wednesday, 2023 (1:30 p.m.) Newsline

1. The death toll from Monday’s earthquake and aftershocks that hit Turkey and Syria has surpassed 8,300, as desperate efforts continue to rescue people trapped under rubble. A powerful quake with a magnitude of 7.8 hit southern Turkey near the Syrian border early on Monday, followed by another major quake and a series of aftershocks.
2. US President Joe Biden stressed his achievements, including the creation of record employment levels, in a State of the Union address that also outlined policies for the coming year. Biden delivered his second State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, as attention is focused on whether he will soon announce his candidacy for reelection. 3. A Tokyo Olympics executive has been arrested on suspicion of violating Japan’s Anti-Monopoly Act. Sources say former deputy director of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics Organizing Committee’s operations bureau Mori Yasuo has admitted to involvement in rigging bids for test events. Prosecutors and Japan Fair Trade Commission officials suspect that the organizing committee colluded with Dentsu, the country’s largest ad agency, to steer contracts to specific companies.