ANKARA

Anadolu Agency is here with a rundown of the latest developments in Turkey, around the world and the coronavirus pandemic.

Developments in Turkey, coronavirus pandemic and other news

Turkish security forces neutralized at least 14 terrorists inside and outside of its borders, security sources announced Thursday.

Police in the Turkish capital Ankara arrested 11 people allegedly linked to the Daesh/ISIS terror group, a security source said Thursday.

The European Union will accept Turkish COVID-19 certificates as of Aug. 20, the European Commission announced Thursday.

Turkey’s president affirmed his country’s commitment to Afghanistan’s “stability and security” Thursday and said Ankara could hold talks with the government.

Turkey has administered more than 87 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines since launching a mass immunization campaign in January, according to official figures Thursday.

Worldwide developments related to COVID-19

South Korea reported over 2,100 new coronavirus cases Thursday, the second-highest daily spike since the coronavirus outbreak in the country last year, according to the Health Ministry.

The number of COVID-19 cases in the world exceeded 209.3 million early Thursday, according to US-based Johns Hopkins University.

The first coronavirus case was detected at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic athletes’ village Thursday, just days before the start of the games.

More than 4.84 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered worldwide, according to Our World in Data, a tracking website affiliated with Oxford University.

Iran reported 564 more COVID-19 fatalities Thursday, raising the nationwide death toll to 100,255.

Developments across world

Five Syrian civilians were killed – including four children – and four wounded in an attack by Assad regime forces and their allies on residential areas in northwestern Idlib province, a local monitoring group said Thursday.

The leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah announced Thursday that a first Iranian fuel ship is on its way to the capital Beirut.

Germany’s highest court of appeals on Thursday upheld the life sentence of neo-Nazi terrorist Beate Zschaepe for murder, arson and bomb attacks targeting Turkish immigrants.

Israel announced that it reduced the terror threat level in the Sinai beach resorts, including the city of Sharm el-Sheikh and Taba in southern Sinai, for the first time in 17 years.

Recent developments in Afghanistan have done grave damage to Western credibility, the EU foreign policy chief said Thursday.

Some 14 million people in Afghanistan are at risk of severe hunger, said the head of the UN food agency in the country.

Uganda’s foreign minister said Thursday that the country is yet to make a decision on a US request to host 2,000 refugees from Afghanistan.

Russia urged Afghan leaders Thursday to start peace negotiations amid rising resistance in the northeast of the country after the Taliban took control of the capital Kabul on Aug. 15.

Environmentalists protested the German government’s climate policies in Berlin on Thursday.

A member of a party that is believed to be an ally of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was shot dead by suspected militants in Indian-administered Kashmir on Thursday.

The US has evacuated more than 7,000 people fleeing the Taliban’s seizure of power in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said Thursday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Germans on Thursday to get vaccinated to protect themselves and others from the coronavirus.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday he is ready to speak with the Taliban once the hardline group’s leadership is clear.

A man who claimed to have a bomb near the US Capitol has been taken into custody “without incident,” police said Thursday.

Fifteen Malian soldiers were killed and 10 others wounded when a booby trapped vehicle exploded Thursday in Mali’s central Mopti region, the Defense Ministry said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed the latest situation in Afghanistan with G7 foreign ministers and the high representative of the European Union on Thursday.

Thirty-nine irregular migrants died Thursday when their boat sank off Spain’s Canary Islands, local media reported Thursday.

Colombia on Thursday extradited two members of the National Liberation Army (ELN) rebel group who are accused by courts in the US states of Texas and Florida of drug trafficking related crimes, the Ministry of Justice said in a press release.

The UK’s Foreign Secretary said late Thursday that the British and Turkish governments are working closely to ensure that evacuations of their countries’ citizens as well as Afghan nationals continue safely.

The death toll from a recent terrorist attack in Burkina Faso’s northern Sahel region rose to 80 on Thursday, the government said in a statement.

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