AnewZ Morning Brief - March 13th, 2025

Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief: here are the top news stories for March 13th, covering the latest developments you need to know.

1. The 12th Global Baku Forum begins Azerbaijan’s capital today

The 12th Global Baku Forum will be held in Azerbaijan’s capital on March 13-15, organized by the Nizami Ganjavi International Center. As in previous forums, this event will bring together world leaders and representatives of international organizations from various countries around the world.

This year's forum will focus on particularly relevant issues under the theme: "This year's forum will focus on particularly relevant issues under the theme: "Rethinking the World Order: Turning Challenges into Opportunities."

2. Trump warns Russia of sanctions if Putin refuses Ukraine ceasefire deal

Donald Trump has threatened to devastate Russia’s economy if Vladimir Putin rejects a proposed 30-day ceasefire with Ukraine.

The US president said on Wednesday that the consequences if Russia snubbed the truce would be “very bad”, but insisted he did not believe it would come to that.

His intervention came after it was reported Putin was prepared to delay any agreement that would slow the momentum of his forces on the battlefield.

3. Canada’s incoming prime minister says he’ll meet Trump if Canadian sovereignty is respected

Canada’s incoming Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday he’s ready to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump if he respects Canadian sovereignty and is open to talk about a common approach to trade.

Trump has declared a trade war on his northern neighbor and continues to call for Canada to become the 51st state, a position that has infuriated Canadians. Trump has threatened economic coercion in his annexation threats and suggested Tuesday the border is a fictional line.

4. German spy agency concluded COVID virus likely leaked from lab, papers say

Germany's foreign intelligence service in 2020 put at 80%-90% the likelihood that the coronavirus behind the COVID-19 pandemic was accidentally released from China's Wuhan Institute of Virology, two German newspapers reported on Wednesday.

According to a joint report by publications Die Zeit and Sueddeutscher Zeitung, Germany's spying agency BND had indications that the institute had conducted gain-of-function experiments, whereby viruses are modified to become more transmissible to humans for research purposes.

5. G7 foreign ministers meet in Canada amid tensions with Trump

Foreign ministers of leading Western democracies meet in Canada on Thursday after seven weeks of rising tensions between U.S. allies and President Donald Trump over his upending of foreign policy on Ukraine and imposing of tariffs.

The Group of Seven ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, along with the EU, meet in the remote tourist town of La Malbaie, nestled in the Quebec hills for two days of meetings that in the past have broadly been consensual on the issues they face.

6. NASA, SpaceX delay flight that was to retrieve stuck astronauts

NASA and SpaceX on Wednesday delayed the launch of a replacement crew of four astronauts to the International Space Station that would have set in motion the long-awaited homecoming of U.S. astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.

NASA had been set to launch a SpaceX rocket from Florida carrying a replacement crew for the International Space Station in a mission that would set up the return to Earth of Wilmore and Williams - stuck in space for nine months after a trip on Boeing's faulty Starliner.

7. Canada announces plan to ease Syria sanctions

The Canadian government on Wednesday announced plans to ease sanctions on Syria during what it called a period of transition.

Many Western nations, including Canada, had put a range of sanctions against Syria under its ousted President Bashar al-Assad, who was toppled late last year by insurgent forces led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

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