Ankara has accused the two Nordic nations of providing a safe haven for outlawed Kurdish militants it deems "terrorists" and held back on ratifying their NATO membership despite an agreement in June.

Sweden and Finland dropped decades of military non-alignment and scrambled to become NATO members in May after Russia invaded Ukraine. But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to block their bids, seeking concessions.

More than a year after it took power, Taliban has failed to curb opium poppy cultivation in the country as production and exports have boomed. According to the UN's drugs agency the poppy cultivation has gone up by a third despite the Taliban's ban in April on the cultivation.

The Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline network was started in the 1960s and now covers 5,500 kilometres, pumping oil from the Urals to Europe through two main branches via Belarus and Ukraine. The leak on the Druzhba pipeline comes after four leaks were discovered in the undersea Nord Stream gas pipelines from...

The question of rights to Libya's vast hydrocarbon resources has become more urgent this year as global energy prices have soared. Monday's deal builds on an agreement signed between Ankara and a previous Tripoli-based administration in 2019.

The presidents of the countries issued a joint statement saying they could not "stay silent in the face of the blatant violation of international law by the Russian Federation". "We reiterate our support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine," they said.

The decision follows weeks of intensifying pressure from Washington for NATO member Turkey to limit its booming economic relations with Russia. The US Treasury warned last week that Turkish banks working with the Russian cards "risk supporting Russia's efforts to evade US sanctions" and could be sanctioned themselves.

Fighting late Sunday broke out between rival forces equipped with heavy weapons, with one group linked to the defense ministry and the other to the interior ministry, local media reported.

Truss became the latest Western leader at the UN General Assembly in New York to rail against Russian President Vladimir Putin, who hours earlier mobilized reservists in a clear sign he is in no rush to end the conflict. Putin's move only highlights the "catastrophic failure" of Russia's invasion of...

US has threatened to launch ‘further action’ against Iran for what it called an ‘unprecedented’ cyberattack against its ally Albania. US has accused Iran of threatening the security of a US ally and setting a troubling precedent for cyberspace. Albania in retaliation has cut off diplomatic relations with Iran.

Mass graves were initially discovered in Tarhuna in June 2020 following the withdrawal of forces of Khalifa Haftar, an eastern Libya-based military chief who had spent a year trying to seize the capital Tripoli, 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of Tarhuna.

The indebted, privately owned company also said it would focus sales on countries belonging to the NATO alliance. In July last year, an investigation revealed that Pegasus spyware had been sold by NSO to governments around the world and used against human rights activists, politicians, reporters and others.

The Turkish leader met his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in Lviv just two weeks after flying to Sochi for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin during which the two sides pledged to boost economic cooperation.

Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares was at Madrid's Torrejon de Ardoz airbase to meet them when the flight from Islamabad landed at Madrid's Torrejon de Ardoz airbase at around 10:15 pm (2015 GMT). The government would now work "to help these people to integrate, given that it will be difficult...

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has confirmed that Turkey will start paying for some of its Russian natural gas imports in rubles. Avoiding paying for the gas in dollars helps Turkey protect its dwindling hard currency reserves.

Natural gas has emerged as a weapon of war between Russia and Europe since Moscow's February 24 invasion of Ukraine. Here is how the standoff developed:  Nord Stream 2 halted  On February 22, 2022, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he is suspending the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project with Russia...

Sweden's charge d'affaires in Turkey was summoned at the weekend to explain the use of what Ankara alleges is "terrorist propaganda" in support of Kurdish militants, a diplomatic source said.

The European Union said Wednesday it has lifted sanctions against Syria's private airline Cham Wings, after the company was blacklisted last year for its alleged role in illegal migration to Europe. "On 18 July, Cham Wings was removed from the list of entities subject to EU sanctions in respect of...

The US president could not dispel the view that the Washington is no longer a reliable ally and he also failed to connect at a personal level with the young GCC leaders, say experts.

Mahmud Aguil has a comfortable house in Libya's capital Tripoli, but chronic power outages in the war-battered country and roasting summer heat now force him to sleep in his air-conditioned van.

Twenty-two Malian migrants died in a boat disaster off the Libyan coast, the UN said Tuesday, citing survivors who reported victims drowning and dehydrating with three children reportedly among the dead.  After nine days at sea, 61 survivors, mostly from Mali, were rescued by the Libyan coastguard and brought back...

Libya's Tripoli-based Presidential Council on Tuesday announced a plan to extract the country from its latest political crisis and hold elections. "In response to the legitimate demands of the Libyan people and their desire for change, the Presidential Council... agreed on a ge neral framework for a working plan to...

Speaking at the NATO summit in Madrid, Johnson said the "very, very tight labor market" and difficult "balance of our energy mix" add to inflationary pressures.

Jordan's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates has called for concrete and effective steps to address the effects of the Ukrainian crisis on food security, energy prices and supply chains

The agreement, which ends Ankara's veto of their membership bids, was signed by Finland, Sweden and Turkey in front of news cameras.

The United States vowed to reinforce Europe's defences in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as NATO declared Moscow the West's greatest threat -- prompting Vladimir Putin to lash out at the alliance's "imperial ambitions". Meeting in Madrid Wednesday, NATO leaders said Russia "is the most significant and direct...

Turkey said Wednesday it would seek the extradition of 33 "terror" suspects from Sweden and Finland under a deal that paved the way for Ankara to back the Nordic countries' NATO membership bids.

The United States said Tuesday that no concessions were given to Turkey to secure its green light for Swedish and Finnish entry into NATO at the start of the alliance's summit in Madrid. "There was no request from the Turkish side for the Americans to make a particular concession," a...

US President Joe Biden and his counterparts from the world's most industrialized nations are gathering at Elmau Castle in the Bavarian Alps before they continue on to Madrid for talks with NATO partners.

The world body said it will broker new talks between rival institutions from war-torn Libya next week to try to break a deadlock on the rules for long-awaited elections.

Leaders at the upcoming G7 summit in Germany will announce new measures aimed at pressuring Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, a senior US official said Wednesday.

Turkey on Monday said it did not view next week's NATO summit as a final deadline for resolving its objections to Finland and Sweden joining the Western defense alliance. 

US President Joe Biden has pushed back a possible trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia, US media reported Saturday. The trip would reportedly happen around the time Biden travels to a NATO summit in Spain and Group of Seven summit in Germany later this month.

NATO is no longer bound by past commitments to hold back from deploying its forces in eastern Europe, the US-led alliance's deputy secretary-general said Sunday. Moscow itself has "voided of any content" of the NATO-Russia Founding Act, by attacking Ukraine and halting dialogue with the alliance, Mircea Geoana told AFP....

Germany's government and conservative opposition have agreed a deal that will release 100 billion euros ($107 billion) to modernise the army in the face of the Russian threat. An agreement was reached late Sunday to create a special fund for military procurement that will also allow Berlin to achieve NATO's...

The Polish president warned of a crisis if Ukraine is unable to export grains to North Africa and other countries. He said Ukraine accounts for 80 percent of Egypt's grain needs.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday said Turkey would not look "positively" on Sweden and Finland's NATO bids unless its terror-related concerns were addressed, despite broad support from other allies including the United States.

The Greek foreign ministry issued "an immediate and strong-worded protest" to the Turkish ambassador in Athens.

The United States gave its full support Wednesday for Sweden and Finland's bids to join NATO, promising to stand by them if threatened by Russia and pressing Turkey to not block their membership. Hours after the two Nordic countries formally submitted their applications to enter the Atlantic alliance, President Joe...

Russia may cut gas supplies to Finland soon over the Nordic country's refusal to pay Gazprom in rubles, Finnish state-owned Gasum said on Tuesday. Gasum said it would take its dispute with Gazprom Export to arbitration, a move that risks angering neighboring Russia further as Helsinki prepares to submit its...

The Finnish government is expected to officially announce its intention to join NATO on Sunday, as Sweden's ruling party holds a decisive meeting that could pave the way for a joint application. Less than three months after Russia's February 24 invasion of Ukraine, the two Nordic neighbors look poised to...

Finland on Saturday sought to allay Moscow's fears about its bid to join NATO, as fierce fighting raged in Ukraine's east, slowing a Russian advance. One of Europe's fiercest conflicts since World War II has seen more than six million people flee for their lives, and according to Kyiv has...

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Saturday regarding the Nordic country's application for NATO membership, which is expected to be officially announced this weekend, his office said.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday said Turkey did not have a “positive opinion” on Finland and Sweden joining NATO, throwing up a potential obstacle for the nations’ membership bid. Erdogan accused both countries of harboring “terrorist organizations” in his unfavorable assessment of the membership bids.

Washington is "working to clarify Turkey's position" after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed opposition to Finland and Sweden joining NATO, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Friday. The idea of the two nations becoming members of the transatlantic alliance had received "broad support from NATO member countries," Psaki said.

Europe pledged another half billion dollars in military support for Kyiv on Friday as Sweden and Finland's moves toward joining NATO hit multiple hurdles. Moscow said it would cut off electricity to Helsinki, and the president of Turkey expressed opposition to the Scandinavian countries becoming part of NATO.

Finland took a step Thursday towards fast-track NATO membership, triggering a blunt warning from the Kremlin, as the war in Ukraine throttled supplies of Russian gas to Europe and the number of people who fled the country passed six million. In Geneva, the UN Human Rights Council decided to probe...

Once a country has decided to apply for NATO membership, the 30 members of the alliance must agree unanimously to extend a formal invitation, which is followed by membership negotiations. Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto has said his country Finland could become a full member of NATO by October.

Russia invaded Ukraine in February, in part to thwart Kyiv's tilt towards integration with the EU and NATO.

Biden said current funding was "nearly exhausted" and the US and its allies must "keep the weapons and ammunition flowing to Ukraine, without interruption for Ukraine to succeed."