WASHINGTON (AA) – Finland is in “open, direct, constructive dialogue” with Turkiye, the Finnish foreign minister said on Friday as Helsinki pushes its bid to join the NATO alliance. Pekka Haavisto said Finland has been in “active contact” with Ankara amid Turkish disagreements over Finland and Sweden’s membe...
PARIS (AA) – Australia’s newly elected premier pledged to rebuild the country’s bilateral relationship with France on “trust and respect,” after ties between the two countries declined to a nadir under his predecessor, according to a statement from the Elysee palace in Paris on Thursday. In a phone call, French Pr...
PARIS – A harmless desire to swim in the public pools with a full-body costume by a group of Muslim women in the southeastern Grenoble city of France has triggered a national outrage this summer. A French court on Wednesday May 25 suspended the decision by the Grenoble municipal council to authorize the long costume […]
ANKARA – The US has imposed sanctions on an international network accused of oil smuggling and money laundering that it said was led by officials of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force and supported by Russia. The network has “facilitated the sale of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Iranian oil” for the […...
ANKARA – The Turkish and French presidents have discussed Sweden’s and Finland’s bids to join NATO, according to Turkiye’s Communication Directorate. The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron that Sweden’s and Finland’s contacts with individuals and institutions affiliated wi...
TEHRAN, Iran – The Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the Greek charge d’affaires in Tehran to protest the seizure of an Iranian-flagged ship in Greece’s territorial waters. The ministry described the seizure as “an example of international banditry.” Earlier, Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) issued a statement, describing the...
Dubai, United Arab Emirates – As the Ukraine war drags on, more and more Russian professionals are moving to Dubai — the business-friendly Gulf emirate that offers an escape from the impact of Western sanctions. Entrepreneurs, lawyers and art dealers are among those flocking to the financial hub in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates...
KYIV, Ukraine – Four more children were killed in Russian attacks in Ukraine over the past day, raising the war count to 238, Ukrainian authorities have said. An 11-year-old girl was fatally injured in Kharkiv, while three children aged 14, 15 and 17 were killed in Mariupol, according to the office of Ukraine’s prosecutor general. […]...
Pretoria, South Africa – (AFP): Hundreds of protesters from a radical leftist party in South Africa marched Wednesday on the French embassy in Pretoria to demand that France leave Africa. Chanting “Fuck off, France” and dressed in their trademark red T-shirts and caps, the Economic Freedom Fighters carried placards reading &#...
PARIS (AA) – A French court has suspended a decision by the Grenoble Municipal Council to allow Muslim women to wear the burkini, a full body swimming costume, in the city’s public pools. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin commended the administrative tribunal’s decision on Twitter. “Excellent news: following our appeal, the administrativ...
