Anadolu Agency is here with a rundown of the latest developments around the world.
• Three ships carrying grain and foodstuffs will depart from Ukrainian ports Friday under a recent landmark deal, Türkiye’s top defense official announced.
• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will pay a one-day visit to Russia’s coastal city of Sochi on Friday to meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to discuss bilateral ties and international issues.
• The White House condemned China’s launching of missiles near Taiwan during live-fire exercises and announced that a US aircraft carrier strike group will remain in the region amid heightened tensions.
• Japan claimed at least five ballistic missiles fired by China towards Taiwan fell within its exclusive economic zone in the Sea of Japan.
• China said whether military drills will become the new normal in the Taiwan Strait depends on the US and “secessionist” forces in Taiwan.
• Russia is planning to frame Ukraine for a deadly blast at a prison that killed over 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war, the White House said.
• NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned that if Russia wins in Ukraine, it could continue the war in neighboring countries.
• Canada said it will send up to 225 military personnel to the UK to join in training as many as 10,000 new Ukrainian troops.
• The Canadian government issued a national apology to the Peepeekisis Cree Nation for taking Aboriginal land and attempting to turn residential school graduates away from their traditions and into homesteading farmers.
• The monkeypox outbreak in the US spiked to more than 6,600 confirmed cases, prompting the Biden administration to declare monkeypox a public health emergency.
• Forecasters with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) maintained that the US is in for another unusually active hurricane season but downgraded slightly their prediction for its severity.
• The FBI has opened “a number” of investigations into abortion-related violent crime, Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers amid heightened tensions following the Supreme Court’s decision to remove federal protections for the procedure.
• The US Justice Department filed charges against four current and former police officers in connection with the shooting death of Breonna Taylor in the state of Kentucky.
• A Russian court found American basketball player Brittney Griner guilty of drug possession and smuggling.
• US President Joe Biden sharply denounced a Russian court’s decision to sentence WNBA star Brittney Griner to nine years in prison.
• US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi landed in Japan, the last leg of her controversial Asia tour.
• The UAE affirmed its support for China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity amid tensions over US House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, which Beijing considers as its “breakaway province.”
• The Bank of England hiked interest rates 50 basis points to 1.75%, the biggest increase in 27 years.
• The UK is now projected to enter a recession from the fourth quarter of 2022, said the country’s central bank.
• NATO urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to end hostilities as fighting flared up in the region of Karabakh and expressed support for normalizing relations.
• Türkiye criticized Greece’s latest move denying recognition to the Turkish minority’s elected Muslim clerics (muftis), calling it “unacceptable.”
• Greece’s National Intelligence Service (EYP) confessed to the wiretapping of a journalist working for CNN Greece, local media reported.
• South Sudan’s government announced a two-year extension to the country’s post-civil war transitional period to help better prepare for elections, now postponed until late 2024.
• Iraq’s Iran-backed Hashd al-Shaabi rejected the call of Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to dissolve parliament and hold early elections.
• Firefighters are struggling to contain a fire in Berlin’s Grunewald forest triggered by an explosion at a bomb disposal site, German authorities said.
• Real household income per capita diminished by 1.1% in the OECD area in the first quarter of 2022, contrasting with growth of 0.2% in real GDP per capita, according to data from the OECD.
Source: Anadolu Agency
