God Morgon · Thursday, 30 July 2026

Türkiye

Erdoğan receives Lebanon's president and wants a Turkish role after UNIFIL

Joseph Aoun was received at the presidential complex in Ankara on Thursday, the first visit by a Lebanese head of state to Türkiye in 17 years. At the joint press conference Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Türkiye wants to take part in every initiative launched once the UN force UNIFIL leaves southern Lebanon, and promised continued support for the Lebanese armed forces as well as humanitarian and technical assistance. Aoun called the visit the beginning of a new era and said Lebanon would recover every inch of its territory under one state, one army and one authority.

Source: Türkiye Today · Thursday, 30 July 2026

Erdoğan says the bill on the PKK's dissolution reaches parliament within days

After the cabinet meeting in Ankara, President Erdoğan said work on the legal package that is to underpin the terror-free Türkiye initiative is finished and that it will go to parliament within days. The package is meant to cover the complete disarmament and dissolution of the PKK, designated a terrorist organisation by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union. Erdoğan said ending terrorism would also lift a heavy burden from the economy, putting the cost at more than 50 billion dollars a year and lost tax revenue at close to 123 billion dollars.

Source: Hürriyet Daily News · Wednesday, 29 July 2026

Erdoğan says any Cyprus plan that bypasses Turkish Cypriot rights is doomed to fail

The remarks came after UN Secretary-General António Guterres visited divided Cyprus. Erdoğan said the Cyprus question cannot be reduced to a simple debate over power-sharing between two communities and is fundamentally about recognising the sovereign equality and international status of the Turkish Cypriot people. Ankara is thus restating its position immediately after the UN chief's visit to the island.

Source: Arab News · Wednesday, 29 July 2026

Europe

Russian missile came down in Poland during the overnight barrage on Ukraine

Polish police and military spent Thursday examining a crater ten metres across at Tarnawa Kolonia outside Lublin, some 80 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, after residents heard a large explosion at around four in the morning. Prime Minister Donald Tusk travelled to the site with his defence and interior ministers and said everything pointed to a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile, while cautioning against pre-empting the investigation. The impact came during a large Russian attack that hit Kyiv as well as western Ukrainian cities such as Lviv.

Source: Deutsche Welle · Thursday, 30 July 2026

Italy demands Spain be shut out of Schengen after the Ceuta migration crisis

After thousands of migrants reportedly forced their way into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani called for the Schengen agreement to be suspended or for Spain to be removed from the free-travel area. Tajani blamed Pedro Sánchez's migration policy, which promises to legalise hundreds of thousands of unauthorised migrants, calling it profoundly wrong. Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares summoned the Italian ambassador and replied that the message was unbecoming of the foreign minister of a friendly partner country.

Source: Politico Europe · Thursday, 30 July 2026

Record low Danube forces Hungary's only nuclear plant to shut down

The Danube is so low that the cooling-water intakes at the Soviet-built Paks plant no longer reach it, and Prime Minister Péter Magyar says the site must shut down completely for the first time. He warns that Hungary's electricity supply could become critical from Monday, with temperatures around 37C for a week, and has asked households to hold back on consumption between 17:00 and 22:00. In Romania one of the two reactors at Cernavoda has already been shut for the same reason, and the river is at its lowest level in 30 years in several countries.

Source: BBC News · Thursday, 30 July 2026

The World

Hamas says it has agreed to disarm after Trump announces the Board of Peace deal

Donald Trump said on Thursday that the Board of Peace, which he created and chairs, had reached an agreement on the complete disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza. A senior Hamas official told the BBC the movement had accepted the plan and that a formal statement would follow; Israel had not commented at that point. The agreement belongs to the second phase of the US-brokered ceasefire, which also covers an Israeli withdrawal and reconstruction, and Trump thanked the mediators Egypt, Qatar and Türkiye.

Source: BBC News · Thursday, 30 July 2026

US and Iran trade missile barrages as hopes of a quick end fade

After a few days of respite the exchange of strikes resumed on Thursday in a war now in its fifth month. Jordan said it had intercepted Iranian missiles for the second day running, Kuwait reported one person killed in a strike in the north of the country, and Saudi Arabia said it had come under fire from Iran-backed militias in Iraq. The war, which President Donald Trump initially said would last four to five weeks, has pushed fuel prices up and is drawing down the American weapons stockpiles needed to defend bases and allies.

Source: Associated Press · Thursday, 30 July 2026

Child soldiers in Sudan describe Colombian mercenaries in the RSF's ranks

Six boys who were abducted and forced to fight for the Rapid Support Forces have described to the Associated Press, anonymously for fear of reprisal, how they were used in a war now entering its fourth year. A 17-year-old says he was shackled to an anti-aircraft gun mounted on a pickup and ordered to fire at Sudanese warplanes over Khartoum while another child was chained to the steering wheel; two of the boys say they were trained by Colombians. The accounts are rare firsthand testimony about the tens of thousands of children believed to have been conscripted by all sides.

Source: Associated Press · Thursday, 30 July 2026

Sweden

Swedes abroad are the first to vote in the parliamentary election

From Thursday, Swedes living abroad can start voting in the parliamentary election, and the group is at a record size: according to the Election Authority the number of overseas Swedes on the electoral roll has risen by almost 24 percent, to more than 220,000 people. In 2022 just over 182,000 were eligible and only 32 percent voted, some 58,000 votes, which still exceeded the margin that decided that election in favour of the Tidö parties. Several parties are therefore courting them: the Green Party and the Moderates have campaigned in London and election debates have been held at the Swedish Church in Paris among other places.

Source: SVT Nyheter · Thursday, 30 July 2026

Swedish GDP up 1.4 percent in the second quarter, against 0.5 percent for the EU

Eurostat's preliminary flash estimate, published on 30 July, puts Swedish GDP up 1.4 percent on the first quarter. Among the member states with data available only Ireland (3.9 percent) and Lithuania (1.7 percent) grew faster, while Belgium and Austria were flat at 0.0 percent. For the EU as a whole GDP rose 0.5 percent and for the euro area 0.4 percent against the previous quarter, and by 1.2 and 1.0 percent respectively against the second quarter of 2025.

Source: Eurostat · Thursday, 30 July 2026