God Morgon · Monday, 3 August 2026

Türkiye

Bahçeli and Öcalan urge parliament to back the legal framework for the peace process

Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the nationalist MHP, and jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan have both called on lawmakers to support legislation giving Türkiye's renewed peace process a legal framework. The governing AKP was collecting signatures for the bill until 5pm on Tuesday and plans to submit it to parliament after that; the text has not been made public and its scope remains unclear. The process began in October 2024 when Bahçeli unexpectedly appealed to Öcalan, and the PKK has since declared a ceasefire, announced its dissolution and started withdrawing its fighters from Türkiye.

Source: Turkish Minute · Monday, 3 August 2026

CHP mayor of Ankara's Etimesgut district remanded in custody over corruption

Erdal Beşikçioğlu, mayor for the opposition CHP in Ankara's Etimesgut district, was remanded in custody on Monday along with 40 other suspects in an investigation into the municipality. He was detained the previous Thursday together with 55 others, most of them municipal employees, in a case covering alleged irregularities in municipal operations, forgery of official documents and bribes paid to officials in connection with construction permits. Beşikçioğlu denies the accusations. The move is the latest in a series of investigations into CHP-run municipalities.

Source: Daily Sabah · Monday, 3 August 2026

Europe

Heavy attacks both ways: 16 killed in Russia and 11 in Ukraine

Local officials on each side reported at least 16 people killed in Russia and 11 in Ukraine over the past day. In Russia's Krasnodar region, governor Veniamin Kondratyev said seven people, three of them children, died when drone debris fell on the resort village of Arkhipo-Osipovka, while five were killed in the Moscow region according to the Tass news agency. On the Ukrainian side, eight people including two children were killed in an overnight attack on Zaporizhzhia and three at a petrol station in the Kryvyi Rih district. The war is entering its fifth year with no sign of slowing.

Source: Al Jazeera · Monday, 3 August 2026

Hungary's only nuclear plant close to shutdown as the Danube falls to record lows

Prime Minister Péter Magyar warned on Monday that the hardest five days lie ahead as water levels in parts of the Danube fall low enough to force the Paks nuclear plant into its first shutdown in 44 years of operation. The plant, which supplies close to half of Hungary's electricity, draws cooling water from the river and needs large volumes even once powered down. In Romania two reactors were already shut in July for the same reason, prompting a nationwide state of emergency over electricity production, and authorities there are now diverting water towards one of their nuclear plants using controlled explosions.

Source: CNN · Monday, 3 August 2026

Calm returns to Ceuta: at least 72 dead and close to 60,000 back in Morocco

Most of the roughly 60,000 migrants who swam or forced their way into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta during the week had walked back to Morocco by Sunday, while some stayed on in the hills around the city. Spanish authorities said on Sunday that at least 72 migrants had died, some by drowning and others in a crush at a breakwater, and the search for bodies in the water off the city beach continued. Morocco reported eleven deaths on its side without clarifying whether these are in addition to the Spanish figure, and blames the breach on disinformation and people smugglers.

Source: AP News · Sunday, 2 August 2026

The World

Trump gives Iran a last chance and keeps the blockade of its southern ports

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that Iran has one last chance to reach a deal before large-scale air strikes, and that talks are being held at Iran's request with the backing of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. On Truth Social he called Iran's leadership duplicitous after Tehran denied that negotiations were under way and said it was dealing only with Oman. Trump said the US blockade of Iran's southern ports will remain until a deal is reached to end the war, which began in February, and that free navigation through the Strait of Hormuz has to be restored.

Source: Al Jazeera · Monday, 3 August 2026

Israel raises serious security concerns over the disarmament deal with Hamas

Doron Spielman, spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, told the AP that Israel has raised serious security concerns with the White House about the disarmament deal announced by President Donald Trump. Israel's assessment is that Hamas intends to rebuild its military capability rather than genuinely demilitarise, and Spielman said the military will not withdraw from Gaza, where it controls more than 60 percent of the territory, before disarmament is complete. At least 17 people including children were killed in Israeli strikes overnight and into Sunday.

Source: AP News · Sunday, 2 August 2026

Japan and the US confirm their first coordinated currency intervention since 2011

Japan's Ministry of Finance confirmed a coordinated yen-buying intervention with the United States to halt the currency's slide to a forty-year low, after President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Washington was helping as a sign of friendship and to support the global economy. The yen gained 1.4 percent to 155.20 per dollar, its strongest level in nearly three months, following a 3.8 percent rise over the two previous sessions. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington would not hesitate to take part in further joint intervention, and Tokyo said the same. It is the first joint action since 2011, when the two countries moved in the opposite direction to weaken the yen after the earthquake in eastern Japan.

Source: Al Jazeera · Monday, 3 August 2026

Sweden

Sweden's election campaign starts in earnest as both prime ministerial candidates take to the road

Ulf Kristersson (Moderates) and Magdalena Andersson (Social Democrats) set off on their campaign tours on Monday, which SVT political commentator Mats Knutson calls the official start of the campaign ahead of the 13 September parliamentary election. Statistics Sweden's May party sympathy survey put twelve percentage points between the two blocs, and while other pollsters have shown a narrower gap, the opposition retains a large lead over the Tidö parties. The analysis is that Kristersson needs an event that quickly turns opinion in the 41 days left, while Andersson gains most by avoiding risk.

Source: SVT Nyheter · Monday, 3 August 2026

Sweden Democrat Richard Jomshof likens Aftonbladet's political editor to Quisling

Richard Jomshof, one of the four who took over the Sweden Democrats in 1995, posted on X an image of Aftonbladet political editor Anders Lindberg next to Vidkun Quisling, writing that the man on the left is Quisling and the man on the right is a quisling. Lindberg said he read the post as close to a death threat, recalling that Quisling was executed, while Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson called the statement deeply un-Swedish. Party leader Jimmie Åkesson conceded that Jomshof had put it provocatively but accused the opposition of feigned shock, and Jomshof then called Andersson a quisling as well.

Source: The Local Sweden · Tuesday, 4 August 2026