Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa appointed Mazloum Abdi, the former commander of the now-dissolved Syrian Democratic Forces, as an adviser to the presidency on Thursday. The move comes three days after Abdi announced the SDF's dissolution and full integration into the Syrian army, a step Ankara has demanded as part of ending Kurdish militant influence along its border.
Osman Kavala said this week that Türkiye must comply with the European Court of Human Rights' Grand Chamber ruling, issued Tuesday, which found multiple rights violations in his case and ordered his immediate release. Türkiye never complied with an earlier Kavala ruling from 2019, and it has not freed him after this week's judgment either.
President Erdoğan held separate calls Thursday with the leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, Türkiye's communications directorate said. He discussed deepening investment, trade and defence-industry ties with Kinshasa, and told both sides Ankara supports the continued de-escalation between them following last year's peace agreement.
The former Bosnian Serb general, convicted of genocide over the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys, died Thursday in a hospital in The Hague while serving a life sentence. UN doctors had said weeks earlier that his death could come at any time; a final application for his release had just been rejected as not in the interests of justice.
Five EU commissioners from countries bordering Russia or Belarus, among them Kaja Kallas and Andrius Kubilius, have urged Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to appoint a special coordinator for eastern-flank security, speed up preparedness against infrastructure disruption and hold a College of Commissioners meeting in a Baltic state this autumn. They point to mounting airspace violations and drone incidents.
US President Donald Trump said Thursday he has had “good talks” with Vladimir Putin and that Russia “is not going to attack” NATO territory. The remark comes after weeks of Russian drone and airspace incidents over several eastern NATO members, which have prompted governments in the region to raise their alert levels.
Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said Tehran is drawing up a list of conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, closed since February. Iran demands the United States lift its blockade of Iranian ports, pay compensation for war damage and remove sanctions, Rezaei said, adding that Iran has agreed with Oman on a transit corridor through the strait.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiled “Operation Economic Outcast” this week, a wave of secondary sanctions on Iran's oil, shipping and gold trade that hit dozens of Chinese and Hong Kong-based firms. The sanctions stopped short of the major Chinese banks that handle most of China's purchases of Iranian oil; Bessent said “no one is above the reach” of US sanctions if banks take part. China's foreign ministry said it would “take all necessary measures” to protect itself.
Chad's military accused the Sudanese army of an air strike near the shared border that killed at least twelve people and wounded seven, targeting a fuel market Chadian security sources said was used by the paramilitary RSF. Chad has raised its alert level to the highest and deployed armoured vehicles toward the eastern border; Sudan's foreign ministry rejected the accusation, saying no independent investigation had confirmed it. It is the second border incident in a week, after a drone strike on 23 August more than 100km inside Chadian territory.
Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson told a press conference in the Riksdag that the Tidö government has emptied the state treasury through historically large deficits, borrowing almost 200,000 kronor a minute over its term. She said the Sweden Democrats had “forced the Moderates into an economic-political disaster” and warned ordinary Swedes would pay through higher interest rates and worse welfare. Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson has recently said the Swedish economy is “brightening”.
The government has given mining company LKAB the right to buy 275 hectares of state land in Kiruna for the city's ongoing relocation, which will affect another 6,000 residents over the coming decade. The decision settles a tug-of-war with Kiruna municipality over who should control the land purchase; the Left Party has criticised the decision, while LKAB has welcomed it.