Turkey's state-owned Halkbank has raised a further $1.1 billion from international markets since a US court dropped its sanctions-evasion and money-laundering case against the bank this summer. That is on top of $3.9 billion the bank had already secured since the case closed, a sign that Halkbank has regained access to foreign funding after years of litigation.
A Turkish court has jailed 81 people pending trial in a financial-crimes investigation into the Süleymanlılar religious community, including its leader Alihan Kuriş. Prosecutors have also summoned former interior minister İdris Naim Şahin for questioning after a car registered to him was allegedly used in an attempt to help a suspect flee the country. Şahin says he had rented the car out and did not know how it was used.
A Russian strike on the Bucha district just outside Kyiv killed at least 37 people and wounded more, one of the deadliest single attacks on Ukraine this year. The fire that followed damaged at least 50 residential buildings. The strike came on the third consecutive day of air-raid alerts across large parts of the country, as Ukraine's air defences shot down or suppressed 233 Russian drones overnight into Saturday.
King Harald V, Europe's oldest reigning monarch, died on Friday at Oslo University Hospital's Rikshospitalet at the age of 89, having been admitted there since 17 August. He is immediately succeeded by his son, who takes the name Haakon VIII and keeps the same motto chosen by his father, grandfather and great-grandfather: All for Norway. A state funeral at Oslo Cathedral is expected shortly.
Icelanders voted on Saturday on whether to resume negotiations on EU membership, more than a decade after Iceland withdrew its application in 2013. An early partial count of about 87,000 of the country's 270,000 eligible voters put the Yes side narrowly ahead at 51.2 percent to 48.8, in line with the tight pre-vote polling. The result is advisory, and no final call is expected until counting is complete.
At least 676 people have died in Nepal and seven in Tibet after a collapsing glacier sent a torrent of ice, water and debris through Himalayan valleys on Wednesday, according to the US Geological Survey. Nearly 3,000 people remain missing on both sides of the border, including about 90 Americans and 41 Australians. Rescue efforts continue four days after the disaster.
President Trump announced on Friday a deal giving American companies access to develop 17 Venezuelan oil fields with an estimated potential of 65 billion barrels, negotiated by Secretary of State Rubio and Defense Secretary Hegseth with Venezuela's interim president, Delcy Rodríguez. The deal is expected to draw $100 billion in investment and yield over $209 billion in tax revenue for Caracas. It comes nine months after the US military captured Venezuela's then-president Nicolás Maduro and brought him to the United States to face narcotics-trafficking charges.
The US, South Korea and Japan announced on Friday that they will proceed with a trilateral drill, Freedom Edge, starting September 7 in waters off South Korea's Jeju Island and running five days. The exercise, launched in 2024, tests joint missile defence and anti-submarine warfare and comes as North Korea ramps up pressure on the United States. Pyongyang has previously called the drill a reckless show of force.
Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Åkesson opened the final two weeks of the campaign on Saturday with a speech in his home town of Sölvesborg, seeking to reverse a slipping poll position ahead of a tight election on 13 September. Polling published this week puts the governing bloc of the Sweden Democrats, Moderates, Christian Democrats and Liberals at around 45.6 percent, short of a majority on its own, while the Social Democrats lead with 30.7 percent.