President Erdoğan said Greece should reverse course and stop arming islands in the Aegean, arguing it breaches the 1923 Lausanne and 1947 Paris treaties that require the islands stay demilitarised. The warning came days after Türkiye declared new marine parks in disputed Aegean waters and a Greek-Israeli defence deal added to the tension.
Justice Minister Akın Gürlek outlined a reform drive to speed up court proceedings, launching a pilot hotline for citizens to flag delayed cases in Ankara, Izmir and Kayseri, with nationwide rollout planned for October. New efficiency offices will track case backlogs, and old unsolved crimes will get a second look using modern forensic tools.
Prosecutors are examining whether Idris Naim Şahin, a former interior minister, helped members of the Kuriş network evade authorities after a car registered in his name was used to move suspects trying to flee the country on 21 August. Şahin was released under judicial control with a travel ban and denies knowing the men involved.
Engin Yağcılar, deputy chair of the CHP group on Edirne's municipal council, was detained after allegedly demanding €200,000 from a contractor in exchange for a building permit. Türkiye's financial crimes board is separately preparing a money-laundering report, and Yağcılar has invoked his right to remain silent.
A police document reported by Spanish media said Moroccan officers may have guided migrants toward Ceuta during the roughly 72,000-strong crossing in July that this paper has previously reported, though the national police chief later said the report does not blame Moroccan authorities for planning it. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who has pointed instead to criminal networks and disinformation, faces opposition claims that his government knew more than it has said.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Germany's finding that Russia was behind an explosive-laden drone found at Leipzig airport marks a new escalation on EU soil and 'the new normal', warning Europe faces 'a new era of security'. The Commission is weighing further sanctions, on top of Germany's own decision to close Russia's Bonn consulate and end its cultural centre's arrangement in Berlin.
Polls put the far-right AfD at around 40 percent ahead of the 6 September election in Saxony-Anhalt, far ahead of the governing CDU's 23 to 26 percent, and within reach of the outright majority that would make it the first far-right party to lead a German state government since 1945. Chancellor Friedrich Merz, campaigning for the CDU's Sven Schulze, warned an AfD win would make investors 'think twice, or rather three times'.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards launched missile and drone strikes on US bases in Erbil, Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait, after US strikes on Iran's coast this week killed at least 18 people, among them several at a wedding hit two days earlier. No American casualties were reported; the ceasefire framework from June lapsed on 17 August and there is no active negotiation.
President Xi Jinping told Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi that Middle Eastern countries should reject external interference and reshape the region's security order, during his first visit to Cairo in ten years. The two leaders launched a third phase of a Chinese-Egyptian industrial zone at the Suez Canal and called for a diplomatic end to the US-Israel war with Iran, which has disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb for six months.
Nicolás Maduro's lawyers filed a motion in a New York federal court arguing he is immune from prosecution as Venezuela's recognised head of state, after his January capture in a US military raid on Caracas. Prosecutors have until 2 October to respond, a hearing is set for 17 November, and Maduro's trial on drug-trafficking charges is currently scheduled for June 2027 if the dismissal bid fails.
A Novus poll for TV4 put the opposition bloc at 50.3 percent against 47.7 percent for the governing Tidö parties, down from a 9.6-point lead in June, as the Social Democrats fell 4.3 points and the Liberals gained. Social Democrat Tobias Baudin called the race 'extremely close' ahead of the 13 September vote.