Leaders of the Organization of Turkic States met in Ankara on Thursday and Friday for the bloc's 13th summit, adopting the Ankara Declaration as Türkiye took over the organisation's rotating chairmanship from Azerbaijan. Erdoğan held separate talks with Uzbekistan's president on the sidelines, where the two countries signed new trade and social security agreements.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan travels to the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Atlanta on Friday and Saturday, where he is due to speak on geopolitical tensions and energy security. He plans to call for more international pressure on Israel over its continued strikes in Gaza and to raise attacks on shipping in the Black Sea, the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
A survey of 21 economists by state-run Anadolu Agency Finans puts October's monthly inflation at 2.2%, which would bring the annual rate down to 29.28% from September's 29.73%. The forecast follows the central bank's decision on 22 October to cut its policy rate by one point to 36%, citing a weakening underlying inflation trend. Official figures are due from the statistics institute on 3 November.
Türkiye's disinformation-monitoring centre rejected a Jerusalem Post report that Israel's Shin Bet is investigating whether Türkiye and Qatar funnelled money to boost Arab turnout in this week's election, calling it 'completely unfounded' and a 'deliberate disinformation campaign.' The claim follows unsubstantiated fraud allegations from Prime Minister Netanyahu's Likud party, which Israel's own Central Election Commission says it has found no evidence for. Qatar has also denied the allegations.
European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde announced on Thursday that she will leave her post on 7 February, nine months before her term ends, saying she wants 'greater freedom' to speak on non-monetary matters. She said she 'cannot remain neutral' about developments in France and beyond. Her early departure lets EU leaders choose a successor before France's presidential election next April.
A Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter serving with the EU's EUFOR Althea peacekeeping force crashed on Thursday near Brčko in northern Bosnia, killing at least four of the 15 Italian crew and injuring eleven more. The cause is under investigation. EUFOR has kept roughly 1,200 troops in Bosnia since 2004 under a UN mandate linked to the 1995 peace agreement that ended the Bosnian war.
European officials say they worry President Trump is delaying new Patriot interceptors for Ukraine until after the 3 November US midterm elections, using the shipment as leverage over Kyiv's own strikes on Russian oil facilities and a territorial settlement. NATO chief Mark Rutte has urged allies to send their own Patriot batteries directly, while Germany's defence minister has offered to speed up production of PAC-3 interceptors. Zelensky says Russia has fired more than 100 ballistic missiles at Kyiv in the past two weeks.
Prosecutors said the man shot eight people, killing one, in Trappes and La Verrière west of Paris on 23 October, a higher count than first reported. He told investigators he deliberately targeted 'people who appeared to be Muslim, African, or North African' and chose the area because he saw it as 'a hotbed for Islamists.' He is charged with murder and attempted murder as a terrorist act. Investigators found extremist literature, weapon parts and stickers for the far-right National Rally at his home.
Yemen's Houthi movement said on Thursday it struck six targets in Saudi Arabia, including the Ras Tanura refinery, the Abqaiq oil facility and airports in Riyadh and Dammam, saying it hit 'vital commercial and military infrastructure.' Saudi air defences intercepted two of the missiles over Riyadh; one person was wounded by falling shrapnel. The claims have not been independently verified, and Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry called for renewed negotiations to avoid further military escalation.
JD Vance sent a letter to Mohsen Rezaei, head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, seeking a framework for negotiations on Iran's nuclear programme and a way to avoid renewed US strikes, officials said Thursday. Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran is 'still giving diplomacy a chance' while its forces remain ready to defend the country. The contact comes amid warnings that Washington could resume military action against Iran after the 3 November US midterms.
Prime Minister Netanyahu accused Arab-led parties of 'stealing' Israel's election through bribery, threats and forged ballots, singling out a visit by Arab-Israeli lawmaker Ahmad Tibi to Qatar days before the vote. Netanyahu's camp has not produced evidence, and Israel's Central Election Commission says it has found no sign of systematic violations. That count, already reported by this paper, gave Netanyahu's bloc 53 seats to the opposition's 48 and Arab-led parties a record 19 seats; 61 are needed to govern.
Speaker Andreas Norlén announced on Thursday that Centre Party leader Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist will face a parliamentary confirmation vote on Tuesday, after Social Democrat Magdalena Andersson's attempt to build a centrist government collapsed. Thand Ringqvist's proposed coalition of the Centre Party, Social Democrats, Christian Democrats, Greens and Liberals has already been rejected by several of the parties involved. Norlén said the process is meant to 'keep up the pressure' on parties before a snap election becomes necessary.
The Christian Democrats, part of Sweden's Tidö coalition, want the government to explore agreements with 'host countries' where people issued deportation orders could be sent when their home countries refuse to take them back, according to the party's 'Security Report' published last week. The proposal echoes the Sweden Democrats' idea of 'return hubs' in non-EU countries, which party spokesperson Ludvig Aspling has called his 'favourite reform.' No host countries have been named.