Explainer: What is at stake with Turkey’s Russian air defense deal?
Turkey took its first deliveries of the Russian S-400 air defense system on Friday, a development likely to trigger U.S. sanctions on Ankara and escalate tensions between Turkey and its Western partners in the NATO military alliance.
Chastised French minister: I hate caviar and suffer a lobster intolerance
France’s widely lampooned environment minister denied having a taste for the high life and said on Friday he would not resign over accusations he squandered taxpayer money, in a scandal that risks upsetting the government’s reform drive.
Catalonia leader to be tried over separatist propaganda during election
The leader of the Spanish region of Catalonia, Quim Torra, will be tried for disobedience after he failed to obey an order to remove separatist propaganda from public offices during election campaigning, the regional court said on Friday.
Death toll in migrant ship disaster off Tunisia rises to 72
The death toll from a ship packed with migrants that sank off the Tunisian coast last week has risen to 72, the Tunisian Red Crescent said on Friday.
Iran strikes opposition positions on border with Iraqi Kurdistan – Tasnim
Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards used drones and missiles to strike headquarters of a Kurdish militant group near Iran’s border with neighboring Iraq’s Kurdistan region, the Iranian semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Friday.
Ireland considering port checks on whole island in no-deal Brexit
Ireland is exploring the idea of checking live animals and animal products from Britain as they arrive at ports on the whole island of Ireland if there is a no-deal Brexit, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Friday.
Explainer: Von der Leyen’s rocky path to confirmation as EU Commission chief
European Union lawmakers are likely to confirm Germany’s Ursula von der Leyen as president of the bloc’s executive Commission in a secret ballot next Tuesday, but there is a risk she could fall short of the absolute majority she needs.
Bahrain ‘strongly condemns’ what it calls Iranian attempt to intercept British tanker
Bahrain said on Friday it “strongly condemned” what it called an Iranian attempt to intercept a British tanker in the Gulf, according to a statement from its foreign ministry.
In Myanmar’s conflict-torn Rakhine, fresh allegations of ‘war crimes’
When 35-year-old Ah Hla showed up to a police station in western Myanmar in late April hoping to see her husband among the prisoners, she didn’t know whether he was alive or dead.
UK says it does not want to increase tension with Iran
Britain is not seeking to escalate the situation with Iran, foreign minister Jeremy Hunt said on Friday, as tensions continue between London and Tehran over a seized Iranian tanker and the passage of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.
