Turkey bars some Middle Eastern nationals from flying to Belarus

The Wagner Group boss was exiled to Belarus this week following a short-lived rebellion by his mercenaries in Russia. Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya told DW his presence there is a security threat.

Just weeks after an aborted mutiny, the head of the private military group Wagner was supposed to be in exile, but Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko now claims he is actually in Russia.

Sweden is keen to join the alliance, but Erdogan has taken a dim view over Stockholm's attitude to pro-Kurdish groups, but PM Ulf Kristersson is hoping to change the Turkish president's mind.

Turkey has long sought the purchase of 40 F-16s from the US, and fresh talks with Washington come after Ankara ended its opposition to Sweden's NATO membership.

NATO members have said they want Ukraine in the alliance when the time is right, as Turkey drops its opposition to Swedish accession on day one of two-day summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.

The court said "dual criminality" had not been met, and that the two people wanted by Turkey risked "being exposed to persecution."

The Turkish president is set to visit the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The four nations have gone from unhappy antagonists to, more recently, allies. How did they get there?

The Treaty of Lausanne was signed on July 24, 1923. Although its significance is often underestimated, it still ensures stability in the eastern Mediterranean a century later.

As the first few hundred French and European nationals are evacuated from coup-hit Niger, the military governments of Mali and Burkina Faso say any foreign armed intervention in Niamey will be treated as a declaration of war against them all. Also, two protesters are killed in demonstrations that erupted in Senegal after opposition figure Ousmane Sonko was jailed on Monday.

Tensions between Poland and Belarus have increased following reports that two helicopters violated the NATO country's airspace. Belarus has denied any border violation.

Poland's Defense Ministry says it will send reinforcements to the country's frontier with Belarus. Warsaw claims Belarusian border guards are behind a renewed rise in illegal crossings.

EU countries neighboring Belarus are ramping up border security, citing threats posed by Wagner mercenaries. That leaves Minsk more isolated, but ordinary Belarusians are impacted too.