In his victory speech, the 69-year-old newly re-elected President Erdogan pledged to unite a country deeply divided. Claiming 52.1 per cent of the run-off vote, Erdogan emerged victorious yet again. His challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, however, accused the President of deploying state machinery to his advantage, including the alleged denial of airtime on state television.

Like a Paris deal for plastics, countries want to end plastic pollution with a global treaty. But observers are already concerned that it is ignoring the most obvious solution, while others are dragging their feet.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has urged Turkey to stop holding up Sweden's NATO entry bid, saying membership "will make Sweden safer but also make NATO and Turkey stronger."

The court has approved the move ahead of NATO membership talks with Ankara. Turkey has used its NATO vote to pressure Stockholm into delivering Kurds into its hands.

Following the reelection of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, analysts are asking whether Turkey sticks to the unorthodox low interest rate policy he has supported. The crisis-ridden market may be heading for a turnaround.

Turkey has increased its base interest rates by a whopping 6.5%, the clearest indication yet that the unconventional economic policy dubbed "Erdonomics" might be history now in Recep Tayyip Erdogan's new government.

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.