Author: Anadolu Agency

Türkiye will oppose any efforts to prevent Syria from achieving lasting peace and stability, the Turkish president warned on Tuesday, reiterating continued support for the Syrian government. “Whoever tries to prevent Syria from achieving lasting peace and stability, I say this openly, will find us standing against them alongside the Syrian government,” Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said after a Cabinet meeting in the capital Ankara. “Just as we did not allow Syria to be divided through a terror corridor, we will not allow this country to be divided through other corridors either,” Erdoğan warned. “There is no possibility of going back…

Senior advisers to US President Donald Trump reportedly cautioned him weeks before the latest tariff decision that the measures could damage global markets and risk a downturn in the US economy. CBS News cited multiple sources saying internal divisions emerged well before the public announcement, despite the White House’s claims of unity on the tariff plan. In late March, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and trade adviser Peter Navarro clashed during internal debates. Navarro pushed for a 25% tariff on all $3 trillion in imports. Bessent, drawing on his Wall Street background, warned of serious market instability and laid out alternative…

Türkiye’s central government budget posted a 261.4 billion liras ($7 billion) deficit in March, according to official data released on Tuesday. The figure narrowed from a 301.1 billion liras ($8.4 billion) deficit in February, a report from Türkiye’s Treasury and Finance Ministry showed. The deficit rose by 25.1% compared to the same month of the previous year. Budget revenues hit 766.26 billion liras ($20.6 billion), while expenditures totaled 1.02 trillion liras ($27.6 billion). Non-interest expenditures reached 866.48 billion liras ($23.3 billion), with interest payments totaling 161.24 billion liras ($4.3 billion). The report showed that tax revenues came in at 645.1…

The Maldives will no longer allow entry to Israeli passport holders, President Mohamed Muizzu announced on Tuesday, citing the country’s opposition to Israel’s brutal military campaign in Gaza. The decision follows the ratification of the Third Amendment to the Maldives Immigration Act, which was passed by the People’s Majlis on April 15, according to a statement from the President’s Office. In a Facebook post, Muizzu described the amendment as a “clear reflection of our stand against the ongoing atrocities in Palestine,” adding that the Indian Ocean nation “reaffirms its unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian people.” The President’s Office also said…

The U.S. State Department found no proof that Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk engaged in anti-Semitic activity or supported a “terrorist organization,” according to a report in the Washington Post released Sunday. The report said a March memo from within the State Department concluded there were no grounds to revoke Öztürk’s visa based on the Trump administration’s claim that she supported the Palestinian group Hamas or engaged in anti-Semitism or violence as alleged by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The memo, described to the Washington Post by anonymous sources, said Secretary of State Marco Rubio lacked sufficient grounds to…

Japan “won’t compromise” to rush through tariff talks with the US, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told parliament on Monday. “We do not intend to make one compromise after another to conclude negotiations swiftly,” Ishiba told lawmakers, according to Kyodo News. The Donald Trump administration has imposed 24% on Japanese imports, particularly hitting sales of cars, steel and aluminum, but is currently attempting to negotiate with Washington as the US president granted a 90-day reprieve to all nations, except China, hit by his wide-ranging tariffs. Tokyo has repeatedly urged Washington to exempt Japan from the tariffs. Trump, however, has imposed a…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that the ongoing conflict in Ukraine could escalate into a world war if Kyiv and its partners do not stand firm against further Russian advances. Speaking in an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program which aired Sunday, Zelensky argued that the security of the world is at stake due to the Ukraine conflict, which has been raging on for more than three years. “If we do not stand firm, he (Russian President Vladimir Putin) will advance further,” Zelensky said. Expressing this to be “not just idle speculation,” Zelensky claimed his Russian counterpart’s goal is…

Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, a towering figure in Latin American literature,, died at 89, his family said Sunday. “It is with deep sorrow that we announce that our father, Mario Vargas Llosa, passed away peacefully in Lima today, surrounded by his family,” said a family statement shared by his son Alvaro Vargas Llosa on X. “His departure will sadden his relatives, his friends and his readers around the world, but we hope that they will find comfort, as we do, in the fact that he enjoyed a long, adventurous and fruitful life and leaves behind him a body of…

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “deeply alarmed and shocked” by a deadly Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian city of Sumy, according to a statement released Sunday by his spokesperson. Ukraine said that more than 30 people were killed in the strike on the city, located 31 kilometers (19.2 miles) from the Russian border, as people gathered to celebrate the Christian holiday of Palm Sunday. Guterres emphasized in the statement that attacks targeting civilians and civilian objects are prohibited under international humanitarian law, adding that “any such attacks, wherever they occur, must end immediately.” He also reiterated his call for…

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren criticized US President Donald Trump’s tariff policy on Sunday in an appearance on ABC’s This Week. “There is no tariff policy. It’s just all chaos and corruption. That’s all we have going on,” Warren told co-anchor Jonathan Karl, condemning Trump’s sudden decision to exempt certain tech products from newly imposed tariffs. “What’s the emergency we have with Belgium or South Korea?” she asked. Trump has reintroduced sweeping tariffs under a 1977 emergency law, targeting nearly all US trading partners. The White House moved late Friday to exempt key tech products following market backlash. The decision has…