BUDAPEST: Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday that more talks between parliamentary groups were needed before lawmakers vote on the ratification of Finland and Sweden’s NATO membership bids which they will begin debating next Wednesday.
Speaking on public radio, Orban said he had asked lawmakers of his nationalist Fidesz party to support their bid, adding however that some deputies were “not very enthusiastic” about the expansion and sought further discussions on the matter.

ANKARA: Turkiye has issued rebuilding regulations for a region devastated by earthquakes this month to enable companies or charities to help in the urgent task of building new homes for the millions who need rehousing after the devastating tremors.
More than 160,000 buildings, containing 520,000 apartments, collapsed or were severely damaged in Turkiye in the earthquakes.
The Turkish death toll from the tremors now stands at more than 43,500 people, while the toll in neighboring Syria, a nation already shattered by war, is close to 6,000.

BRUSSELS: The EU has condemned a death penalty imposed by an Iranian court on an Iranian German dual national and expressed concern about the increasing number of EU citizens in Iran’s jails.

Tehran’s Revolutionary Court convicted Jamshid Sharmahd, 67, on Tuesday on charges of playing a role in a deadly 2008 mosque bombing.

His family says he was kidnapped by the Iranian security services while in transit in Dubai and then taken to Iran for a show trial.

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden’s top adviser on the Middle East is in the region for meetings with Egypt, Jordan, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, the White House said on Thursday.
The official, Brett McGurk, is traveling as part of a multiple-agency trip to the region as Washington has expressed concern over a surge in violence in Israel and the West Bank, which the Palestinians want as the core of a future state.

BRUSSELS: The European Union said Thursday it is temporarily easing sanctions on Syria to speed up aid deliveries to the country two weeks after a devastating earthquake.
Aid organizations will no longer need to seek permission from EU member state governments before sending supplies and services to sanctioned entities in Syria, the European Council representing the bloc’s countries said in a statement.
The measure will last for six months and was taken “in view of the gravity of the humanitarian crisis in Syria exacerbated by the earthquake.”