ANKARA: As the Turkish presidential elections head for a runoff between incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan and opposition challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu on May 28, the country’s weak economy continues to be the main focus of domestic and international attention. 

Staggering inflation over the last two years, which stood at around 44 percent in April, and skyrocketing food prices have considerably increased the cost of living crisis in Turkiye. 

RIYADH: The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center’s team stationed in Sudan met with World Food Programme officials on Tuesday.

The team met with the head of the WFP in Port Sudan Hafiz Ibrahim and the organization’s head of emergencies Abraham Abatneh, and they reviewed the center’s work to provide urgent aid to the Sudanese people.

The volume of aid provided through the Saudi air bridge operated by KSrelief that contributes to alleviating the tough conditions faced by the Sudanese people was also discussed.

DUBAI: Syria’s embattled President Bashar Assad received an invitation to attend the upcoming COP28 climate talks in Dubai later this year, even as the yearslong war in his country over his rule grinds on.

Assad’s invite, late on Monday, to the climate talks comes as the Syrian president already is scheduled to attend the Arab League summit this Friday in Jeddah, years after being frozen out of regional politics. 

RIYADH: An ongoing Saudi program to clear landmines in Yemen saw 896 devices laid by the Iran-backed Houthis dismantled in the second week of May.

Overseen by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, special teams destroyed 11 anti-personnel mines, 156 anti-tank mines, 728 unexploded ordnance, and one explosive device.

The KSrelief project, known as Masam, is one of several initiatives undertaken by Saudi Arabia on the orders of King Salman to help the Yemeni people.

The project has cleared routes for the delivery of much-needed humanitarian aid.

BEIRUT: A French investigative judge on Tuesday issued an international arrest warrant for Riad Salameh, Lebanon’s central bank governor, after he failed to appear for questioning on corruption charges.
Salameh was supposed to appear before French prosecutors as part of an ongoing European probe, and Judge Aud Bourizi issued the warrant in Paris.