ANKARA, July 21. /TASS/: Turkey’s approval of Sweden’s bid to join NATO will depend on Stockholm’s compliance with the agreements to fight terrorism, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in comments to reporters that were broadcast by TRT television on Friday.

BAGHDAD, Jul 21 (NNN-NINA) – The Iraqi government yesterday asked the Swedish ambassador to leave Iraq and recall its charge d’affaires from Sweden, in protest against the burning of the Quran and the Iraqi flag in Sweden.

A statement by the government said, Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani issued the directives “in response to the repeated permission of the Swedish government, to burn the Quran, insult Islamic sanctities, and burn the Iraqi flag.”

MOSCOW, July 21 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Friday accused NATO member Poland of having territorial ambitions in the former Soviet Union, and said any aggression against Russia's neighbour and close ally Belarus would be considered an attack on Russia.

Moscow would react to any aggression against Belarus, which forms a loose "Union State" with Russia, "with all the means at our disposal", Putin told a meeting of his Security Council in televised remarks.

ULAN BATOR, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia has received a total of 421,780 foreign tourists so far this year, up nearly 73 percent year-on-year, the country's Ministry of Environment and Tourism said Friday.

Russia, China and South Korea were the biggest sources of tourist arrivals for Mongolia, the ministry said in a statement.

MOSCOW, July 21. /TASS/: Russia’s Central Bank has sharply increased its key rate after a long pause - by 1 percentage point to 8.5% per annum, noting reinforced inflationary pressure in the economy, according to a statement released on Friday.

TUNIS, Jul 21 (NNN-TAP) – Saudi Arabia, yesterday, signed agreements with Tunisia, to provide 500 million U.S. dollars to help finance Tunisia’s state budget.

In the presence of Tunisian Prime Minister, Najla Bouden Romdhane, the agreements were signed by Tunisian Finance Minister, Sihem Namsia and her Saudi counterpart, Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Jadaan, at the government headquarters in Tunis.

The agreements included the provision of a soft loan of 400 million dollars and a grant worth 100 million dollars to support the Tunisian economy.

MOSCOW, July 21. /TASS/: Russian forces destroyed a Ukrainian command post in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and an enemy fuel warehouse in the Zaporozhye area over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Friday.

ANKARA, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would talk with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin soon for the extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the state-run TRT broadcaster reported Friday.

"The termination of the Black Sea Grain Initiative will have a series of consequences, ranging from an increase in global food prices, famine in some regions, to potential new waves of migration," Erdogan told reporters on his flight back to Türkiye.

CAIRO, Jul 20 (NNN-MENA) – Egypt has started power load reduction temporarily, because of the excessive pressure on the country’s grid during the ongoing heatwave, the Egyptian cabinet announced in a statement, yesterday.

In the statement, Prime Minister, Mostafa Madbouly, said, the government started reducing electrical loads on Monday “because of the severe heatwave and the consequent large increase in the consumption of electrical energy.”

19 July 2023; MEMO: Russia warned that, from Thursday, any ships travelling to Ukraine's Black Sea ports will be seen as possibly carrying military cargoes after Ukraine said it was setting up a temporary shipping route to try and continue its grain exports, Reuters reports.

WASHINGTON (AP) — An IRS plan to test drive a new electronic free-file tax return system next year has got supporters and critics of the idea mobilizing to sway the public and Congress over whether the government should set up a permanent program to help people file their taxes without needing to pay somebody else to figure out what they owe.

20 July 2023; MEMO: Around 300 Israeli army reservists announced on Wednesday that they are suspending their voluntary service as doctors in protest against the judicial overhaul being pushed through by the far-right government coalition. The announcement came a day after 161 air force reservists said that they would no longer turn up for voluntary duty.