🇹🇷 There are three candidates in Turkiye's presidential election, with the main battle for the top government post being between opposition leader Kemal Kılıcdaroglu and incumbent President Tayyip Erdogan.

The third candidate is Sinan Ogan of the ATA Alliance, while the fourth candidate, leader of the Memleket party Muharrem Ince, announced the withdrawal of his candidacy three days before the election.

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Archaeologists from Croatia's University of Zadar have discovered a 7,000-year-old underwater road along the Croatian coast, shedding light on the significance of the Hvar culture.

The Hvar culture refers to a prehistoric civilization that inhabited the region, and this discovery provides valuable insights into their cultural and social development.

The underwater road serves as evidence of the Hvar culture's advanced engineering and maritime activities, highlighting their connections and importance in the ancient Mediterranean world.

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‘Multipolar world feasible only by a multipolar Asia’: EAM Jaishankar 🇮🇳

💭"Indo-Pacific itself is increasingly central to the direction of global politics. The more the European Union and Indo-Pacific deal with each other, the stronger will be the respective appreciation of multipolarity, and remember, a multipolar world, which the EU prefers, is feasible only by a multipolar Asia," Jaishankar told the EU 🇪🇺 Indo-Pacific Ministerial Forum in Stockholm

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US homeland security chief claims illegal border crossings down 50% since Title 42 expired

"Over the past two days, the US border patrollers experienced a 50% drop in the number of encounters versus what we were experiencing earlier in the week before Title 42 ended at midnight on Thursday," US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas told American TV channel.

"It is still early. We are in day three. But, you know, we have been planning for this transition for months and months," he said, adding it was too early to say whether the surge had peaked.

Title 42 restrictions were implemented under President Donald Trump in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to allow for prompt deportations of illegal migrants to Mexico or their origin countries.

Over 10,000 attempted to cross earlier last week, before Title 42 expired.

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❗️Erdogan’s alliance secures over half of seats in parliament with 50% of ballots counted, according to state media

Netanyahu claims Israel destroyed entire Islamic Jihad command in Gaza Strip

"With complete surprise and continuous initiative, we targeted the entire Islamic Jihad leadership in Gaza. We destroyed 17 Jihad command centers. We eliminated dozens of terrorists. We hit rocket and missile arsenals, took out anti-tank units, etc," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, calling the operation "perfect."

He thanked the IDF commanders and soldiers, the Israel Security Agency as well as Israeli citizens for their "steadfast resilience."

Israel started the Shield and Arrow operation on Tuesday night, conducting airstrikes against the Islamic Jihad militants in the Palestinian exclave of Gaza.

The violence left 33 Palestinians dead, including senior Islamic Jihad militants.

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NATO intends to offer Kiev support, but no membership at July summit

Officials and diplomats of the NATO alliance are planning to come up with a proposal that will include immediate support measures for Ukraine, but will not give the country the so-desired member status, according to the Western media outlet.

Source familiar with the matter said the solution will be presented at the NATO summit in Vilnius from July 11-12.

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🇹🇷 The Turkish presidential race headed into a runoff as both Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his main challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu seemed unlikely to secure over 50% of the vote, according to a state TV tally.

Erdogan was leading Kilicdaroglu with 49.76% of the vote, with 92% of the ballots counted, while the opposition leader lagged behind with 44.48% of the vote. The second round is set for May 28.

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Kyrgyzstan sees no hurdles to cooperate with Russia despite sanction threat

"We are strategic partners, we have no obstacles to cooperation. Our Western partners talk about possible sanctions, but we also follow our own rules, and I don't see any problems," Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Zheenbek Kulubaev told the Russian TV channel when asked if the threat of secondary sanctions may impact bilateral relations between Russia and Kyrgyzstan.

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🎬 'Cleopatra was white, get over It': netizens slam continued attempts to defend new Netflix drama

▪️Adele James, who stars as Cleopatra in the Netflix drama, recently commented on the debate over the series, saying that "blackwashing isn’t a thing" and thus sparking another wave of criticism and outrage online.

▪️Netizens have once again highlighted that if the series is presented as a documentary, it should be produced in a way that isn't out of step with history.

▪️The general public's outrage corresponds with the low ratings of the series. The drama received a shockingly low rating of 1.1 out of 10 on IMDb. And it’s doing no better on Rotten Tomatoes, with only 13% on the Tomato meter and 1% audience score from over 1,000 ratings.

🗣"Good, go woke go broke. Especially for documentaries. At least be accurate," one user tweeted.

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Moldovan president discusses financial assistance to country with USAID

"President Maia Sandu discussed with Erin McKee, Assistant Administrator of USAID's Bureau for Europe and Eurasia, the assistance that USAID has provided to us over the years … There was also a discussion on new funding opportunities to help the government accelerate the consolidation of democracy and economic growth through infrastructure, transport and resilience projects," Sandu’s office said.

The Moldovan president also thanked the US government that helps Kishinev to develop information technology, agriculture, wine-making and light industry through USAID grants.
Currently, Moldova is carrying out several projects with the support of USAID, which launched partnership with Kishinev in 2016.

From May 12-13, Sandu went to the US with an official visit. She met with several US official and lawmakers and delivered a speech at the Moldovan-American Convention in Chicago.

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Eerie booms & low-pitch rumblings in Earth's stratosphere perplex scientists

In 2016, a team of US researchers released around 50 simple plastic balloons equipped with microbarometers to record sounds from volcanic eruptions and monitor earthquakes.

However, during their routine data collection in the stratosphere, they discovered mysterious infrasound signals of unknown origin. These signals occur regularly but their source remains completely unknown.

The researchers use low-cost balloons made from plastic bags, charcoal dust, and shipping tape, which are lifted by the sun's heat to an altitude of over 20 km. They will continue their investigations in different regions and seasons to gather more information and hopefully uncover the source of these puzzling stratospheric sounds.

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US Deputy Finance Chief says debt ceiling talks running constructively as default looms

"The conversations are constructive between all the parties and now the president looks forward to getting together with the leaders to talk about how we continue to make progress," Wally Adeyemo told an American broadcaster.

The White House and Republicans in Congress have been locked in a dispute on a deal that would avert an unprecedented national default as early as June. Adeyemo described the prospect as "catastrophic."

President Joe Biden told his press pool on Saturday that the talks were moving along but that they were "not there yet." He has also suggested invoking the 14th Amendment to unilaterally raise the debt limit.

Asked whether Biden was really considering the move despite Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen calling it legally questionable, Adeyemo said that Biden "did not think the 14th Amendment would solve our problems now."

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🇫🇷 France vows to send further arms shipment to Kiev regime

The government of Macron, whose approval rating has plunged to the mid-twenties amid widespread outrage over his efforts to circumvent Parliament to force an increase to the retirement age, is “focusing its effort in supporting Ukraine’s air defense capacities,” Paris and Kiev insisted in a joint statement.

💬 “In the coming weeks, France will train and equip several battalions with tens of armored vehicles and light tanks, including AMX-10RCs,” the statement indicated.

Both countries are also demanding that yet another round of sanctions be imposed on Moscow, they announced.

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🇮🇩🇺🇸 US pushes Indonesia to ramp up military cooperation, Jakarta pledges neutrality

A US Army’s top general was deployed to Indonesia in an effort to solidify the country’s position in the American orbit this week amid Washington’s ongoing efforts to encircle China militarily and constrain its growth.

The Army’s Chief of Staff, James McConville, described his meeting with Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto as a relatively benign effort to bring peace to the Indo-Pacific region.

For his part, Subianto described peace and stability in the region as a “common concern,” but insisted Indonesia would maintain its neutrality, pledging to continue pursuing relationships with all world’s nations – “especially all the major powers.”

But it’s unclear that Jakarta’s leaders are as willing to sign up for a battle with Beijing as their counterparts in Manila. Last November, Subianto promised to restore joint military exercises with China following a meeting with the nation’s defense minister.

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🇹🇷 Erdogan has 49.24%, Kilicdaroglu – 45% after 100% of the ballots counted, state media says

More than 26 million people have voted for Erdogan, over 23.8 million — for Kilicdaroglu, and more than 2.7 million — for Sinan Ogan of the ATA Alliance.

The Supreme Election Council also invalidated more than 1 million out of 53.9 million ballots. The turnout has exceeded 88.8%.

Ballots cast abroad are still being processed.

🇮🇷 Iranian flotilla approaches home waters after round-the-world trip through ‘America’s backyard’

The Iranian’s Navy’s 86th Flotilla – consisting of the Dena frigate and the Makran forward base ship, arrived in the southwestern Omani port of Salalah on Sunday on the final leg of its world-spanning tour, which included a much-publicized stopover in the Western hemisphere, to Washington’s annoyance.

The flotilla, which has traveled over 63,000 km, broke the record set by the Makran and the Sahand in 2021.

The Makran and the Dena began their journey on September 20, 2022, steaming east through the Indian Ocean, into the South China Sea, then into the Pacific and on to the Atlantic, including a stopover in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil before heading out toward Cape Town, South Africa, where another stopover was made.

The US military closely monitored the flotilla along its route, with the State Department expressing its “deep disappointment” over Brazil’s decision to allow the Iranian warships to dock in Rio. Assistant Secretary of State Brian Nichols told a Congressional committee that the Islamic Republic’s vessels “have no place in our hemisphere,” parroting the rhetoric of the 19th century’s Monroe Doctrine, which holds that the entire Western Hemisphere is the exclusive security domain of the US.

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❗️Ukrainian forces hit Lugansk, emergency services are on the scene, Sputnik's correspondent reports

A Storm Shadow cruise missile has hit a section of the former Aviation School of Navigators in Lugansk, former LPR officer Marochko told Sputnik

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