United Arab Emirates

President Joe Biden on July 16 will lay out his strategy for the Middle East as he closes out of the final leg of a four-day trip meant to bolster U.S. positioning and knit the region together against Iran.

Treasury and Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati is attending the gathering of G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs in Indonesia where they seek strategies to counter the economic fallout from the war in Ukraine, inflation and other global crises.

Türkiye's space agency (TUA) and the United Arab Emirates Space Agency (UAESA) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the peaceful use of space and space science, technologies and applications.

The signing ceremony was held in Istanbul on July 13 where delegations from both countries gathered for an investment workshop.

U.S. President Joe Biden will hold bilateral talks on July 14 with Israeli officials in Jerusalem, where the two allies are expected to declare a "united stand" on common foe Iran.

Biden touched down in Tel Aviv on Wednesday for the first Middle East tour of his presidency, which will see him meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders before flying onwards to Saudi Arabia.

Paris – Slovenia’s star cyclist Tadej Pogačar, the winner of the past two Tour de France races, seems well on his way to make it three in a row. Talking to the press on Monday, a free day in the excruciating three-week grand tour that started 10 days ago, Pogačar said he liked wearing the yellow jersey and hopes he gets to keep it until the end.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke by phone with the leaders of 8 countries on the occasion of Eid al-Adha on July 9. 

View of the Boka Kotorska Bay in Montenegro. Photo: BIRN/Samir Kajosevic

The Central Bank said that Russians were also the largest investors in Montenegro, after they invested 41.6 million euros in the country since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February.

Saudi Arabia has announced it was disbursing billions of dollars directly to citizens to ease the effects of inflation amid growing online expressions of frustration over rising prices.    

The UAE has sent a plane with 52 tons of food products in support of Ukrainian refugees to the Republic of Bulgaria as part of the UAE's ongoing assistance to alleviate the humanitarian consequences facing Ukrainian refugees in Ukraine's neighboring countries, the Emirates News Agency reported.

The number of Ukrainian refugees in Bulgaria is estimated at more than 90,000.

"Exactly 19 years ago, at the Thessaloniki Summit, the way was opened for the Western Balkans to join the European family. Unfortunately, since then, the progress that has been made, in practice, is minimal.