U.S. Embassy

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Wednesday that it would be a "grave mistake" for the United States to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and that he had warned U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Authoritarian governments around the world have increasingly embraced the disgraceful tactic of arresting U.S. citizens and holding them as de facto hostages in an attempt to gain leverage over Washington. Iran and North Korea were pioneering practitioners — and both repeatedly extracted U.S. concessions. That probably encouraged other nations, including Egypt and Venezuela.

Hundreds of Iranians on Aug. 31 attended the funeral of Ebrahim Yazdi, one of the country's most influential dissident politicians and a former foreign minister.

A suicide bomber blew himself up at a bank close to the heavily protected U.S. embassy in the Afghan capital Kabul yesterday, killing at least five people and wounding eight, the interior ministry said.

The bomber hit the entrance to a Kabul Bank branch in the well-off area of Kabul, ministry spokesman Najib Danish said. He said at least five people had been killed and eight wounded.

n explosion hit a bank in an area of the Afghan capital Kabul on Tuesday close to the heavily protected U.S. embassy compound, officials said, quoted by Reuters. 

Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish said the blast occurred at the entrance to a Kabul Bank branch, not far from the embassy. There was no immediate word on casualties.

Egypt called off a scheduled meeting between its foreign minister and top United States presidential adviser Jared Kushner on Aug. 23 after the United States decided to withhold millions of dollars in aid.

President Vladimir Putin has said the United States would have to cut 755 diplomatic staff in Russia and warned of a prolonged gridlock in its ties after the U.S. Congress backed new sanctions against the Kremlin.

Putin added bluntly that Russia was able to raise the stakes with America even further, although he hoped this would be unnecessary.

Germany warned its citizens in Turkey to stay away from crowds during commemorations of the anniversary of the deadly July 15, 2016 coup attempt.  

The warning was issued on the official website of Germany's Federal Foreign Office on July 12.

An Istanbul prosecutor has sought three life sentences each for a total of 55 suspects in a new indictment regarding a case into trucks belonging to Turkey's National Intelligence Agency (MİT). 

Photo: Srbija Danas

"The Serbian wailing wall" will be displayed near the US embassy in Belgrade, an association of the families of kidnapped and murdered Kosovo Serbs has said.