Contemporary history

The first passenger plane from the Chinese province of Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic that killed more than 6 million worldwide, has landed in Istanbul after a two-and-a-half-year halt due to COVID-19.

China Southern Airlines' airliner with flight number CZ8021 arrived in Istanbul Airport at 9.30 p.m. on June 29.

Members of an Iranian team, caught on June 17 in Istanbul, were going to implement a two-stage plan to attack and kidnap Israeli diplomats and tourists, the daily Milliyet has reported.

Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

Syria has recognized the DPR and LPR

Syria has decided to recognize the independence and sovereignty of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, SANA news agency and Syrian state television reported, citing an official source from the foreign ministry.

During a meeting in Madrid, Turkish and US Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Joe Biden agreed to "continue close consultations" between Washington and Ankara, the White House reported.

The two leaders discussed the candidacies of Sweden and Finland for NATO membership, the war in Ukraine, and the situation in the Aegean Sea and Syria.

Six PKK terrorists have been neutralized in the regions of the Operation Claw-Lock and Operation Claw-Tiger, the Turkish Defense Ministry has said.

Posting a tweet about the latest operations against the terror organization, the ministry said, "Six terrorists neutralized."

"No stop, no tiredness. Fight continues," the ministry noted.

Fahrettin Koca, Türkiye's health minister, has said the bad days of the coronavirus pandemic are over and refused the allegations that face masks will be mandatory again in the fall.

With the rise of the number of infections, an assertion that citizens will be forced to wear face masks again in the up-coming months sensationalized the social media last week.

Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

Aftermath of the Russian strike in Eastern Ukraine

Rescuers have stopped searching for survivors of the Russian missile strike on a shopping center in the city of Kremenchuk.

Authorities say 36 people are thought to be missing.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will call on his NATO allies at the Madrid summit to increase their defense spending in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, his cabinet said.

After Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, NATO member states pledged to spend at least 2.0% of their gross domestic product on defense by 2024 to ensure the alliance's combat readiness.

"Calls for support for Russian troops are absolutely unacceptable". This is the position of the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in connection with a post on social networks of the Russian Embassy, ​​which calls for donations for Russian soldiers.

Ljubljana – The Constitutional Court has rejected an appeal by former PM Janez Janša against the statute barring of the Patria defence deal bribery case. While Janša felt denied a chance to prove his innocence, the top court claims he had no legal interest, as statute barring is fully equivalent to an acquittal, meaning he is considered innocent.