Nordic countries

Household chores and looking after children are purely "women's work" in Greece, Italy and Romania compared to other European countries, according to a survey by the Center of Demographic Studies of Barcelona.

Finland remained the world's happiest country for a seventh straight year in an annual U.N. sponsored World Happiness Report published on March 20.

And Nordic countries kept their places among the 10 most cheerful, with Denmark, Iceland and Sweden trailing Finland.

Compared to the previous year, Türkiye has climbed eight places in the list and is now ranked 98th.

The foreign ministers of the Contact Group called on Nordic countries and Benelux states to be more critical against Israel as part of their efforts for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Gaza.

Türkiye will consider paving the way for the NATO membership of Sweden after the Nordic country adopts its anti-terror law in June, Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın told reporters.

Announcing the book "Presidential Policy Committees Activities and Goals," Kalın said the next tripartite meeting of Finland, Sweden and Türkiye will be held in June.

Finland and Sweden remain committed to joining NATO at the same time despite Turkey's opposition to the Swedish candidacy, the two countries' prime ministers told a joint news conference in Stockholm on Thursday.

The Biden administration on Tuesday reiterated its support for both Finland and Sweden joining NATO at the earliest opportunity, after Helsinki said a pause was needed in trilateral talks with Turkey on the Nordic countries' application to join the military alliance.

Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said in an interview with Yle (Finland's national public broadcasting company) published on Tuesday that his country may seek to join NATO without Sweden if Stockholm's bid is take more time to be approved.

Türkiye expects Finland and Sweden to take concrete steps on the memorandum signed for their NATO bid Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavusoğlu said on Sept. 14, stressing that Sweden has already left the elections behind so that its new government can take steps in line with the Madrid deal.

The officials from Türkiye, Sweden and Finland have agreed to intensify technical works for the two Nordic states' accession to the alliance, said the Turkish presidency in a statement on Aug. 26.

Denmark has voted to join the European Union's defense pact and scrap its 30-year-old opt-out from the bloc's common security and defense policies.