Welcome back to the first Friday Wrap-Up of 2026. Protests raging in Iran, the Buddhanov has arrived, Ankara and Moscow meet in Damascus, foiled ISIS attack — high-stakes moves and simmering tensions.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that a series of high-level meetings are scheduled to take place in early January to discuss the latest on the ground, bolster support and coordinate strategy in ongoing peace efforts.

Two Bayraktar Kızılelma combat drones have carried out what #Turkish drone maker Baykar described as the world’s first autonomous close-formation flight by jet-powered unmanned aircraft, the company...

"What mattered most in 2025 was not the success of authoritarian actors themselves, but how mainstream politics reacted to them. Under pressure, established parties increasingly adopted populist framing,...

Turkish manufacturing activity shrank at a slower pace in December, marking two consecutive months of improvement, signalling a slight moderation in operating conditions at the end of 2025, a business survey showed on Friday.

POLITICO’s must-read briefing on what’s driving the day in Brussels, by Gerardo Fortuna and Nicholas Vinocur. By GERARDO FORTUNA Send tips here | Contact us on X @gerardofortuna @NicholasVino…

The resistance of mandatory hijab and Iranian regime forces are depicted in this striking illustration by Turkish cartoonist, Oğuz Demir. See more of his work here 👉🏻 https://www.instagram.com/oudemi...

Turkish courts jailed 19 people in an investigation into betting in professional football, including a former executive at Galatasaray, whose case has been separated from the betting probe and transferred...

Blaze that swept through crowded New Year’s Eve bar in Crans-Montana also injured 115 people * Le Constellation bar fire in Switzerland: what we know so far Swiss investigators are racing to identify the victims of a fire that tore through a crowded bar, killing about 40 people and injuring 115 who were celebrating at a New Year’s Eve party in the Alpine ski resort of Crans-Montana. President, Guy Parmelin, has said the country will hold five days of mourning, describing the blaze as one of the most traumatic events in Switzerland’s history. “It was a drama of an unknown scale,” he said, paying tribute to the many “young lives that were lost and interrupted”. Continue reading...

Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (#PKK), has called for the implementation of a March 10 agreement aimed at integrating Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)...

Iranian president seeks to calm tensions, acknowledging protesters' 'legitimate' grievances over inflation.

The DOJ is unlikely to get the benefit of the doubt for its handling of the recent Epstein-files release.

China will implement more proactive policies in 2026 aimed at supporting long-term growth, with its economy expected to meet Beijing's growth target of about 5% this year, state media reported President Xi Jinping as saying on Wednesday.

We've got car bombs, dead generals, ISIS, expensive gold, Christmas Eve drone attacks, Ryanair delays, Fukushima, thought-provoking art, a song to reflect on, sanctioned ships and so many predictions.

Welcome to our new Friday Wrap Up Series. This week: Zelensky flips the script, South China Sea skirmishes, art warns of America’s future, under-the-radar stories and more!

The latest manoeuvres by Donald Trump are familiar

Ukrainian soldiers are holding their ground in Pokrovsk, refusing to give up the Donetsk region, even as Russian forces claim victory — the Ukrainian flag was raised there today. For nearly a year, ...

Without experienced diplomats at the table, the United States is approaching high-stakes negotiations from a position of self-inflicted weakness. Russia benefits—and the U.S. is left holding the bag.