Anadolu Agency's Morning Briefing – April 18, 2023

NEW YORK 

Anadolu Agency is here with a rundown of the latest developments around the world.

The US State Department has notified Congress of its approval of the sale to Türkiye of Link-16 tactical data link modernization kits for F-16 jets, sources familiar with the matter said Monday.

The first phase of Türkiye's landmark project the Istanbul Finance Center (IFC), which will be a home to lenders, was officially inaugurated Monday.

More than 180 people were killed and 1,800 were injured in recent armed clashes between military rivals in Sudan, Volker Perthes, the UN special representative for Sudan, said Monday.

The EU foreign policy chief said late Monday that the bloc's ambassador to Sudan, Aidan O'Hara, had just been assaulted at his residence.

Germany shut down its last atomic reactors this weekend, marking the end of the country's nuclear era after more than 60 years.

Beijing is willing to work with Moscow to "safeguard" global and regional security and stability, China's defense chief told Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Italian authorities seized two tons of cocaine in packages left in the Mediterranean Sea on Monday.

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen on Monday released 104 Houthi prisoners, a day after the completion of a prisoner swap.

A Russian court sentenced journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza to 25 years in prison Monday on charges of treason, spreading “false information” about the Russian military and leading an “undesirable” organization, according to Russian state media.

At least 98 foreigners were among around 3,113 prisoners released by the military junta in Myanmar on Monday.

Iran and Saudi Arabia will reopen embassies to each other by May 9, a senior Iranian diplomat said Monday.

French companies Airbus and Air France have been found not guilty over the crash of a Rio de Janeiro-Paris flight in 2009, a Paris court ruled Monday, according to local media reports.

Former longtime German Chancellor Angela Merkel was awarded the country’s highest order of merit Monday for her distinguished service to the nation.

Tunisian security forces arrested Ennahda Party leader Rached Ghannouchi late Monday and took him in for interrogation at a National Guard building in the capital Tunis.

A senior Daesh/ISIS leader was killed in a US helicopter raid in northern Syria on Monday, according to the US Central Command (CENTCOM).

Two alleged Chinese police officers have been taken into custody and 40 other Chinese National Police officers have been charged with a sprawling plot to spy on US-based dissidents, the Justice Department announced Monday.

The Group of Seven (G-7) wealthy nations pledged more sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine following a meeting of foreign ministers in Japan on Tuesday.