ANKARA -- Türkiye's opposition bloc announced Monday a presidential candidate to run against the incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the May elections.
Following hours-long negotiations, the six-party Nation Alliance picked Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition party, as their joint candidate, Felicity Party head Temel Karamollaoglu told a gathering in the capital Ankara. (Türkiye-Opposition-Elections)
- - - -
JERUSALEM -- Israel's former prime minister Yair Lapid and former defense minister Benny Gantz on Monday urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt his judicial overhaul plan, which sparked massive protests, and open a dialogue.
"In order to have honest and effective dialogue that will lead to preserving democracy and national unity, Netanyahu must announce a complete, comprehensive, and actual halt to the legislative process," Lapid and Gantz, leaders of two centrist opposition parties, said in a joint statement. (Israel-Judicial Overhaul-Opposition)
- - - -
ANKARA -- Türkiye's Foreign Ministry on Monday summoned the U.S. ambassador to Ankara for the visit of a top U.S. commander to a Kurdish-held area in northeastern Syria, the semi-official Anadolu Agency reported.
Ankara "asked for an explanation" regarding the visit of Mark Milley, U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to northeastern Syria on March 4, the agency quoted anonymous Turkish diplomatic sources as saying. (Türkiye-U.S.-Kurds)
- - - -
ADEN, Yemen -- Three Yemeni soldiers were killed Monday in a roadside bomb explosion in the country's southern province of Abyan, a security official told Xinhua.
The incident occurred when elements detonated their roadside bomb near an army patrol while passing through a road in the Mudiyah district of Abyan, causing an explosion, the local security official said on condition of anonymity. (Yemen-Bomb Explosion) ■



