ANKARA — With a fresh mandate after Sunday's presidential election in hand, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is expected to focus on the country's growing economic crisis and regional challenges amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Driving the news: Turkey’s economic outlook appears increasingly vulnerable ahead of Erdoğan's third term. The Turkish lira, meanwhile, hit a new low this week, with Morgan Stanley saying the currency could continue its slide this year faster than expected.
Russia's top security agency is accusing the U.S. of hacking thousands of iPhones as part of an espionage campaign.
What's happening: Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed on Thursday that the U.S. intelligence community had created a backdoor into Apple's iPhones.
CIA director Bill Burns made an unannounced trip to China last month, a U.S. official confirmed to Axios.
Why it matters: The trip to Beijing, which was first reported by the FT, was part of the administration's efforts to stabilize relations after February's spy balloon incident.
A crop of bizarre — and perhaps scary — restaurants is catering to our appetites, wanderlust, and social media-driven desire for photogenic life (and food) moments.
Two Russia-related controversiesare gripping South Africa: U.S. accusations that weapons were shipped from Cape Town to Russia, and Vladimir Putin's invitation for an upcoming summit despite an international arrest warrant.
Why it matters: South Africa is trying to maintain its warm relations with Russia, its official neutrality on the war in Ukraine, and its economic relationship with the U.S. That juggling act is proving very difficult to sustain.
Ronen Bar, the director of the Israeli domestic security agency Shin Bet, is visiting Washington this week for talks with senior Biden administration officials about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and other intelligence issues, two U.S. and Israeli sources said.
Why it matters: As one of the most influential national security officials in Israel and the most senior Israeli intelligence authority on the situation in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, Bar has a lot of influence on the Israeli government’s policies.
The U.S. and Saudi Arabia announced on Thursday that they were suspending cease-fire talks between the warring Sudanese military and Rapid Support Forces militia, saying both sides had repeatedly committed "serious violations" of the truce.
Driving the news: The talks broke down on Wednesday after the Sudanese military said it was pulling out of the negotiations, which began last month in Jeddah. The military accused the RSF of violating the truce and failing to implement the commitments it had made during the negotiations. The RSF accused the military of violating the cease-fire first.
"Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" — one of the most anticipated movies of the summer — is defying the boundaries of animation.
Why it matters: The film, out Thursday, comes as the industry faces growing fears that studios will increasingly turn to generative AI, which some believe could threaten jobs, risk copyright infringement and hurt the art form itself.
U.S. Latino and Latin American artists behind one of the most anticipated movies of the summer tell Axios Latino that working on the film was invigorating because they see themselves in the diverse leading characters — a rarity in Hollywood.
Driving the news: "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse," out in theaters this weekend, is a sequel to the 2018 Oscar-winning "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse."
