Briefly

TURKIYE

Lawmakers approve Sweden's NATO bid

Turkish lawmakers on Tuesday approved a long-delayed bill on Sweden's bid to become the 32nd member of NATO. The Turkish parliament voted on the bill after a debate in the Grand National Assembly. A total of 346 lawmakers participated in the voting, with 287 votes in favor, 55 against, and four abstentions. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to sign the bill into law within a few days. Turkish parliament's ratification was welcomed by Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. "Today we are one step closer to becoming a full member of NATO," he wrote on social media platform X.

UNITED STATES

Los Angeles Times to fire 20% of newsroom

The Los Angeles Times said it planned to lay off at least 115 employees — more than 20 percent of the newsroom — starting Tuesday, one of the largest staff cuts in the newspaper's 143-year history. The announcement came after the LA Times Guild walked off the job last Friday to protest the imminent layoffs, the institution's first such newsroom union work stoppage. The cuts were necessary because the Times could no longer lose up to $40 million a year without boosting advertising and subscription revenue, the paper's owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong, said on Tuesday.

MONGOLIA

Truck-car collision kills six in capital

A truck carrying 60 tons of liquefied natural gas and a car collided at an intersection in the Mongolian capital, causing an explosion that killed at least six people and injured 11, officials said on Wednesday. Images showed a massive fireball at the scene of the crash outside a shopping center, close to an apartment building and international school in Ulaanbaatar. Firefighters were able to bring the resulting blaze under control and then extinguish it entirely by early morning, Mongolia's Emergency Management Office said in a post on Facebook.

Agencies - Xinhua