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Sweden Agrees to Extradite Man to Turkey in Wake of NATO Deal

Swedish and NATO flags are seen printed on paper this illustration taken April 13, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
Swedish and NATO flags are seen printed on paper this illustration taken April 13, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
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Sweden Agrees to Extradite Man to Turkey in Wake of NATO Deal

Swedish and NATO flags are seen printed on paper this illustration taken April 13, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
Swedish and NATO flags are seen printed on paper this illustration taken April 13, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

Sweden's government has decided to extradite a man to Turkey wanted for fraud, it said on Thursday, the first case since Turkey demanded a number of people extradited in return for allowing Stockholm to formally apply for NATO membership.

NATO ally Turkey lifted its veto over Finland and Sweden's bid to join the Western alliance in June after weeks of tense negotiations where Ankara accused the two Nordic countries of harboring what Turkey said are militants of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

As part of the deal, Turkey submitted a list of people it wanted Sweden to extradite, but has since expressed frustration over the lack of progress.

The man, in his 30s, would be the first known case of an extradition to Turkey since the deal was struck, according to Reuters.

"This is a normal routine matter. The person in question is a Turkish citizen and convicted of fraud offences in Turkey in 2013 and 2016," Minister of Justice Morgan Johansson told Reuters in a text message.

"The Supreme Court has examined the issue as usual and concluded that there are no obstacles to extradition," he said.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice declined to say if the man was on the list of people Turkey has demanded to have extradited or to provide further comment on the matter.

Swedish broadcaster SVT, which was first to report on the extradition, said the man was sentenced in Turkey to 14 years in prison on several accounts of bank card fraud.

The man, detained in Sweden since last year, says he has been wrongfully sentenced because he is a convert to Christianity, refused to do military service and has Kurdish roots, SVT said.

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World

Seoul Detects North Korean Missile Launches after Trump Says to Meet Kim

People watch a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at a train station in Seoul. Jung Yeon-je / AFP
People watch a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at a train station in Seoul. Jung Yeon-je / AFP
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Seoul Detects North Korean Missile Launches after Trump Says to Meet Kim

People watch a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at a train station in Seoul. Jung Yeon-je / AFP
People watch a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at a train station in Seoul. Jung Yeon-je / AFP

North Korea has fired several short-range ballistic missiles, Seoul's military said on Thursday, hours after US President Donald Trump said he would meet Pyongyang's Kim Jong Un this year.

The latest launches from the nuclear-armed North come as South Korea and the United States hold a shorter edition of their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercises, following an order from Trump to scale them back.

Pyongyang has long condemned US-South Korea joint exercises as rehearsals for invasion, often staging missile launches around the drills.

Trump, seeking to revive the bond he claims to have forged with Kim in his first term, told reporters at the White House on Wednesday he plans to meet the North Korean leader later this year.

The US president also said it was important to "get along" with Kim, adding that Pyongyang now had 57 "very powerful" nuclear weapons. Seoul says there are around 80-120.

Hours after Trump's remarks, an official from Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff told AFP that the North fired "around 10 short-range ballistic missiles" from the Pyongyang area.

Japan earlier said a suspected "ballistic missile launched by North Korea a short while ago has already fallen", according to an X post from the prime minister's office.

Trump's sudden focus on Kim and his scaling back of joint US-South Korean military drills have alarmed Asian allies, while sparking speculation that he was seeking a foreign policy win as the Iran war stalls.

Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of the North Korean leader, said on Wednesday that her brother had "good memories and feelings" about Trump and that the relationship between the two leaders remains "excellent".

She said, however, that she was unaware of any current communication between the two leaders.

Her statement came hours after Seoul announced the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises would end on Friday -- about a week earlier than planned -- "at the suggestion of the US side".

The Pentagon said the reduced drills would cause "no degradation to US training objectives".

The exercises are designed to prepare for a possible attack by North Korea.

The United States stations about 28,500 troops in South Korea to bolster the country's defenses, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

South Korea's Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back said Seoul remained opposed to officially recognizing the North as a nuclear-weapon state.

Asked whether Washington had "given up" on North Korea's denuclearization, Ahn said he did not believe so.

President Lee Jae Myung - who has long pushed for stronger homegrown defenses to reduce South Korea's reliance on the United States -- said on Wednesday he would "do his utmost" to support Trump's peacemaking efforts with the North.

World

Japan Train Hits Station Workers, 4 Killed

A man takes photographs of a Japanese government sign reading "Day of the Return of the Northern Territories, Day of Peace. The Northern Territories are an inherent part of Japan's territory." (Photo by Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP)
A man takes photographs of a Japanese government sign reading "Day of the Return of the Northern Territories, Day of Peace. The Northern Territories are an inherent part of Japan's territory." (Photo by Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP)
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Japan Train Hits Station Workers, 4 Killed

A man takes photographs of a Japanese government sign reading "Day of the Return of the Northern Territories, Day of Peace. The Northern Territories are an inherent part of Japan's territory." (Photo by Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP)
A man takes photographs of a Japanese government sign reading "Day of the Return of the Northern Territories, Day of Peace. The Northern Territories are an inherent part of Japan's territory." (Photo by Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP)

A train hit and killed four workers in Japan on Thursday, authorities said, a rare incident in a country renowned for its normally excellent rail safety record.

Local media reported that the four workers were removing weeds from the train tracks at Shin-Kanuma Station in Kanuma city north of Tokyo when the express train struck them.

"The four were confirmed dead," a fire department official told AFP.

Another official said that when emergency services arrived, three workers were trapped under the train, while one was on the platform.

The workers, all men, were in their 50s and 60s, Jiji Press reported. None of the roughly 50 passengers on the train suffered injuries.

The six-car train was the Spacia X express on the Tobu Nikko Line, connecting Greater Tokyo with popular tourist destination Nikko in the Tochigi region, media reports said.

The Tokyo-bound train was approaching its stop at Shin-Kanuma when the accident occurred, broadcaster NHK said, citing the operator.

"We heard this loud rumbling noise. Then the train came to an emergency stop with such sudden braking that it was impossible to stand," a 40-year-old man who was on the train told NHK.

"There was an announcement saying 'we will stop to identify where the noise came from', and then we were left unable to get off for a while," the man was quoted as saying.

Local media reported that the workers were part of a seven-person crew removing weeds from around the train tracks.

Japanese railways have one of the best safety records in the world.

Fatal accidents from malfunctioning trains are extremely rare in Japan due to high levels of maintenance and training, and use of advanced technology.

Japan's deadliest accident this century was in April 2005 when a rush-hour commuter train derailed and smashed into an apartment building in Amagasaki, in the country's west, killing 107 people and injured more than 500 others.

An accident involving a derailed cargo train and two passenger trains killed 161 people in 1963.

There has never been a passenger fatality from a derailment or a collision on Japan's network of "shinkansen" bullet trains since they entered service in 1964.

World

Iran Slams Trump's Economic Pressure Plan as a 'Diversion from America's Own Crisis'

FILED - 16 March 2018, Austria, Vienna: FILE PHOTO - Abbas Araghchi, Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran, gives an interview in Vienna. Photo: Farshid-Motahari Bina/dpa
FILED - 16 March 2018, Austria, Vienna: FILE PHOTO - Abbas Araghchi, Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran, gives an interview in Vienna. Photo: Farshid-Motahari Bina/dpa
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Iran Slams Trump's Economic Pressure Plan as a 'Diversion from America's Own Crisis'

FILED - 16 March 2018, Austria, Vienna: FILE PHOTO - Abbas Araghchi, Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran, gives an interview in Vienna. Photo: Farshid-Motahari Bina/dpa
FILED - 16 March 2018, Austria, Vienna: FILE PHOTO - Abbas Araghchi, Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran, gives an interview in Vienna. Photo: Farshid-Motahari Bina/dpa

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Thursday dismissed US President Donald Trump's economic punishment plan for Tehran as a continuation of "failed policies", which he said would bring Washington "further defeat".

"The so-called 'Economic D-Day' is a diversion from America's own crisis: unprecedented debt & surging interest costs. Doubling down on failed policies will only bring further defeat -- and enmity of Iranians," Araghchi said in a post on X.

"US economic terrorism threatens global economy and sovereignty worldwide."

In a post on his Truth Social, Trump said he was announcing "the MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY! This will be Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale."

"ANY country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran will itself face TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences," he said.

War broke out between Iran and the United States on February 28 with US-Israeli attacks which triggered Iranian retaliation across the region.

An April 8 ceasefire put an end to the intense bombardment but sporadic clashes continued in and around the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy conduit which Iran has blockaded and has since become flashpoint in the conflict.

Reopening the strait has become a US priority but Iran insists the waterway will remain closed until Washington lifts its naval blockade on Iranian ports, removes oil sanctions, and unfreezes Iran's assets abroad.

Trump has long pursued a "maximum pressure" policy of economic sanctions on Iran and reinstated those measures after he took office in January 2025, mirroring his approach during his first term.

Iran has dismissed the sanctions program as a failure, insisting that such measures and threats will not force it to change course.