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US Reaffirms Pledge to Deliver Jets to Türkiye

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu shake hands during a news conference in Ankara, Türkiye February 20, 2023. (Reuters)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu shake hands during a news conference in Ankara, Türkiye February 20, 2023. (Reuters)
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US Reaffirms Pledge to Deliver Jets to Türkiye

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu shake hands during a news conference in Ankara, Türkiye February 20, 2023. (Reuters)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu shake hands during a news conference in Ankara, Türkiye February 20, 2023. (Reuters)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday reaffirmed Washington's commitment to delivering F-16 jets to Türkiye despite Turkish insistence that their approval should not depend on Ankara lifting objections to Sweden joining NATO.

Türkiye wants modernized versions of F-16 fighter jets for its ageing air force, but US Congress must approve any sale.

"The Biden administration strongly supports the package to both upgrade the existing F-16s and to provide new ones," Blinken told a press conference in Ankara.

But Blinken added he could not provide a "formal timeline" for approval and delivery.

It was Blinken's first visit to Türkiye as secretary of state in a trip that was planned before a 7.8-magnitude earthquake on February 6, which has now killed nearly 45,000 people in Türkiye and Syria.

The top US diplomat is due to hold talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan later on Monday in Ankara.

The United States, whose relations with Türkiye have been strained in recent years, has been looking for ways to persuade Erdogan to ratify NATO membership applications by Finland and Sweden.

Finland and Sweden dropped decades of military non-alignment and applied to join the US-led defense alliance last year in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

But Türkiye has yet to ratify their applications and Ankara has opposed Sweden's refusal to extradite dozens of suspects that Türkiye links to outlawed Kurdish militants and a failed 2016 coup.

On Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu dismissed any attempt to apply conditions to the F-16 jets approval.

"It would not be right to make Sweden and Finland's NATO membership a condition for the F-16s. They are two different issues," he said. "Our hands should not be tied."

Blinken said the United States "strongly" supported Finland and Sweden's admission into NATO "as quickly as possible".

"Finland and Sweden have already taken concrete steps" to address Türkiye’s concerns, he said.

Türkiye has signaled it is ready to accept Finland into NATO, but Cavusoglu said Kurdish militants continued "all kinds of activities including recruitment, terrorist propaganda" in Sweden.

Blinken arrived on Sunday at Incirlik air base in southern Türkiye, through which the United States has shipped aid after the earthquake. The United States has now contributed $185 million in assistance to Türkiye and Syria.

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World

Bangkok Floods Force Thousands into Shelters

More than 330 millimeters (13 inches) of rain fell in some areas of Bangkok between Thursday and Sunday, the weather agency said. Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP
More than 330 millimeters (13 inches) of rain fell in some areas of Bangkok between Thursday and Sunday, the weather agency said. Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP
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Bangkok Floods Force Thousands into Shelters

More than 330 millimeters (13 inches) of rain fell in some areas of Bangkok between Thursday and Sunday, the weather agency said. Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP
More than 330 millimeters (13 inches) of rain fell in some areas of Bangkok between Thursday and Sunday, the weather agency said. Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP

Thousands of Bangkok residents awoke in shelters on Sunday after flooding triggered by days of heavy rain in the Thai capital inundated homes and roads, with some starting to dry out their homes and belongings.

Nearly 4,900 people have been evacuated to shelters, with around 52,000 households affected by the floods, which prompted a disaster declaration across the capital, according to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA).

More than 330 millimeters (13 inches) of rain fell in some areas of the city between Thursday and Sunday, the weather agency said.

Thailand is used to wet weather, and September is the peak of the rainy season, but several Bangkok residents said this year seemed worse.

"Our house was underwater for about 30 hours," office worker Kosin Nilset, who lives along the Premprachakorn canal on the outskirts of the capital, told AFP on Sunday morning.

"This time, the water level is higher than the 2011 flood," the 44-year-old said.

Widespread deluges across the Southeast Asian country in 2011 killed more than 500 people and damaged millions of homes.

Kosin and his family lifted their belongings once they saw the water level was higher than the canal retaining wall, but their ground floor was still left soaked.

"At least tap water and electricity are working," Kosin said, as he used a broom to sweep out water.

Pedestrians in plastic rain ponchos trudged through murky floodwaters in Bangkok's east -- knee-deep in some areas of a grocery store parking lot -- floating their belongings in plastic tubs alongside them, AFP journalists saw.

- 'Sleeping on the table' -

Water levels in Bangkok's network of canals remained high on Sunday morning, with authorities working to speed up drainage, the BMA said.

More rain was forecast throughout Sunday for Bangkok and its surrounding provinces, but would begin to taper off on Monday, it said.

Scientists warn that the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events will increase as the planet continues to heat up because of fossil fuel emissions.

Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said several roads were still flooded and warned Bangkok residents in a Facebook Live post to avoid unnecessary travel.

Chadchart visited a temporary shelter on Saturday night in a school in the Kheha Romklao area, where he said about 1,000 people were evacuated.

Some rested on cots and benches with their dogs in hallways, while others lay with blankets on the floors of classrooms where desks and chairs were pushed to the side.

Hundreds of city schools will be closed on Monday, according to the BMA.

Some convenience stores had empty shelves over the weekend as residents raced to buy essentials.

The prime minister's office asked the public to avoid panic-buying and warned that price gouging was a criminal offence.

Thidarat Silsuwan, 56, lives alone in her partially submerged house along the Premprachakorn canal.

"I have been sleeping on the table for two days now," she told AFP.

She did not want to go to a shelter as she worked to clean up and salvage her belongings.

"I tried to lift everything up, but I gave up on large electric appliances like the refrigerator and washing machine. I guess they are broken."

World

Trump Predicts Cuba and US Will Make a Deal

A classic American car drives along Malecon during a power outage in Havana, Cuba, September 18, 2026. REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo
A classic American car drives along Malecon during a power outage in Havana, Cuba, September 18, 2026. REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo
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Trump Predicts Cuba and US Will Make a Deal

A classic American car drives along Malecon during a power outage in Havana, Cuba, September 18, 2026. REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo
A classic American car drives along Malecon during a power outage in Havana, Cuba, September 18, 2026. REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo

President Donald Trump predicted on Saturday that the US and Cuba will reach an agreement and that he does not think military action will be necessary.

"I would say that Cuba and us will make a deal. I don't think ⁠we'll need the ⁠military," Trump told reporters at the White House.

The Trump administration has openly stated that its goal is to change Cuba's government. ⁠A US-imposed oil blockade implemented earlier this year has put the country under severe strain as it contends with fuel shortages and blackouts exacerbated by failing infrastructure.

"We want to help Cuba," Trump said before departing for Tennessee, according to Reuters.

"We want to open Cuba ⁠up ⁠to our people."

In an address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Trump called Cuba a failed state and said "freedom will be coming" to the island nation.

The Cuban delegation walked out of the hall during that speech.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said at the UN later on Saturday ‌that Cuba will always be open for dialogue with the United States. ⁠He ⁠did not reference Trump's comments specifically.

"We are open to commercial and business relationships with US companies, just as we are with any other country," said Rodriguez, while also strongly condemning the US trade embargo on Cuba.

The US has maintained the embargo on Cuba for more than 60 years and the Trump administration has been stepping up pressure after using ​the military in ​January to remove Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

World

‘I Reject their Proposal,’ Says Trump after Iran’s Offer on Hormuz

US President Donald Trump walks out of the South Portico towards members of the press before departing from the new South Lawn helipad in Marine One at the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 26 September 2026. EPA/Samuel Corum / POOL
US President Donald Trump walks out of the South Portico towards members of the press before departing from the new South Lawn helipad in Marine One at the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 26 September 2026. EPA/Samuel Corum / POOL
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‘I Reject their Proposal,’ Says Trump after Iran’s Offer on Hormuz

US President Donald Trump walks out of the South Portico towards members of the press before departing from the new South Lawn helipad in Marine One at the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 26 September 2026. EPA/Samuel Corum / POOL
US President Donald Trump walks out of the South Portico towards members of the press before departing from the new South Lawn helipad in Marine One at the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 26 September 2026. EPA/Samuel Corum / POOL

US President Donald Trump on Saturday rejected a truce deal proposed by Iran that Tehran said could have reopened the Strait of Hormuz to shipping within a week if Washington met certain conditions.

The waterway is key to the world's energy supply and is now central to the conflict between the US and Iran, which is at a stalemate after nearly seven months.

"I reject their proposal," Trump told reporters outside the White House before leaving for a college football game. "They want to make a deal where they open the Strait immediately because they're losing so badly.

"They want to make a deal and I think that's fine. I like making a deal too," he said.

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian, who was on his way back to Tehran after attending the UN General Assembly in New York, told CBS News the proposal had been developed "in coordination" with supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, according to an excerpt from the video interview shared by Iranian media.

Iran's plan calls for a cessation of all hostilities in the Middle East, including in Lebanon, according to Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who met earlier in the week with Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff.

He said the conditions were the same as those laid out in a memorandum of understanding signed with the US earlier this year, which called for the release of frozen Iranian assets, the lifting of sanctions on Iranian oil and an end to the US naval blockade.

On the seventh day of the truce, Iran would reopen Hormuz. Pezeshkian told CBS that the "process will begin from the very day they accept it."

In New York, Pezeshkian met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, according to his office, and said: "Iran has not walked away from the negotiating table but, given past experiences, it no longer trusts the United States."

Araghchi said at the UN: "Iran has conveyed to the United States, through Qatar, a concrete seven-day plan. If the necessary conditions are met, the strait can be reopened, and normal maritime passage restored within seven days."

"The choice now rests with the United States. Iran does not accept coercion, threats or intimidation, and Iran will not surrender its sovereign rights under pressure," he added.

However, within hours of his comments The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump was skeptical that Tehran would meet his demands and expects to renew the US bombing campaign.

Trump also posted an image to his Truth Social platform of a map showing the Strait of Hormuz circled and labelled "Trump Strait."

Hossein Mohebi, a spokesman for Iran's Revolutionary Guards, was quoted by Tasnim news agency as saying: "We will not cease punishing the US until Iran's seven conditions are met."