Turkish PM Urges Resolution to Visa Dispute with US

Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim speaks to the media during a press conference in Ankara. (AP)
Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim speaks to the media during a press conference in Ankara. (AP)
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Turkish PM Urges Resolution to Visa Dispute with US

Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim speaks to the media during a press conference in Ankara. (AP)
Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim speaks to the media during a press conference in Ankara. (AP)

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim urged on Tuesday an end to the dispute with the United States over the recent suspension of visa services between the two countries.

The US suspension of visa services in Turkey punishes ordinary citizens and the problem must be resolved immediately, he demanded.

"Turkey is not a tribal state, we will retaliate against what has been done in kind," Yildirim told ruling AK Party parliamentarians.

"We call on the United States to be more reasonable. The issue must of course be resolved as soon as possible," he said, describing US behavior as "unbecoming" of an ally.

"Who are you punishing? You are making your citizens and ours pay the price, this is not being serious. You can't run a country with emotional decisions," the PM added.

The US embassy in Ankara said on Sunday night it was suspending non-immigrant visa services after the arrest of a locally employed US consulate employee in Istanbul last week.

The employee was detained on charges of espionage and alleged ties to US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen's movement. Turkey retaliated by halting visas services in the US.

Yildirim also slammed Washington for the arrest of a Turkish banker for his alleged role in helping Iran escape US sanctions, and for its failure to extradite Gulen, who Turkey says was behind last year's failed coup. Gulen has denied involvement.

Yildirim said his country does not need Washington's permission to prosecute its citizens.

"Turkey is a state of law. ... Were we to seek the permission of the (US) gentlemen?"

On Tuesday, Turkish police launched an operation to arrest 70 soldiers accused of links to Gulen, the private Dogan news agency reported.

Operations targeting Gulen supporters are continuing on a daily basis some 15 months after the failed putsch. In the last week alone, around 800 people were held over alleged ties to him.

Among those targeted in the police raids, focused in the central Turkish city of Konya but launched simultaneously across seven provinces, were two colonels, seven captains and 36 lieutenants, Dogan said.

Sixty-two of the suspects were in the air force, some of them pilots, it added. Police were conducting searches of their homes and places of work.

More than 50,000 people have been jailed pending trial over links to Gulen, while 150,000 people have been sacked or suspended from jobs in the public and private sectors since the July 15, 2016 coup attempt, in which 250 people were killed.

Some of Turkey’s Western allies and rights groups have voiced concern that the government is using the coup investigations as a pretext to crack down on dissent.

Ankara argues that only such a purge could neutralize the threat represented by Gulen’s network, which it says infiltrated institutions such as the military, judiciary and schools.



Thai Army Accuses Cambodia of Violating Truce with over 250 Drones

Displaced residents rest in a bunker in Thailand's Surin province on December 11, 2025, amid clashes along the Thai-Cambodia border. (AFP)
Displaced residents rest in a bunker in Thailand's Surin province on December 11, 2025, amid clashes along the Thai-Cambodia border. (AFP)
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Thai Army Accuses Cambodia of Violating Truce with over 250 Drones

Displaced residents rest in a bunker in Thailand's Surin province on December 11, 2025, amid clashes along the Thai-Cambodia border. (AFP)
Displaced residents rest in a bunker in Thailand's Surin province on December 11, 2025, amid clashes along the Thai-Cambodia border. (AFP)

Thailand's army on Monday accused Cambodia of violating a newly signed ceasefire agreement, reached after weeks of deadly border clashes, by flying more than 250 drones over its territory.

The Thai army said "more than 250 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were detected flying from the Cambodian side, intruding into Thailand's sovereign territory" on Sunday night, according to a statement.

"Such actions constitute provocation and a violation of measures aimed at reducing tensions, which are inconsistent with the Joint Statement agreed" during a bilateral border committee meeting on Saturday, it added.

Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn said in remarks aired on state television on Monday that the two sides had discussed the incident and agreed to investigate and "resolve it immediately".

Prak Sokhonn described it as "a small issue related to flying drones seen by both sides along the border line".

Thailand and Cambodia agreed to the "immediate" ceasefire on Saturday, pledging to end renewed border clashes that killed dozens of people and displaced more than a million this month.

The reignited fighting spread to nearly every border province on both sides, shattering an earlier truce for which US President Donald Trump took credit.

Under the agreement signed on Saturday, the Southeast Asian neighbors agreed to cease fire, freeze troop movements and cooperate on demining efforts and combatting cybercrime.


Mexican Train Derailment Kills at Least 13 People, 98 Injured

Authorities work at the site of train derailment on the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a railway line connecting Mexico's Pacific and Gulf coasts, where several passengers were killed and injured near Nizanda, Oaxaca state, Mexico, December, 28, 2025. (Reuters)
Authorities work at the site of train derailment on the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a railway line connecting Mexico's Pacific and Gulf coasts, where several passengers were killed and injured near Nizanda, Oaxaca state, Mexico, December, 28, 2025. (Reuters)
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Mexican Train Derailment Kills at Least 13 People, 98 Injured

Authorities work at the site of train derailment on the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a railway line connecting Mexico's Pacific and Gulf coasts, where several passengers were killed and injured near Nizanda, Oaxaca state, Mexico, December, 28, 2025. (Reuters)
Authorities work at the site of train derailment on the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a railway line connecting Mexico's Pacific and Gulf coasts, where several passengers were killed and injured near Nizanda, Oaxaca state, Mexico, December, 28, 2025. (Reuters)

Mexican authorities said on Sunday that at least 13 people ​were killed after an Interoceanic Train carrying 250 people derailed in the southern state of Oaxaca.

The Mexican Navy said the train, which derailed near the town of Nizanda, was carrying nine crew members and 241 passengers.

Of those on board, 139 were reported to be out of ‌danger, while 98 ‌were injured, including 36 ‌who ⁠were ​receiving medical assistance.

President ‌Claudia Sheinbaum said on X that five of the injured were in critical condition, adding that senior officials had been dispatched to the site to assist the families of those killed.

The governor of Oaxaca, Salomon Jara Cruz, expressed condolences to the families ⁠of those killed in the accident and said state authorities ‌were coordinating with federal agencies to ‍assist those affected.

Mexico's Attorney ‍General's Office has already opened an investigation into ‍the incident, Attorney General Ernestina Godoy Ramos said in a social media post.

The Interoceanic Train, inaugurated in 2023 under former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, forms ​part of the broader Interoceanic Corridor project.

The initiative was designed to modernize the rail link across ⁠the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, connecting Mexico's Pacific port of Salina Cruz with Coatzacoalcos on the Gulf Coast.

The Mexican government has sought to develop the isthmus into a strategic trade corridor, expanding ports, railways and industrial infrastructure with the goal of creating a route that could compete with the Panama Canal.

The train service is also part of a broader push to expand passenger and freight rail ‌in southern Mexico and stimulate economic development in the region.


North Korea Says It Tested Long-Range Cruise Missiles

A person watches a TV news report at Seoul Station in Seoul, South Korea, 29 December 2025. According to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), North Korea launched several long-range strategic cruise missiles on 28 December. (EPA)
A person watches a TV news report at Seoul Station in Seoul, South Korea, 29 December 2025. According to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), North Korea launched several long-range strategic cruise missiles on 28 December. (EPA)
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North Korea Says It Tested Long-Range Cruise Missiles

A person watches a TV news report at Seoul Station in Seoul, South Korea, 29 December 2025. According to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), North Korea launched several long-range strategic cruise missiles on 28 December. (EPA)
A person watches a TV news report at Seoul Station in Seoul, South Korea, 29 December 2025. According to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), North Korea launched several long-range strategic cruise missiles on 28 December. (EPA)

North Korea said Monday it fired long-range strategic cruise missiles into the sea to test the country’s nuclear deterrence, days after it showed apparent progress in the construction of its first nuclear-powered submarine.

Sunday’s launches were the latest weapons display by North Korea ahead of its planned ruling Workers’ Party congress early next year. Keen outside attention on the congress, the first of its kind in five years, will be on whether North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will establish new priorities in relations with the US and respond to Washington's calls to resume long-dormant talks.

The official Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim expressed “great satisfaction” over Sunday's launches, which occurred off the country’s west coast. It said Kim noted that testing the reliability of North Korea's nuclear deterrence and demonstrating its might are “just a responsible exercise of the right to self-defense and war deterrence” in the face of external security threats.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it was aware of several cruise missile launches made from North Korea’s capital region on Sunday morning. It said South Korea maintains a readiness to repel any potential North Korean provocations through its alliance with the United States.

UN Security Council resolutions prohibit North Korea from launches involving its huge stockpile of ballistic missiles. Its cruise missile tests aren’t banned, but they still pose a threat to the US and South Korea because they are highly maneuverable and fly at low altitudes to avoid radar detection. Analysts say North Korea would aim to use cruise missiles to strike US warships and aircraft carriers in the event of conflict.

Last week, North Korea test-launched new anti-air missiles off its east coast and displayed photos showing a largely completed hull of a developmental nuclear-powered submarine. North Korea implied it would arm the submarine with nuclear missiles.

A nuclear-powered submarine is among a slew of sophisticated weapons systems that Kim has vowed to introduce to cope with what he describes as US-led security threats. Some experts say North Korea’s recent alignment with Russia — including sending thousands of troops and military equipment to support President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine — may have helped it to receive crucial technologies in return.

North Korea has focused on weapons-testing activities to expand its nuclear arsenal since Kim's high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with US President Donald Trump collapsed in 2019.

But in an apparent response to Trump’s repeated outreach, Kim suggested in September that he could return to talks if the US drops “its delusional obsession with denuclearization” of North Korea. Experts say Kim might think his enlarged nuclear arsenal would give him greater leverage to wrest concessions in potential talks with Trump.