Pro-PKK/YPG protesters on Saturday gathered in Swedish cities chanting slogans in support of the terrorist group in rallies organized to object to the country’s membership in NATO.

Swedish police forces stood aside in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo as the terror sympathizers chanted slogans in support of the terrorist organization.

PKK/YPG supporters carried banners displaying photos of the head terrorist, Abdullah Ocalan, as well as flags of PKK/YPG.

Such protests by the PKK/YPG were held in Sweden on many occasions in the past and have turned violent against Turkish officials and Turks.

The PKK/YPG/PYD has had an office in Sweden’s Stockholm since 2016, and according to sources, who wish to remain anonymous, the PKK terror group also generates significant income in Sweden through theft, arms trafficking, drug dealing, and racketeering.

The terrorist group is believed to generate its income under organizations such as the NCDK and “Kurdiska Rode Halvmanen.”

Sweden regularly sends official delegations to areas in eastern Syria occupied by the PKK/YPG for talks with terrorist leaders and holds regular meetings with the terror group.

Protests organized by the PKK/YPG are also held regularly in the Swedish neighboring country Finland.

The terrorist group has waged a war against Turkiye since 1984 that has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people, and Ankara’s criticism of Sweden and Finland over the PKK/YPG support has complicated their plans to join NATO.

The PKK is proscribed as a terrorist organization by the US, EU, UK and Turkiye./aa

The tech-dominated Nasdaq 100 index dropped 4.45% on a weekly basis, continuing its downward spiral for the seventh straight week – a first in 14 years.

US markets saw heavy selling this week amid rising concerns over inflation and economic growth.

Dismal earnings reports from major retail chains such as Target and Walmart, an indicator of the walloping impact of soaring costs, have aggravated fears that the Fed would have to hike interest rates more aggressively, potentially dragging the economy into a recession.

These rising apprehensions, combined with the fallout of stringent pandemic measures in China and the uncertainty sparked by the Russia-Ukraine war, accelerated investors’ flight from risky assets.

Signals for aggressive hikes

Chairman Jerome Powell’s remarks this week clearly indicated that the Fed intends to continue with its aggressive rate hikes.

He said the central bank will pursue the policy until there is clear and convincing evidence of a drop in inflation levels.

The Dow Jones fell 2.90% on a weekly basis, the first time since 1923 that the index has declined for eight straight weeks.

The S&P 500 index also tumbled by 3.05%.

Rising recession fears pushed stocks into a “bear market” for a short time, with the S&P 500 down 20% on Friday from the record high it hit in January.

The Nasdaq 100 has now seen seven straight weeks of losses. The index has fallen for eight consecutive weeks only twice – in March 2001 and October 2008, when the US economy went into recession.

Inflation pushing tighter Fed monetary policy

In the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fed slashed the policy rate to the 0-0.25% range and started buying assets to support the economy.

While the central bank’s balance sheet almost doubled during the pandemic period, reaching approximately $9 trillion, inflation sparked by the rapid economic recovery since last year has forced the Fed to change its policy.

It started tapering asset purchases last November and ramped it up the next month.

This pushed the Nasdaq, which peaked to an all-time high of 16,625 points last November, into a gradual downward spiral.

Shrinking economy, recession fears

At its March meeting, the Fed decided to raise interest rates for the first time since 2018, settling on an increase of 25 basis points.

The Nasdaq responded well to the rate hike and other dovish statements from the Fed, climbing from 13,100 to 15,265 points during March.

The increase of 50 basis points announced by the Fed at its May meeting was the steepest hike since 2000.

The Nasdaq 100 has not risen on a weekly basis since April, when the US saw monthly inflation of 0.3% and an annual rate of 8.3%.

The index has lost approximately 20% of its value in this period.

The US economy posted a surprise contraction of 1.4% in the first quarter of this year, fanning recession fears.

Coupled with soaring inflation, it has also sparked concerns of stagflation – the coexistence of stagnation and high inflation – in the world’s largest economy./aa

Ignoring terrorist organizations that pose a threat to a NATO ally is not compatible with the “spirit of friendship and alliance,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto in a phone call on Saturday.

Bilateral relations and Finland’s bid to join NATO were the main focus of discussions, Turkiye’s Communications Directorate said in a statement.

Erdogan said it is Turkiye’s “most natural right” to expect respect and support for its legitimate and determined struggle against what remains a clear threat to its national security and people, according to the statement.

"An open and direct phone call with President@RTErdogan," Niinisto said on Twitter. "I stated that as NATO Allies Finland and Turkey will commit to each other’s security and our relationship will thus grow stronger. Finland condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. Close dialogue continues."

Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO on Wednesday – a decision spurred by Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine.

However, Turkiye, a longstanding member of the alliance, has voiced objections to the membership bids, criticizing the countries for tolerating and even supporting terrorist groups./aa

The Turkish president on Saturday spoke to the Swedish premier and discussed Stockholm's bid to join the NATO alliance, Turkiye's Communications Directorate said.

According to a statement, Recep Tayyip Erdogan informed Magdalena Andersson about Turkish concerns regarding activities of the PKK/YPG and FETO terror groups in Sweden, and said that the NATO-candidate country should put an end to its financial, political and weapon support to such groups.

The Turkish president said Ankara has always supported NATO's open-door policy, and that solidarity was essential for the security of member countries, as well as collective security.

Ankara expects Stockholm to take serious steps to address its concerns with regards to the terror groups, he said, adding that the claim that PKK/YPG was fighting the Daesh terror group, also known as ISIS, did not reflect the reality.

Swedish arms restrictions on Turkiye was another subject brought up during the conversation. Erdogan said Turkiye's cross-border military campaigns in northern Syria were a result of a necessity caused by terror threat in the region, and Ankara expects Stockholm to lift the restrictions.

Andersson in a tweet appreciated the call, and said that Sweden looked forward "to strengthening our bilateral relations, including on peace, security, and the fight against terrorism."

Speaking to public broadcaster SVT following the phone talk with Erdogan, Andersson said that her country openly supports the fight against terrorism and the PKK's inclusion on the terrorist list.

"I emphasized that Sweden welcomes the possibility of cooperation in the fight against international terrorism and emphasized that Sweden is clearly behind the fight against terrorism and the terrorist listing of the PKK," she said.

Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO on Wednesday – a decision spurred by Russia's war on Ukraine, which began in February.

But Turkiye, a longstanding member of the alliance, has voiced objections to the membership bids, criticizing the countries for tolerating and even supporting terrorist groups.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the US, and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people. The YPG is PKK’s Syrian offshoot.

FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016 in Turkiye, in which 251 people were killed and 2,734 injured.

Ankara accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary./aa

Russia's energy giant Gazprom's natural gas flow through Ukraine dropped by 26.4%, according to the firm's spokesman on Saturday.

"Gazprom will deliver 45.9 million cubic meters of natural gas through Ukraine on May 21," Sergey Kupriyanov noted during a press meeting in the capital Moscow.

Gazprom delivered 62.4 million cubic meters of natural gas via Ukraine on Friday.

He stressed that there has been a significant decrease in the demand for natural gas delivery through Ukraine as of Saturday.

Ukraine stopped buying Russian gas from the Sokhranivka natural gas distribution point in the Donbas region on May 11.

Russia was transiting 30% of the gas to Europe via Sokhranivka, which has a daily capacity of around 30 million cubic meters of natural gas./aa

Russia stopped the natural gas delivery to Finland's energy firm Gasum due to a lack of payments, Gazprom said on Saturday.

According to a written statement by the firm, Finland had to make payments in rubles as of April for the natural gas delivery, Gazprom said and added that deliveries to Gasum and Finland have been completely stopped on Saturday as the payments have not been made.

Some 70% of the natural gas consumption of Finland was met by Gazprom last year.

The Finnish firm said on Friday that the gas flow will stop on Saturday but it is ready for this situation.

Another Russian energy firm, RAO, also stopped exporting electricity to Finland due to the same reason last week./aa

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday after facing a few hiccups.

After flying for around a day, the unmanned ship docked at the ISS some 400 kilometers (250 miles) above Earth. It carried about 225 kilograms (500 pounds) of NASA cargo and crew supplies and more than 130 kilograms of Boeing cargo.

The successful flight was an important test for the crisis-ridden starliner. A series of problems have put the project two years behind schedule.

Boeing plans to use the Starliner to transport astronauts to the ISS in the future, providing an alternative to the SpaceX "Crew Dragon" capsule.

Starliner is a partially reusable, next-generation spacecraft consisting of a reusable crew capsule and a service module to be launched by rocket. Once certified, it will carry up to four crew members to the station.

The spacecraft was originally due to set off for the space station in July 2021.

The mission was postponed several times, firstly due to problems after the arrival of the Russian research module Nauka, and then because of problems with the Starliner's propulsion system valves.

The United States aviation and aerospace firm developed and built the Starliner for NASA.

In a first test flight in December 2019, the spacecraft did not make it to the ISS, partly because of a problem with the automatic ignition of the drives./dpa

Children who cannot receive an education due to poverty and insufficient educational infrastructure in Somalia are benefitting from scholarships provided by the Turkish Maarif Foundation (TMV).

In the capital Mogadishu, where education is provided almost entirely through private institutions, many families cannot afford to send their children to schools.

But Maarif schools provide education to 1,200 students in the cities of Hargeisa and Mogadishu on three campuses.

Yakup Abdinur Absir, 9, has 12 siblings and lives in one of the tiny houses in Mogadishu. He is one of the students who has received a scholarship from the TMV.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), Absir said he is happy to have joined the school and wants to become a teacher in the future.

Ihsan Cerrah, TMV's Somali representative who has been managing the educational institution for three years, said the schools have symbolic importance as they are the first ones taken over from the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey.

Cerrah said they provide education from kindergarten level to high school, and they are also carrying out feasibility studies to start education activities in two more regions in the East African country.

He said Maarif schools provide quality education and the majority of its students are accepted into Turkish universities. Students here receive English, Arabic and Turkish lessons as well, he added.

"I think Somalia is the country where the Turkish language has the most demand ... in the fields of politics, trade and diplomacy. We need to contribute to this. The progress of bilateral relations will be based on the language factor," the official said./aa