Turkey backs Sweden’s NATO entry

By Justin Porter Good morning. We’re covering Turkey’s decision to let Sweden join NATO and the devastating flash floods in northern India. Turkey’s president meets with the Swedish prime minister.Henrik Montgomery/Agence France-Presse In a sudden reversal, Turkey agreed yesterday to clear the way for Sweden to join NATO. NATO’s secretary general announced the decision in Vilnius, Lithuania, where the alliance was preparing to open its annual summit today.Hours earlier, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said that the E.U. should first advance Turkey’s bid to join the European bloc before Sweden could join the alliance. Sweden’s bid to join the alliance had been held up by Turkey’s demands that Sweden crack down on dissidents whom Turkey considers to be terrorists, including pro-Kurdish activists and members of a religious group that Turkey has accused of planning a coup attempt in 2016. The breakthrough was announced after Erdogan met with Sweden’s prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, to discuss efforts to counter terrorism. A NATO statement said that Sweden and Turkey had agreed that “counterterrorism cooperation is a long-term effort, which will continue beyond Sweden’s accession to NATO.” President Biden, whose administration had pushed hard for NATO expansion, said in a statement that he welcomed Erdogan’s commitment to submit Sweden’s bid for “swift ratification” by the Turkish Parliament. Turkey was seeking to buy $20 billion worth of F-16 fighter jets and other equipment from the U.S., but White House officials rejected the idea that this would be used to pressure Erdogan to support Sweden in joining the alliance. Analysis: Sweden’s entry into the alliance, which would come after Finland joined, would be a significant blow to Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, who has sought to halt NATO’s expansion. Developments about the war in Ukraine: Putin held a lengthy meeting with Yevgeny Prigozhin just five days after his Wagner private military company launched a brief mutiny, a Kremlin spokesman said yesterday. President Biden met with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain yesterday in London on the way to the NATO summit, where leaders are expected to focus on supporting Ukraine. THE LATEST NEWS Asia Pacific Six people were killed in a knife attack at a preschool in China’s southern Guangdong Province. Australia signed a deal with Germany to manufacture and export 100 armed carriers to the country’s military, Reuters reported. Around the World Protesters in Jerusalem yesterday holding a sign which reads “stop the legislation now to prevent a civil war” in Hebrew.Ilan Rosenberg/Reuters Israel’s parliament was to hold the first of three votes on limiting judicial powers as mass protests were planned by those who say the plan will weaken the country’s democracy. Lawrence Nassar, the doctor convicted in the U.S. of sexually abusing young female gymnasts, was stabbed multiple times in prison, according to two people. Spain rescued more than 80 migrants aboard a boat in the Atlantic, after an aid group reported that several vessels had been missing for two weeks. Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the Netherlands’s long-serving prime minister, said he would step aside, after his governing coalition had collapsed. Other Big Stories A deal to ensure that data from Meta, Google and other companies will continue flowing between the U.S. and the E.U. was completed yesterday. Madonna has postponed the entire North American leg of her Celebration Tour, which will now open in Europe in October. A Morning Read Mamadi Doumbouya for The New York Times It has been a long time since Robert Downey Jr. has shown up in a big movie playing a major part that wasn’t Tony Stark (a.k.a. Iron Man) or other would-be franchise material. Now he’s starring opposite Cillian Murphy in Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” which opens on July 21 in theaters in much of the worl