British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he had spoken on the phone with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Saturday and told him that London would facilitate release of the Iranian oil tanker impounded in Gibraltar if it could prove the cargo wasn't going to Syria. Hunt wrote on Twitter that his counterpart said he wants to resolve the issue and is not seeking to escalate the situation.

Russia on Saturday sent new components of its S-400 Long Range Air and Missile Defense Systems to a military air base near Ankara, Turkey's Defence Ministry said on Twitter. The Balkan country received the first three shipments of S-400 components on Friday, defying threats of sanctions from the United States.

Europol opened on Thursday in Tirana it’s second liaison bureau outside the EU. The first one is in Washington. “This is an important step in establishing a strong partnership and trust between the Member States and the Western Balkans”, Catherine De Bolle, Executive Director of Europol, said at the opening ceremony (pictured).

“They are treating us like cannon fodder. We were told by the command that we were being sent on a training mission. We knew neither where we were going nor why.” This admission was made in 2014 by a Russian soldier captured by the Ukrainian security forces, as reported by the BTA news agency at the time. His words reached the international community after the Ukrainian command released a video of the interrogation of 10 paratroopers caught in August of that year after crossing into Donetsk territory.

The Albanian parliament voted on Monday to set up a special commission to investigate and possibly oust President Ilir Meta for his unsuccessful attempt to cancel the municipal elections held on 30 June, news wires reported. According to the Socialist lawmakers, Meta's effort was unconstitutional.

A Qatari official has announced the “success” of Afghan peace talks held this week in Doha, the Qatari foreign ministry said in a statement dated Monday and published on Tuesday. 

After weeks of huge Hong Kong demonstrations, that plunged the former British colony into its biggest political crisis in decades, nation’s embattled leader declared the controversial extradition bill that sparked the unrest 'dead'. In a press conference on Tuesday, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam also admitted the government's work on the bill had been a "total failure", making her latest attempt to reduce the political temperature in the semi-autonomous territory.

Iran's Foreign Ministry warned on Monday that it would implement in 60 days its third deliberate violation of the nuclear deal, if the remaining parties do not find ways to counter US sanctions against Tehran, news wires reported. "The West should not criticize the legitimate decisions of Iran, but find practical solutions to convince us to stay in the deal," Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mussawi said, cited by DPA.

At the 15th EU-Central Asia Foreign Ministers' Meeting held on 7 July in Bishkek, the foreign ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, as well as the EU foreign policy chief reaffirmed their commitment to forge a strong, diversified and forward-looking partnership.

Transport, energy, digital, economy, security and good neighbourly relations were the five key areas  on which the EU confirmed its commitment to apply concrete measures to strengthen cooperation with the Western Balkans at a summit held on 4 and 5 July in Poznan as part of the Berlin Process initiative.