Anadolu Agency's Morning Briefing - May 24, 2022

Anadolu Agency is here with a rundown of the latest developments around the world.

The Greek premier's comments about Turkiye on an official visit to the US have effectively made him a nonentity, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday.

"We had agreed with (Kyriakos Mitsotakis) to not include third countries in our dispute," Erdogan said after chairing a Cabinet meeting in the capital Ankara. Despite this agreement, last week during an official US visit, the premier spoke at Congress and urged them not to sell F-16 fighter jets to Turkiye, he added.The US will likely make up its own mind on the F-16s without needing to consult the Greek premier, Erdogan added.

US President Joe Biden's approval rating stands at just 43% in a new poll released Monday, sitting at near-record lows.

That is down from some 47% of registered voters who approved of the president's job in April's NewsNation/Decision Desk HQ poll. Over 57% of voters said they disapprove of the way Biden has handled his presidency, now in its second year. Some 40% said they "strongly disapprove" of the president's job.

Roughly 20 nations have pledged to provide Ukraine with new arms shipments to help it defend itself against Russia's assault, the US announced.

The new packages include "critically needed" artillery ammunition, coastal defense systems, tanks, and other armored vehicles, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters at the Pentagon. Other nations have committed to training Ukrainian troops and helping Kyiv sustain its existing armaments.

Meanwhile, monkeypox does not spread easily between people, the EU health agency said.

"Human-to-human transmission occurs through close contact with infectious material from skin lesions of an infected person, through respiratory droplets in prolonged face-to-face contact, and through fomites," the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) stated in a risk assessment after an outbreak of the illness in non-endemic countries.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki has hailed Palestinian-Turkish relations as "solid and strong."

"Palestinian-Turkish ties have been solid and strong for a long time, and we are working to strengthen them in every way," al-Maliki told Anadolu Agency.

In economy news, risks aside, Turkiye boasts a large, diversified and resilient economy with a solid banking sector, said an executive at Moody's Investors Service, a sister company of the global rating agency.

"They (Turkish banks) have had pretty good results. They are solid," Kathrin Muehlbronner, senior vice president within Moody's Investors Service Sovereign Risk Group, told Anadolu Agency, citing "stabilizing factors." -