Ankara (Reuters) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in a call on Monday that Western countries should refrain from “provocative steps” regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Turkish presidency said.

Erdogan also told Sunak that Western powers must “remember the unkept promises to Palestine and do what is necessary”, the presidency said on social messaging platform X. It said the two also discussed the resolution of the “grave humanitarian crisis” in Gaza.

The meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the 78th United Nations General Assembly, saw the attendance of ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the latest regional and international developments and emphasize the significance of enhancing collaborative efforts between the Gulf countries and the United Kingdom. The participating ministers acknowledged the importance of these efforts in realizing the aspirations of nations and peoples, as well as fostering stability and prosperity.

The joint Gulf-British ministerial meeting served as a platform for open and constructive dialogue on matters of mutual concern. It provided an opportunity for all participants to exchange views, share insights, and explore avenues for cooperation in various fields.

The presence of Prince Faisal bin Farhan and his counterparts from the GCC countries, alongside British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, highlights the commitment of all parties to fostering strong relationships and addressing regional and global challenges through collective action.

Discussions during the meeting covered a broad range of topics, including regional security, political developments, economic cooperation, and cultural exchange. The participants emphasized the importance of collaboration in promoting stability, security, and prosperity in the Gulf region and beyond.

The meeting also highlighted the role of the Gulf-British relationship in advancing shared goals and contributing to regional and international peace and development. The ministers expressed their commitment to working together and leveraging their collective strengths to address common challenges and seize opportunities for growth and progress.

In addition to Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the meeting was attended by Abdul Rahman Al-Rasi, Undersecretary of the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Multilateral Affairs, and Abdulrahman Al-Dawood, the Director-General of the Office of His Highness the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Their presence further underscored Saudi Arabia’s dedication to active engagement and collaboration on multilateral platforms.

The joint Gulf-British ministerial meeting exemplifies the importance placed on fostering strong relationships and promoting cooperation among nations. Through such gatherings, countries can work together to address shared challenges, enhance regional stability, and create opportunities for collective growth and prosperity.

As the United Nations General Assembly provides a conducive environment for dialogue and collaboration, the meeting served as a testament to the commitment of all participating parties to forge strong partnerships and contribute to a more peaceful and prosperous world.

In accordance with various provisions of the UK’s Terrorism Act 2000, Choudary, 56, was charged by the Metropolitan Police on Sunday with belonging to a proscribed (banned) organization, speaking at gatherings to solicit support for a proscribed organization, and leading a terrorist organization.

Khaled Hussein, a 28-year-old Canadian, was also detained in connection with a counterterrorism investigation on suspicion of joining a banned group.

A 56-year-old male in east London and a 28-year-old Canadian national were detained by Met counterterrorism investigators on July 17 after they arrived at Heathrow Airport following a flight, according to a statement from the Met Police.

They were detained in accordance with Section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000, and detectives were given warrants for additional custody, enabling them to hold the men until Monday, July 24.

Both men were kept in jail during the lengthy questioning and were scheduled to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on Monday.

British-born Choudary has ties to a number of radical organizations, notably the Islamist organization Al Muhajiroun, which has since been outlawed.

He was released from London’s maximum security Belmarsh jail in 2018 after being found guilty by the Old Bailey court in September 2016 of extremist preaching and encouraging Muslims to embrace the terrorist organization ISIS. He has been imprisoned there since his conviction.

The announcement came days after BBC Arabic released an investigative documentary about the illicit drug trade in Syria, where they highlighted links between the estimated multi-billion dollar industry and the Syrian army as well as members of President Bashar Assad’s family.

The Syrian Information Ministry in a statement late Saturday said the decision was made after“ warning the channel more than once that it has broadcasted its misleading reports relying on statements and testimonies from terrorist entities and those hostile to Syria”.

Damascus revoked the licenses of both the British broadcaster’s radio and television correspondents in Syria, as well as their videographer.

“We speak to people across the political spectrum to establish the facts,” the BBC said in a statement emailed to the Associated Press, adding that the broadcaster provides “impartial independent journalism. ”We will continue to provide impartial news and information to our audiences across the Arabic-speaking world”.

The illicit drug industry, most notably the addictive Captagon amphetamine pills, has blossomed in war-torn Syria in recent years. While experts say it has been a way to generate revenue for the country’s crippled economy and sanctioned leadership, it has scourged neighboring Jordan and Saudi Arabia, as well as other Gulf countries.

Captagon has been used both recreationally and by people with physically demanding jobs to keep them alert as well as fighters on the battlefield.

The United Kingdom, United States, and European Union have sanctioned a handful of drug kingpins and close associates of Assad for their involvement in the trade.

The Syrian government denies any involvement in the production of Captagon. A Syrian parliamentarian told the AP last month that Syria has been used as a transit state for Captagon and other drugs, and accused opposition groups of running the industry.

After Syria restored relations with many of its neighboring countries and returned to the Arab fold, cracking down on drug smuggling has been a key issue in regional talks.

Syria’s uprising which turned into a full-blown civil war, now in its 13th year, has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half of its prewar population of 23 million. Syrians in both government-held territory and an opposition-held enclave in the country’s northwest suffer from rampant poverty and crippled infrastructure.

Bob Stewart, 73, is alleged to have told Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei to “go back to Bahrain” following the altercation on Dec. 14 outside a historic Foreign Office building in the heart of the capital.

Stewart, who is currently chairman of the all-parliamentary group on Bahrain, is also alleged to have told Alwadaei, 36, to “get stuffed” and that he is “taking money off my country.”

The incident was caught on camera and was widely circulated across social media. Soon after the exchange became public, Stewart said he had made a mistake and that he had been goaded into a response.

London’s Metropolitan Police, which launched an investigation after Alwadaei made a complaint about the incident outside Lancaster House, charged Stewart with using “threatening or abusive words or behaviour or disorderly behavior and the offense was racially aggravated.”

With regard to the same incident, Stewart has also been charged with using “threatening or abusive words or behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.” Police said the additional count has been added in order “to allow the court discretion on the racial element of the allegation.”

Alwadaei has said he is living in exile after being tortured in the Gulf state following his participation in anti-government protests. He is the director of advocacy at the U.K.-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, whose self-declared mission is “to promote human rights and effective accountability in Bahrain.”

Stewart, a former British army officer best known for his command of the U.N. peacekeeping forces in Bosnia during the early 1990s, will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on July 5.

The appeal from former U.K. Cabinet ministers, senior law officers, renowned journalists and legal rights organizations was made on Wednesday evening. It comes after this week’s arrest of Murad Akbar, the brother of attorney Shahzad Akbar.

The lawyer, who is currently not in Pakistan, days ago tweeted that his brother was taken by security forces who raided his house. Pakistani authorities have neither confirmed nor denied that Murad Akbar was in their custody.

“We call on Pakistani authorities to immediately release Murad Akbar, who we believe is arbitrarily detained and at risk of torture, disappearance and death,” said the joint statement from Britain.

They said Murad Akbar has not been charged with any crime and “is a very vulnerable individual, who was under his family’s care after undergoing mental health issues for which he is receiving psychiatric treatment.”

His brother, Shahzad Akbar, is a renowned human rights defender and served as an adviser to Khan before the former cricket star turned Islamist politician was ousted through a no-confidence vote in Parliament in April last year.

Khan himself was detained this month, sparking violent protests. Since then, police have detained thousands for alleged involvement in violence but it was unclear on what charges the lawyer’s brother was detained.

Truss is the first former British prime minister since Margaret Thatcher in the 1990s to visit the self-governing island republic that China claims as its own territory, to be conquered by force if necessary.

Still a sitting member of the House of Commons, Truss follows a growing list of elected representatives and former officials from the U.S., EU nations and elsewhere who have visited Taiwan to show their defiance of China’s threats and attempts to cut off the island and its high-tech economy from the international community.

“There are those who say they don’t want another Cold War. But this is not a choice we are in a position to make. Because China has already embarked on a self-reliance drive, whether we want to decouple from their economy or not,” Truss said in an address to the Prospect Foundation at a hotel in the Taiwanese capital, Taipei.

“China is growing its navy at an alarming rate and is undertaking the biggest military build-up in peacetime history,” she said.

“They have already formed alliances with other nations that want to see the free world in decline. They have already made a choice about their strategy. The only choice we have is whether we appease and accommodate — or we take action to prevent conflict,” Truss said.

Elsewhere, Truss praised her successor, Rishi Sunak, for describing China as “the biggest long-term threat to Britain” in comments last summer and for urging the closure of Chinese government-run cultural centers known as Confucius Institutes, which have been criticized as outlets for Communist Party propaganda. Such services could instead be provided by people from Taiwan and Hong Kong who come to the United Kingdom without government backing.

China’s relations with Britain and most other Western democracies have been in steep decline in recent years, largely as a result of disputes over human rights, trade technology and China’s aggressive moves toward Taiwan and in the South China Sea.

Beijing’s relations with London have been especially bitter over China’s sweeping crackdown on free speech, democracy and other civil liberties in Hong Kong, a former British colony that was promised it would retain its freedoms after the handover to Chinese rule in 1997.

China has said a key previous bilateral agreement on Hong Kong no longer applies and has rejected British expressions of concern as interference in China’s domestic political affairs. China has also been angered by a joint Australian-U.S.-British agreement known as AUKUS that would provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines in part to counter the perceived rising threat from China.

Truss, who served an ill-fated seven weeks as prime minister last year, also said China could not be trusted to follow through on its commitments in areas from trade to protection of the environment.

And she praised Taiwan as “an enduring rebuke to totalitarianism” whose fate was a “core interest” to Europe.

“A blockade or invasion of Taiwan would undermine freedom and democracy in Europe. Just as a Russian victory in Ukraine would undermine freedom and democracy in the Pacific,” Truss said.

“We in the United Kingdom and the free world must do all we can to back you,” she said.

Truss’ remarks also stood in stark contrast to published comments from French President Emmanuel Macron last month that elicited doubts about whether Macron’s views were in line with other European countries on Taiwan’s status.

“The question we need to answer, as Europeans, is the following: Is it in our interest to accelerate (a crisis) on Taiwan? No,” Macron was quoted as saying in the interview. “The worst thing would be to think that we Europeans must become followers on this topic and take our cue from the U.S. agenda and a Chinese overreaction.”

Shortly afterward, Macron denied any change on France’s views toward Taiwan, saying, “We are for the status quo, and this policy is constant.”

The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which provides support to ships across the Mideast, said the attack happened off Nishtun, Yemen, in the country’s far east near the border with Oman.

It said shots had been fired at the unidentified vessel in the Gulf of Aden, with three boats chasing after it.

There was no additional information immediately available.

The Gulf of Aden is a crucial route for global trade and has seen attacks attributed to Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels as its civil war rages. Somali pirate attacks that once plagued the region have mostly stopped in recent years.

Nishtun is held by forces allied to Yemen’s internationally recognized government, which is backed by a Saudi-led coalition.

However, attacks have happened there before. In December 2020, a mysterious attack targeted a cargo ship off Nishtun. In Yemen’s war, bomb-carrying drone boats, as well as sea mines, have been used.

The attack comes after Iran separately seized an oil tanker Thursday carrying crude for Chevron Corp. on its way to Houston.

Sudan’s army said on Saturday it had agreed to help evacuate foreign nationals, as gunfire and air strikes echoed across Khartoum despite promises by warring sides to cease fire for three days after a week of strife that has killed hundreds.

The army said the United States, Britain, France and China would evacuate diplomats and other nationals from Khartoum “in the coming hours”.

“We recognise that the situation is extremely concerning for British nationals trapped by the fighting in Sudan,” a government spokesperson said when asked about the comments.

“We are doing everything possible to support British nationals and diplomatic staff in Khartoum, and the Ministry of Defence is working with the Foreign Office to prepare for a number of contingencies.”

On Saturday, Britain’s Foreign Office updated its travel advice for Sudan to warn that “in the event of a ceasefire, any decision to move must be taken at individual risk”.

The two ministers called on the parties to the conflict in Sudan to end the violence, cease hostilities and military escalation, protect civilians, and allow access for humanitarian operations during their conversation about the state of the situation in Sudan.

In addition, Prince Faisal and Cleverly addressed how to improve and strengthen bilateral ties in a variety of areas and discussed how to work together on a number of subjects of shared concern.

On Thursday, cleverly tweeted to clarify that he had spoken with Prince Faisal, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed.

“The UK is devoted to bringing about peace in Sudan; the violence must stop.” I’ve discussed how we might work together to end this issue with international allies,” he stated.