The Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs committee gave its consent to Sweden’s bid to join NATO on Tuesday, drawing the previously nonaligned Nordic country closer to membership in the Western military alliance. Sweden’s accession protocol will now need to be approved in the Turkish parliament’s general assembly for the last stage of the legislative process in Turkey. “Turkey’s approval of Sweden’s joining NATO is linked to the US Senate’s approval of Turkey buying 14 F-16 fighter bombers from America”, FRANCE 24’s Jasper Mortimer said, adding that the Senate’s approval is contingent on Turkey ratifying Sweden’s NATO membership.

Nearly 60 French actors and other prominent figures have denounced the “lynching” of disgraced film legend Gerard Depardieu, who is charged with rape and is facing a litany of other sexual assault claims. FRANCE 24 Reporter Clovis Casali said the signatories included, “actresses like Carole Bouquet, Charlotte Rampling; singers Carla Bruni, Jacques Dutronc; many of them long-time friends of Gerard Depardieu”. Casali added: “it’s not the young generations, it’s more the old guard, if I may.” 

A key committee in the Turkish parliament on Tuesday approved Sweden’s bid to join NATO after months of delays, clearing another hurdle in the Nordic country’s accession process in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year.

Nearly 60 French actors and other prominent figures have denounced the “lynching” of disgraced cinema legend Gerard Depardieu, who is charged with rape and facing a litany of sexual assault claims. Last week French President Emmanuel Macron said Depardieu had become the target of a “manhunt”, while his family has denounced an “unprecedented conspiracy” against him. FRANCE 24’s Philip Turle brings you this analysis

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Tuesday said he was “fine” after a “pretty exhausting” 20-day transfer from his prison near Moscow to a penal colony beyond the Arctic Circle.

Protesters tried to storm Belgrade’s city council building Sunday, using stones, flag-poles and eggs to break the building’s windows. Tensions ran high on Christmas Eve in Serbia’s capital as thousands of people came out to protest the results of this month’s elections.