ISTANBUL-Turkey is pressing Sweden and Finland to clamp down on what it calls Kurdish terrorist activity in the two Nordic states and drop their restrictions on arms sales to Ankara, with the NATO member potentially holding the decisive vote on whether the two can join the alliance.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan injected uncertainty into the Nordic nations' bid to join the organization on Friday when he said Turkey didn't view their request favorably, accusing the two countries of harboring what he said were Kurdish militants belonging to a group targeting Turkey. All 30 members of NATO must approve the entrance of any new members.


Yellen Pushes Polish Prime Minister on International Tax Deal

WARSAW-Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen pushed Poland to advance the European Union's implementation of a global minimum tax in a series of meetings Monday, saying that the two sides discussed potentially linking the minimum tax to an overhaul of international taxation authority.

Ms. Yellen met with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Finance Minister Magdalena Rzeczkowska on Monday as she attempted to unlock Polish support for approving the 15% minimum tax on large multinational corporations. Poland is the one holdout in the 27-member EU for approving the implementation of the deal, which more than 130 countries created in talks last year.


France's Macron Appoints First Woman Prime Minister in Three Decades

PARIS-President Emmanuel Macron of France has appointed Élisabeth Borne as prime minister, elevating the first woman in decades to helm a French government and lead his party's charge in the coming parliamentary elections.

The choice of Ms. Borne-a 61-year-old technocrat who previously served as Mr. Macron's labor minister-shows the pro-business president is tacking leftward before voters head to the polls in mid-June to elect members of the National Assembly. Ms. Borne was once chief of staff to Ségolène Royal, a Socialist Party heavyweight who mounted a high-profile yet unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2007.


Ukraine Says Long Combat Mission in Mariupol Has Ended

KYIV, Ukraine-Ukraine's government said its combat mission in Mariupol was over and evacuations of its soldiers had begun, concluding months of bloody battling against Russian forces that ended with a dramatic siege at an abandoned steel plant where fighters and civilians took refuge.

"The Mariupol garrison has fulfilled its combat mission," the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in a statement early Tuesday. "The Supreme Military Command ordered the commanders of the units stationed at Azovstal to save the lives of their personnel."


GLOBAL NEWS

Cryptocurrency TerraUSD Falls to 11 Cents, Creator Announces Rescue Plan

The price of the stablecoin TerraUSD was down sharply on Monday as the cryptocurrency's creator announced a plan to attempt to rescue the project.

The price of TerraUSD, created to maintain a value equal to a dollar, was down 36% at 11 cents, according to CoinMarketCap. Trading volume over the past 24 hours was less than $400 million, down from the more than $5 billion in volume it saw last week.


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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

05-17-22 0551ET