The U.S. Navy's forcible seizure of an Iranian-flagged cargo ships threw doubt on an announcement from President Donald Trump that U.S. negotiators will head to Pakistan on Monday for another round of talks with Iran.

Oil prices surged Monday on a re-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East war after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz at the weekend, just a day after reopening it, citing the United States' blockade of its ports.

Bulgarian ex-president Rumen Radev — an EU critic who has called for renewing ties with Russia — hailed a "victory of hope" after his coalition topped the eighth parliamentary elections in five years on Monday.

Istanbul is preparing to introduce a major overhaul of its taxi system by adopting a Singapore-style model aimed at improving efficiency and reducing long-standing issues such as finding a cab and idle cruising.

A surge of visitors flooded Basilica Cistern after the Istanbul Municipality reduced the entrance fee for Turkish citizens to just 1 lira ($0.022), drawing around 5,000 local visitors within the first five hours of the decision.