Speaking with journalists at the NATO summit in Brussels, Donald Trump said he "thinks" he can pull out of NATO without congressional approval.

The US president made the statement when asked if he had threatened to pull out of the alliance, and whether he thought he could do so without first consulting Congress.

Trump ignored the first question, but on the second question, he said, "I think I can."

According to Politico, Trump warned his allies behind closed doors that they would need to radically increase defense spending or the US "will do our own thing." NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg then reportedly shifted the meeting to an allies-only emergency session, requiring European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to leave the room.

After the emergency session, Trump said that the alliance is "very unified, very strong, no problem."

Trump turned NATO's annual summit - usually a scripted snore - into a sparring match between old allies. The US president has been particularly critical of Germany, accusing Berlin of relying on the US for security while not paying enough into NATO's coffers.

The Finnish capital of Helsinki will host a summit July 16 between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Amid preparations for the meeting, speculation has been raised about the topics that may be discussed by the two presidents. Although the formal agenda has yet to be announced, one thing is certain: The Syrian crisis and prospects for engagement between Moscow and Washington on the war-torn country will likely form a great part of what Putin and Trump will discuss - and possibly agree upon.

US national security adviser John Bolton acknowledged on July 1 that an important part of the agenda of the upcoming Trump-Putin summit will be for the United States to ask for Russia's help to oust Iran from Syria. According to Bolton, Washington has accepted that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will retain power in Syria and now wants to concentrate on convincing Moscow to cut its partnership in Syria with Tehran. In return for Putin's agreement to help the Americans expel the Iranians from Syria, Trump is reportedly ready to withdraw US forces from the country as well as help the Syrian military regain full control over the southern region along the border with Jordan.

Reacting to these reports, the Iranian press has been quick to speculate that Russia is about to "betray" Iran once again and to use Tehran as a bargaining chip to reach a deal with the United States. Moscow's reaction to speculation along those lines, however, has been quite unexpected. For instance, Russia has backtracked from its previous position that all foreign forces, including Iranians, must leave Syria. Instead, Russian officials have started to vehemently emphasize the lawful nature of Iran's presence in Syria. On June 28, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, called Iran's presence in Syria "legitimate and undeniable," stressing, "Nobody can deny the issue, whether they like it or not." Four days later, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said that Iran's presence in Syria is of an advisory nature and fundamentally aimed at fighting terrorism. On July 4, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the US and Israeli demands for Iran's full withdrawal from Syria "absolutely unrealistic."

Ahead of the planned announcement of President Trump's Supreme Court nomination, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order to protect abortion and contraceptive coverage in the state.

Since Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement, giving Trump the ability to select his second Supreme Court justice in his first term as president, Democrats have publicly expressed concern that the nation's highest court, with the addition of a conservative judge, could overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision that legalized abortion.

Flanked by women holding signs in support of Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider, Cuomo on Monday said Trump plans to roll back Roe v. Wade as part of his plan to "make America great again" and "take us back to the dark days ... before women had the constitutional legal protection to control their own bodies."

Japan's prime minister said Tuesday that his nation needs to attend to its own demographic challenges posed by falling birth rates and an aging population before opening its doors to refugees.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced at the U.N. General Assembly that Japan is ramping up assistance in response to the exodus of refugees to Europe from the Middle East and Africa.

He said Japan will provide $1.5 billion in emergency aid for refugees and for stabilization of communities facing upheaval. But speaking to reporters later Tuesday he poured cold water on the idea of Japan opening its doors to those fleeing.

The first day of the NATO summit has shown that, despite a row within its ranks that needs urgent, diplomatic pacification, the 'defensive' alliance is still united and ready to adopt another set of measures aimed against Moscow.

From the outset, the NATO summit has demonstrated that the contradictions between once-close allies run deep. While NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg desperately sought to keep up appearances, US President Donald Trump, the leader of a country that has always been the bloc's bulwark, effectively launched an attack against his own allies in an attempt to make them contribute more to the alliance.

Demonstrator says she was jailed for 'opposing the compulsory hijab' and 'waving a white flag of peace in the street'
An Iranian woman says she has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for removing her compulsory Islamic headscarf out of protest.

Shaparak Shajarizadeh said she had been jailed for "opposing the compulsory hijab" and "waving a white flag of peace in the street" in a post on her personal website.

There was no immediate comment from Iranian officials.

A spokesperson for the Iranian embassy in London could not confirm the claim, and directed The Independent to Iranian judicial sources, who have been contacted for comment.

Sweden's Foreign Minister Margot Wallström called on Friday for the Israeli government to lift its 12-year-old siege of the Gaza Strip and to allow medical aid into the coastal enclave, Egypt's Al-Shaab newspaper has reported.

"Israel has to lift the siege it imposes on Gaza, open border crossings and secure the arrival of medical and food assistance," Wallström told the Swedish parliament. The minister pointed to the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory. She has made several comments against the illegal and inhumane Israeli siege.

The "illegal annexation of Crimea" is not a reason for NATO to isolate Russia and stop talking, Jens Stoltenberg said, sharing his vision of the bloc's future.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg is certainly not the biggest fan of the Kremlin, but speaking at the 'NATO Engages' conference on Wednesday in Brussels, he opted for a softer rhetoric, saying re-engagement with Moscow would bring more good than harm.

While NATO should heavily invest in military buildup, "we can engage in political dialogue with Russia, because Russia is our neighbor, Russia is not going to go away and we need to talk to Russia," Stoltenberg said.

Several missiles launched by Israeli aircraft have struck Syrian army positions in the Quneitra Governorate near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, in what the IDF called a retaliation for an earlier drone infiltration.

The attack caused "limited damage" at some of the army positions in the vicinity of the towns of Hader and Tell Kurum, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported, providing no further details of the incident.

The IDF soon confirmed targeting sites in Syria, claiming it was their response to a drone infiltration earlier on Wednesday.

Russia uses gas supplies to control Germany, said US President Donald Trump on Wednesday. Trump says it's unacceptable that Berlin is paying billions of dollars to Moscow instead of its NATO dues, which protect it from Russia.

Speaking to journalists before a meeting with the NATO secretary general in Brussels, Trump criticized bloc members that approved the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Europe. The president criticized Germany in particular, calling it a hostage of Russia.

"Germany is captive of Russia because it is getting so much of its energy from Russia. They pay billions of dollars to Russia and we have to defend them against Russia,' said Trump at a breakfast with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.