NATO chief convenes July 6 talks hoping to convince Turkey to let Sweden join

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says he’s called a meeting of senior officials on July 6 to try to overcome Turkish objections to Sweden joining the military organization. The meeting is a last-ditch effort to have the Nordic country among NATO’s ranks at a major summit July 11-12. Hungarian lawmakers, meanwhile, said a long-delayed vote in parliament on ratifying Sweden’s NATO accession bid would not happen until the autumn legislative session. That would almost certainly mean the Nordic nation will not join in time for the summit. For NATO, Sweden’s entry would be a highly symbolic moment and a fresh sign of how Russia’s war in Ukraine is driving countries into its arms.