RT News - May 18 2022 (20:00 MSK)

Turkey has reportedly blocked Finland and Sweden from joining NATO - after the Nordic countries handed in their official applications. Ankara demands the handover of what it calls terrorist groups harbored by Helsinki and Stockholm. Almost a thousand Ukrainian troops have surrendered at the Azovstal factory in the Donbass city of Mariupol with captured neo-Nazis from the Azov battalion, due to stand trial for war crimes. The US eases some of its sanctions against Venezuela's energy sector - as Washington seeks to secure additional oil imports, despite its long-running differences with Caracas. UK officials suggest locals start picking up extra work to help themselves out - with the government apparently powerless to do anything about soaring consumer prices which have already hit a 40-year high.