Three soldiers were killed on May 8 in an explosion in the Nusaybin district of the southeastern province of Mardin, where operations by security forces are being carried out against outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants. Source: Hurriyet Daily
Author: Guest Write
Twelve PKK terrorists have been killed in counter-terrorism operations in Turkey’s southeast. 8 terrorists were killed in Nusaybin, 2 in the neighboring Sirnak province, and 2 in the Tunceli province. Source: AA
Reporting incidents from the previous day, the Turkish General Staff said four terrorists were killed in Nusaybin, Mardin province, and four across neighboring Sirnak province. Source: AA
Three rocket projectiles, fired from Syria, killed one and injured 10 others in Turkey’s southeastern border province of Kilis on Sunday evening, said Turkish officials. Source: AA
At least 20 PKK terrorists were killed in four separate counter-terrorism operations in four southeastern Turkish provinces Sunday, the military announced on its official website Monday. Source: AA
30 Sinai Province militants were killed in airstrikes conducted by the Egyptian Air Force on Monday south of Sheikh Zuweid city. Source: Daily News Egypt
Around 30 Daesh militants were killed in a coalition airstrike in the early hours of Monday in Syria, near Turkey’s southern Kilis province. Source: AA
Taiwanese troops using tanks, mortars and small arms have staged a drill aimed at repelling an attack from China, which has increased its threats to reclaim the island and stepped up its own displays of military might. Source Aljazeera
Jack Ma, the founder of China’s largest e-commerce company Alibaba, on Wednesday made his first public appearance since October when he spoke to a group of teachers online.
The Jack Ma Foundation said in a statement Wednesday, “Jack Ma participated in the online ceremony of the annual Rural Teacher Initiative event on January 20.” Source Deutsche Welle
The teenagers quickly fled before the police arrived. Stupor at the Paul Eluard college in Vigneux-sur-Seine (Essonne) this Monday morning around 10:40 am. A group of four or five teenagers fired twice in the air with a handgun. They were in front of the entrance gates of the school. The latter also exhibited a tear gas canister at the time of the events. Source Actu17
Cities, towns and villages across France were practically empty on Saturday as residents stayed home and businesses shut to observe a nationwide curfew intended to help stem the spread of coronavirus, especially a more infectious variant. Source France24
U.S. officials who have engaged in “nasty behaviour” over Chinese-claimed Taiwan will face sanctions, China’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday, after Washington lifted curbs on exchanges between U.S. and Taiwanese officials. Source Reuters
Unrest was recorded in the night between Sunday and Monday as young demonstrators clashed with police in several areas of Tunisia. Clashes were recorded for the third consecutive night in Cité Ettadhamen, Mnihla and al Intilaka, low-income districts of the capital, as well as Sbeitla, Nabeul, Beja, Kasserine, Jelma, Menzel Bouzalfa, Sousse, Gafsa, Bizerte, Sidi Bouzid, Korba, Tebourba. Violence, looting and attacks against police forces were reported. At least 600 people were arrested. Source Ansa Med
Russia reproached Greece and the European Union over the inspection of a Russian cargo vessel by Greek special forces off the coast of Libya earlier in January. The inspection by soldiers from the Hellenic Navy vessel “Adrias,” which is the flagship of Operation Irini, took place on January 11. Source Greek Reporter
BLM activist egged on Capitol rioters: Left-winger who told CNN he was there simply to document the siege is arrested after video shows he smashed window, wore gas mask, told rioters he had knife and shouted ‘we got to get this s**t burned’ Source Daily Mail
The National Rifle Association on Friday filed for bankruptcy, a sudden development that could help the gun rights group escape a lawsuit by New York’s attorney general seeking its dissolution. Source Reuters
Automakers around the world are shutting assembly lines because of a global shortage of semiconductors that in some cases has been exacerbated by the Trump administration’s actions against key Chinese chip factories, industry officials said. Source Reuters
Covid-19 vaccination associated with adverse drug reactions in elderly people who are frail 23 deaths associated with covid-19 vaccination of which 13 have been assessed. Common adverse reactions may have contributed to a severe course in elderly people who are frail. Source legemiddelverket

Fraport Greece reported a 71.4% annual decline in passenger traffic last year at the 14 regional airports it operates in Greece. The total number of passengers who used the airports of Thessaloniki, Corfu, Hania, Cephalonia, Zakynthos, Aktio, Kavala, Rhodes, Kos, Samos, Mytilene, Mykonos, Santorini and Skiathos reached 8,611,780, of which 5,994,180 were on international flights – a year-on-year decline of 74.2%. Source Ekathimerini
Russian oil drilling giant Gazprom Neft opened a crypto mining farm running on associated gas energy unlocking the power of Russia’s oil and gas resources for the needs of bitcoin (BTC) mining, reports Yahoo Finance. The venue for cryptocurrency mining is on one of the company’s oil drilling sites in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug in Siberia. It is using the associated gas from Gazprom Neft’s oil field as an energy source and has its own power plant to transform this gas into electricity. Source Realnoevremya
The United States’ trade deficit surged to its highest level in more than 14 years in November as businesses boosted imports to replenish inventories, offsetting a rise in exports. Source Reuters
U.S. bankruptcy filings hit their lowest level since 1986 last year thanks to unprecedented fiscal and monetary support from the Fed and Congress.
By the numbers: Total bankruptcy filings for the year fell to 529,068 filings across all chapters, while total filings in the month of December was 34,304, the lowest monthly total since January 2006, according to a release from legal services company Epiq AACER. The number of total 2020 filings was about 1/3 of the number seen in 2010. Source Axios
Italy is working on a plan to take on about 14 billion euros ($17 billion) of UniCredit’s impaired loans to make a takeover of state-owned Monte dei Paschi more attractive for the country’s second-biggest bank, sources told Reuters.
Volkswagen Group has liquidated its unit in Turkey after cancelling plans to establish its first factory in the country, Turkish television channel BloombergHT reported on Tuesday.
The decision to shutter the firm was registered with the Turkish Trade Registry and a call to creditors was issued on Monday, BloombergHT said. Source Ahval
The former head of one of China’s biggest asset management companies has been sentenced to death for corruption, in a relatively rare instance of the country meting out the death penalty for financial crimes. Source FT
Russian natural gas transported to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline touched 28.8 million cubic metres per day, as of Jan. 3, to feed homes and factories as northern China faces frigid weather conditions, national oil and gas pipeline giant PipeChina said. Source Business Recorder
Dec. 22, France’s national statistic agency INSEE reported that, the country’s public debt hit 2,674.3 billion euros (around USD3,255.93 billion) before the end of the July-September period of the present year, making up for 116.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). Source MenaFN
14 December France has ordered a dozen public and private bodies to keep their deposits at the Treasury, government documents show, as it quietly builds up safeguards to reinforce its cash flow during the pandemic and ahead of Brexit. Source Reuters
“We have completed this work,” the consortium said in an emailed statement, referring to the pipe-laying in the German economic zone.
The consortium building the pipeline, led by Russian gas giant Gazprom with Western partners, has still to lay more than 100-km of pipeline, although more than 90% of the project has been completed. Source Reuters
