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
French schools are to replace the words “mother” and “father” with “parent 1” and “parent 2” under a controversial same sex amendment to a law passed this week. Source: Telegraph
Poland’s foreign ministry on Friday (Feb 15) summoned Israel’s ambassador over reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu implicated Poles in the Holocaust. Source: Channel News Asia
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised a “strong response” to a car bombing in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed at least 42 paramilitary personnel, with New Delhi calling for “the complete isolation of Pakistan” for harbouring the armed group behind the devastating attack. Source: Al Jazeera
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will visit China next week, Beijing’s foreign ministry said on Friday (Feb 15), as part of a swing through Asia in which the monarch is expected to sign an investment package with cash-strapped Pakistan. Source Channel NewsAsia
- European citizens are due to vote on new representatives for the European Parliament between May 23 and 26.
- However, years of economic stagnation and long-lasting crises over immigration in Europe have translated into a push toward anti-establishment parties across the continent.
France is sending its ambassador back to Italy following the biggest diplomatic dispute between the two countries since World War II. Source: Star Tribune
The demonstrations were sparked nearly three months ago by President Emmanuel Macron’s introduction of fuel taxes, but quickly morphed into a more general revolt against austerity measures, and the political establishment in general, despite a Government climb-down over the tax. Source: UN
Immigration into Switzerland rose again last year, taking the foreign population further above 2 million as the wealthy country’s open-door policy for Europeans faces a right-wing challenge. Source: The Sun Daily
The US commander who has been leading the war against ISIS told CNN Friday that he disagreed with Donald Trump’s decision to pull troops out of Syria and warned that the terror group was far from defeated, in a stark public break with the President. Source: CNN
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo raised the issue of Holocaust-era property restitution during his first official visit to Poland. Source: Israel National News
Russia is moving to ban its soldiers from sharing information on the internet, a step that follows the use of social media posts by investigative journalists to shine a light on Moscow’s clandestine role in foreign conflicts. Source: The Economic Times
The biggest U.S. bank said it developed a prototype digital coin that it plans to use to speed up payments between corporate customers. The token, dubbed JPM Coin, is based on blockchain technology, a decentralized public ledger of transactions that offers more speed because it doesn’t rely on a central record keeper. Source: Bloomberg
FCA Group, Ford and Volkswagen led a 4.6 percent decline in European car registrations in January, industry data showed, dampened by an economic slowdown in euro zone economies and consumer jitters over Brexit and trade. Source Reuters
Russia’s Gazprom will start gas supplies to China from Dec. 1, a month earlier than planned, the gas producer said on Friday. Deliveries of gas to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline were due to begin at the end of December 2019, but the project is only expected to reach full capacity in 2025. Source: Reuters
Two days of U.S.-Chinese trade talks ended with no specific details about whether progress was made or not Friday, but Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin called them “productive” on Twitter. Source: WLOX
- In new official data out of China, both the Producer Price Index and Consumer Price Index inflation came in weaker than expected for January.
- The data comes amid a new round of U.S.-China talks in Beijing this week as the world’s two largest economies renewed efforts to reach a deal to defuse trade tensions
- China’s January dollar-denominated exports rose 9.1 percent from a year ago, defying a forecast of a 3.2 percent contraction.
- China’s imports fell 1.5 percent over the same period, far better than the 10 percent decline that was expected.
- China’s overall trade surplus of $39.16 billion in January also beat expectations.
“The standard of living is under pressure from how many people do not contribute to the labour market”, Aarhus University professor of economic Bo Sandemann Rasmussen said. “As for refugees and immigrants, the extent to which they don’t participate in the labour market will only result in reduced growth and prosperity contribution”, he concluded. Source: Sputnik News
Slow global trade, auto industry troubles and low water on the Rhine all contributed to a final-quarter GDP of zero percent, meaning Europe’s biggest economy staved off a technical recession by the smallest of margins. Source: Deutsche Welle
Turkish exploration ships will soon start drilling for oil and gas offshore the northern part of Cyprus, the energy minister of the Turkish Cypriots told Turkish Anadolu Agency on Wednesday, a move that could reignite tension between Turkey, Cyprus, and Greece regarding the exploration rights off the eastern Mediterranean island. Source: Oilprice
Japan’s economy rose at an annualised rate of 1.4 percent in October-December, government data showed on Thursday, as consumer spending and capital expenditure rebounded from natural disasters that disrupted corporate activity. Source: Reuters
The economic growth of the Netherlands grew by 2.5 percent last year compared to the prior year. In 2017, the economy grew by 2.9 percent. Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) speaks of a slowdown in growth. Source: Algemeen Dagblad
