News archive of February 2017

Hundreds of civilians fled through the desert yesterday to escape fighting and privation in Mosul, joining thousands of others who left their homes as conditions worsen in the city's west.

Iraqi forces launched a major push on Feb. 19 to recapture the west of the city from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), retaking the airport and then advancing north.

Stocks on the Athens bourse had a rather quiet start to the week on Tuesday, the same day that talks resumed on the second bailout review, with expectations remaining low for now. Trading volume only increased somewhat during the closing auctions.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 645.88 points, adding 0.08 percent to Friday's 645.37 points.

Eight UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters along with more than 70 other pieces of equipment arrived at the Thessaloniki Port on February 25 as part of the 10th Combat Aviation Brigade (CAB) nine month rotational deployment in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve. U.S.

The U.S.-based Procter and Gamble (P&G) has made its 250 million-Turkish lira ($70 million) investment in the northwestern province of Kocaeli's Gebze district online and signaled new investments, as reported by Reuters on Feb. 28. 

Montenegro’s capital rejected an opposition plea to revoke the honorary citizenship of former Croatian President Stjepan Mesic over his controversial statements about the Jasenovac WWII concentration camp.

Relations between Serbia and Germany are "at a very high level."

Serbian First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic said this on Tuesday in Belgrade as he met with Minister-President of the German Federal State Hessen Volker Bouffier.

The discovery of seven Earth-size planets around a nearby star, TRAPPIST-1, is certainly exciting news. But what would it take to visit one of these potentially Earth-like alien worlds?

Macedonia's Special Prosecution, SJO announced on Tuesday that it has added 17 new people to its list of suspects in the electoral fraud case, including more former state officials.

It has also widened the range of suspected criminal offences after reviewing wiretapped recordings of officials, chief special prosecutor Katica Janeva told a press conference in Skopje.

A story that was published on daily Hürriyet's first page on Feb. 25 with the headline "Seven Answers to Seven Criticisms" was penned based completely on an institutional "briefing" by the Turkish General Staff upon questions from the daily's Ankara representative, Hande Fırat, according to a statement from the newspaper.

Asian nations must spend $26 trillion by 2030 on infrastructure to battle poverty, boost economic growth and fight climate change, the Asian Development Bank warned on Feb. 28.