News archive of December 2017

Liberia’s president-elect George Weah vowed Dec. 30 to “improve people’s lives” after the former star footballer secured a stunning run-off victory in the country’s first democratic transfer of power in decades.

Catalonia’s former leader Carles Puigdemont on Dec. 30 urged Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to accept the results of a Dec. 21 local election which gave a slim majority to parties favoring a split of the northeastern region from Spain.

Two self-styled anarchists who were among 394 people arrested during a 1995 police sweep at the Athens Polytechnic, as well as three to four younger recruits, comprise the Popular Fighters Group that claimed responsibility for the December 22 bombing attack at an Athens courthouse, according to senior Greek Police and Citizens' Protection Ministry officials. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will visit Paris on Jan. 5 to meet his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, with the conflict in Syria high on the agenda, Reuters reported o Dec. 30, citing a source in the French president's office. 

Galatasaray ranked 20th in UEFA's latest all-time Club World Rankings list, Doğan News Agency reported on Dec. 30.

Turkish Air Force has killed four members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) during raids in northern Iraq, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Dec. 30, citing the Turkish Military.

The Greek government on Saturday filed a request with the Asylum Appeals Committee to take back a decision granting protection to one of eight Turkish officers who fled to Greece after last summer's failed coup in Turkey over fears of persecution.

At least 67 undocumented migrants and refugees were held in northwestern Edirne province on Dec. 30, state-run Anadolu Agecy reported, citing a security official. 

A decision by Greece's asylum appeals committee to grant protection to one of eight Turkish officers accused by Ankara of participating in the botched coup of 2016, will have "negative impacts on bilateral relations," Turkey's Foreign Ministry was quoted by Daily Sabah as saying.

The co-pilot of a helicopter, who flew seven other Turkish military officers to Greece a day after last year’s failed coup in Turkey, has been granted asylum, Agence France-Presse reported on Dec. 30, citing a Greek judicial source.