News archive of August 2018

A Palestinian computer engineer, who has been hailed on Turkish social media for his efforts to recover a couple's lost camera, said he felt gratitude to Turks for returning his lost wallet twice. 

Turkey has lowered the level of withholding tax on lira bank deposits of more than one year to zero from 10 percent, while raising the tax level on foreign currency deposits of up to one year, the Official Gazette said on Aug. 31.

Greece's biggest oil refiner Hellenic Petroleum expects stronger financial results in the third quarter thanks to higher refining margins, it said on Thursday.

Hellenic, which runs three refineries and exports more than half its output, reported an 18 percent drop in second-quarter core profit.

A 5.0-magnitude tremor struck 31 kilometers southwest of the city of Trikala in central Greece on Friday morning, causing landslides on rural roads, according to state-run news agency ANA-MPA. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

The earthquake hit shortly after 10 a.m. at a depth of 1.8 kilometers, according to a preliminary reading of the Athens Institute of Geodynamics.

A 4.9-magnitude tremor struck 31 kilometers southwest of the city of Trikala in central Greece on Friday morning, according to a preliminary reading of the Athens Institute of Geodynamics.

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre gave a reading of 5.1 for the same tremor.

The earthquake hit shortly after 10 a.m. at a depth of 1.8 kilometers.

Turkey is working with Russia and Iran on Syria's Idlib province "to avoid another Aleppo disaster," President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said.

France's biggest international star Gerard Depardieu on Aug. 30 issued a strong denial after it emerged he faces an inquiry into allegations by a young actress of rape and sexual assault.

As the toll from last month's wildfires in east Attica Thursday climbed to 98 with the death of an 83-year-old woman at an Athens hospital, residents at the seaside town of Mati, which suffered the biggest losses, continue to face significant challenges.

A 23-year-old man was seriously injured shortly after midnight on Thursday when he was shot in the head by an unknown assailant in Elefsina, west Attica.

According to police, a car approached a parked vehicle on Marinou Antypa road, in which the victim was sitting along with other passengers.

The attacker took out a weapon, shot the 23-year-old and then sped off.

Controversial anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders late Thursday said he was cancelling plans to stage a Prophet Mohammad cartoon competition, a scheme that had angered many Muslims particularly in Pakistan.