News archive of February 2015

Koço Kokedhima, a businessman and MP from the Socialist Party, had started a campaign - mainly through his newspaper Shekulli - calling for the legal cultivation of marijuana in Albania.

The country is considered a major supplier of marijuana for Western Europe and last year its police conducted two major operations, destroying scores of plantations and arresting dozens of people.

In order to calm budding criticism that SYRIZA's pre-election promises may not be met, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Friday unveiled the first four draft bills by his government as well as the establishment of parliamentary commission of inquiry to probe how Greece needed the initial bailout in the first place.

Boris Nemtsov, who was shot dead in Moscow late on February 27, was well-known as an oppositional leader and one of the main figures to harshly criticize Russia's politics as led by President Vladimir Putin.

Bulgaria strongly condemns the murder of the prominent Russian oposition leader and former Deputy PM Boris Nemtsov, the top Bulgarian diplomat Daniel Mitov has said.

Mitov has extended his condolence to Nemtsov's relatives in a statement dated Saturday morning.

The first mention of “extraordinary tax” by the government hit the airwaves on Saturday, with Greek FinMin Yanis Varoufakis stating that “if necessary”, the wealthy will be asked to cough up a one-time tax payment.

Leaders across the globe have reacted to the events of Thursday evening when prominent Russian oppositioner Boris Nemtsov was killed.

US President Barack Obama condemned the "brutal murder" in a statement and urged a "prompt, impartial and transparent investigation" .

Police have found four vehicles that CCTV systems spotted at the time and place of Boris Nemtsov's murder.

Nemtsov was shot 4-6 times in the back and died shortly before midnight on Thursday as he crossed a bridge in the view of the Kremlin. The fatal wound came from a shot in the heart, RT has reported.

A manhunt is now underway.

The death of Russian opposition politician and former Deputy PM Boris Nemtsov resembles a contract killing, Russian authorities believe.

This comes after Nemtsov was shot dead on Friday, shorly before midnight local time (20:40 GMT).

Russia's President Vladimir Putin is now personally in control of the investigation, according to his spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci has signaled a potential change in the law on the Turkish Central Bank, which has recently been harshly criticized due to its rate policies by several leading government figures. 

Russian opposition politician and former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov has been shot dead in central Moscow.

Nemtsov was shot four times in the back by an unknown attacker, according to a law enforcement source, as cited by the Interfax news agency.

The killer is said to have escaped in a car.

The incident happened at around 23:40 local time near the Kremlin.