News archive of August 2017

The Turkish government is planning to reduce the ratio of underage as well as forced marriages in the country from five percent to one percent through an action plan regarding the issue prepared by the Family and Social Policies Ministry for 2018-2023, daily Milliyet reported on Aug. 31.

Multiple explosions occurred at a flooded chemical plant near Houston early Thursday, giving off black smoke and sending a sheriff’s deputy to the hospital.

The Harris County Emergency Operations Center reported the incidents at Arkema Inc’s Crosby, Texas, factory around 2 a.m., the company said in a statement. The company warned that more explosions may occur.

A Moscow deadline for almost two-thirds of U.S. diplomatic staff to leave Russia expires on Sept. 1, an exodus that starkly demonstrates the souring relationship between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.

There were hopes of improved ties between Moscow and Washington after Trump's election to the U.S. presidency last year, when both leaders showered each other in praise.

Fans and friends of Diana, princess of Wales were to mark the 20th anniversary of her death on Aug. 31 as well-wishers lit candles and paid their respects at the sombre scene of her fatal car crash.

A new draft law on the Serbian Security Agency, BIA, has been criticised for giving too much power to the agency's chief.

The law is in parliamentary procedure since Wednesday and lawmakers will shortly vote on it in a shortened procedure.

South Korea said its air force conducted an exercise with two U.S. nuclear-capable bombers above the Korean peninsula on Aug. 31, two days after a North Korean missile fired over Japan sharply raised tensions.

Some 70,000 people in Frankfurt will have to leave their homes this weekend in one of the biggest such evacuations in post-war Germany, police said Aug. 30, after an unexploded World War-II bomb nicknamed "blockbuster" was uncovered.

Shares in Carrefour slumped on Aug. 31 after the world's second-largest retailer warned 2017 operating profit could fall by around 12 percent.

Carrefour shares were down by around 10 percent in early trading, while Carrefour's French rival Casino also lost ground.

Turkey's economy has continued its recovery in the first half of 2017 after growth bounced back in the last quarter of 2016 and was similarly robust in the first quarter, Moody's Investors Service has announced.        
"As a result, we have raised our 2017 growth forecast to 3.7 percent from 2.6 percent. We expect growth in 2018 to average 3.2 percent," Moody's said on Aug. 30.    

In the industrial outskirts of Beijing, a local community in the shadow of a giant Hyundai Motor Co manufacturing complex is feeling the fallout from a fierce diplomatic standoff between China and South Korea.