Meanwhile

Libya's UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) on Dec. 29 hit back at social media allegations on the presence of "Syrian elements" in the military headquarters in the capital.

Some 200 people demonstrated outside the Palace of Justice in central Sofia on Monday evening against the arrests last week of Romanian and Bulgarian investigative reporters who were working on a story about the abuse of EU funds.

Moldova's economy grew by 4.5 per cent in 2017 - well above the eurozone average of about 2 per cent - as the country's foreign debt decreased slightly, a report released by the Ministry of Finance in Chisinau showed on Monday.

At the end of the December 2017, Moldova's foreign debt amounted at 1.7 billion US dollars, 19.3 per cent of the country's GDP, 2 per cent less than in 2016.

Authorities on Lesvos detained 25 individuals for occupying a central square on the eastern Aegean island's capital, Mytilene, late Sunday. The protesters, all of them north African migrants, were demanding that authorities process their asylum applications and their transfer to mainland Greece.

The international rating agency S & P Global Ratings increased Bulgaria's long-term and short-term credit rating in foreign and local currencies to 'BBB- / A-3' from 'BB + / B'. An increased assessment of analysts reflects the strengthening of the country's external position as a result of the prolonged expansion of exports and the increase in savings.

The Istanbul Provincial Directorate of National Education has submitted a report to the Education Ministry asking for school shuttle regulations to be revised following a recent fatal clash between shuttles of separate companies in the premises of a primary school in Istanbul's Ümraniye district, daily Habertürk reported on Sept. 7. 

Turkey on Wednesday issued two navigational telexes (navtexes) to conduct research within Cyprus's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) southwest of Paphos, in a move certain to revive tensions in the region.

A total of six suspected members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) were killed in the eastern provinces of Van and Erzincan on June 25, Doğan News Agency has reported.

Two PKK militants who were reportedly preparing for an attack were killed by security forces in Van. 

A group of pro-Russian opposition parties and an anti-NATO organisation in Montenegro are demanding a referendum on NATO membership as the date for when parliament is expected to vote on the issue looms.

More than 40 villages were struggling with a complete power outage in the Western Macedonia region on Thursday following heavy snowfall overnight, while in the northern Peloponnese, a rock fall caused by rain closed off a section of the Patra-Corinth highway.