Reuters

The Turkish Lira weakened to a fresh record low against the dollar at 2.86 on Aug.

After saying additional import taxes on electronic goods, mainly mobile phones, would be imposed, Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci backtracked on Aug. 17.

"There won't be any additional customs duties or compensatory taxes on tablets and mobile phones," Reuters quoted Zeybekci as saying during a speech at the Turkey-Iraq Business Forum meeting in Istanbul. 

A bomb on a motorcycle exploded on Aug. 17 just outside a Hindu shrine in the Thai capital, killing 27 people, including foreign tourists, media reported, in an attack the government said was a bid to destroy the economy.

A bomb on a motorcycle exploded on Aug. 17 just outside a Hindu shrine in the centre of the Thai capital, killing at least 12 people in an attack the government said was aimed at destroying the economy and the tourism industry.

Turkish Airlines increased its net profits by 66 percent in the second quarter of the year from the same period of 2014, to 662 million Turkish Liras. 

The company's net profits thus increased to 1.04 billion liras in the first half of the year. 

An Iraqi parliamentary panel called yesterday for dozens of security and political officials, including former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, to be referred to court in connection with the fall of the northern city of Mosul to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

A bomb killed one of Pakistan?s provincial ministers and at least eight others when it destroyed the minister?s home Aug. 16 in Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif?s political heartland, rescue officials said.

An Indonesian airplane with 54 people on board went missing in Papua region, reports suggest.

The vehicle disappeared while en route from Sentani Airport (Jayapura, the captial of Papua in Indonesia) to the town of Oksibil in Papua's south, Reuters says citing officials.

The Turkish Lira continued to plunge to record lows on Aug. 14, as the country braces for new elections after failed coalition talks between the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Republican People's Party (CHP) amid escalating clashes with Kurdish militants and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 

Retired Cuban President Fidel Castro celebrated his 89th birthday on August 13 with two of his country's closest leftist allies from Latin America, a day ahead of a historic visit by the U.S. secretary of state.