Azerbaijan

Serbian high school students have won four medals - including one gold - at the International Chemistry Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Aleksa Milosavljevic won a gold medal, Milos Selakovic and Milos Grubor each won silver, while Stefan Stojanovic won a bronze medal.

Bulgarian badminton players - sisters Gabriela and Stefani Stoevi won the Russian Open Grand Prix, which took place in Vladivostok.

In the final, which was played on Sunday, the Bulgarians defeated Johanna Goliszewski and Carla Nelte from Germany.

Stoevi, who were seeded first in the tournament, won the final with 21:15, 21:17 in a match, which lasted 39 minutes.

Turkey is well placed and an increasingly significant hub for oil and natural gas transit from the Middle East, Central Asia and Russia to Europe and the Atlantic, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has said. 

Turkey will compete in a relatively easy group in the qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, after it avoided being paired with the powerhouses of European football.

The eighth International Painting Festival has begun in the Black Sea province of Trabzon with the participation of 40 female artists from 20 different countries under the auspices of Femin&Art, a female artist collective.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has sent a letter of condolence to his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, following a suicide bombing in southeastern Turkey that killed 32 people and wounded nearly 100 on July 20.

Ukrainian and U.S. troops launched fresh drills July 20 near the war-torn country's Polish border in a bid to show unity and resolve in the face of an increasingly resurgent Kremlin.

The annual Rapid Trident exercises involve 1,800 soldiers from 18 countries and last for just under two weeks.

A Paris-based arbitration court has decided on the behalf of Turkey's gas grid Bota? in a case against Greece's state-run energy company DEPA, said Turkish Energy Minister Taner Y?ld?z. 

"We opened an arbitration case, which was between Bota? and DEPA, in Paris four years ago. The court has made its decision on the behalf of Turkey," Y?ld?z said. 

Serbia faces new worries about its gas supply after Russia's Gazprom on July 8 said it had canceled a contract with Italy's Saipem to build the first section of the Turkish Stream Pipeline under the Black Sea.

South Stream Transport, Gazprom's subsidiary, said it would soon start negotiations with new potential contractors.

The Bulgarian men's national football team dropped six positions in the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, which was released on Thursday.

At present, Bulgaria occupies the 68th place with 489 points, being behind the team of Norway and ahead of the United Arab Emirates.