Belgium

The 20th edition of the Istanbul Theater Festival, organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV), will take place from May 3 to 28 and offer theatregoers an extensive program, featuring a range of plays, dance shows and performances from Turkey and abroad, as well as parallel events. 

Belgium has requested an agreement between Turkey and European Union to monitor the movement of foreign fighters, the Belgian interior minister said on April 20.

A Turkish man has alleged that an "insult on president [Recep Tayyip Erdo?an]" caused him to assault his fiancé, initiating a process whereby the woman had to testify on violating the controversial Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) which foresees imprisonment for defamations against the president.

The vast share of asylum seekers granted protection last year in Bulgaria were Syrians, a Eurostat report shows.

In 2015, Bulgaria granted status to 5 320 people from Syria, who make up 95% of all affirmative status decisions in the country.

Nationals of Iraq come second (160 decisions) and stateless people (95).

In a victory for Moscow, a Dutch court on April 20 overturned an order that Russia pay $50 billion to shareholders in defunct oil company Yukos, saying that the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration had no jurisdiction. 

The United States and seven other countries called on April 19 for urgent action to address global steel overcapacity, a day after China and other major steel producing countries failed to agree on measures to tackle an industry crisis.

Bulgaria spends far more on defense as a share of its GDP compared to Germany, Italy, and Canada, NATO data shows.

A CNN Money report, which includes Alliance data about military expenditures, cites NATO statistics according to which Bulgaria, with spending at 1.20% of GDP, ranks 12th out of 28 member states.

It is still far behind the 2% target adopted in 2014.

Nationalist party VMRO is to table a bill banning the use of burqas in public, the party's leader Krasimir Karakachanov has said.

VMRO is part of the Patriotic Front coalition that backs the minority government of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.

Love at first sight is a special thing. Man meets woman. Sparks fly upon each setting their eyes on the other and the rest is history. At least that’s how the general story is supposed to go. But in some cases the story doesn’t exactly end like in a romantic Hollywood movie. Real life can take some weird twists.

The popular Simon Kuper book, "Football Against the Enemy," was an analysis of the football-politics relationship and published in the U.K. in 1994. This study became a "cult book" in a short time and was translated into Turkish in 1996 and has been reprinted several times.