Russia

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias spoke on the telephone with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on Thursday to discuss the strengthening of bilateral ties and progress in the battle against the coronavirus pandemic.

Turkish and Russian forces have carried out their ninth joint patrol along a key highway in northwestern Syria, Turkey's Defense Ministry said on May 7.

"Within the framework of TUR-RF Agreement/Protocol, the 9th TUR-RF Combined Land Patrol on M-4 Highway in Idlib was conducted with the participation of land and air elements," the ministry said in a tweet.

Turkey has been holding talks with the U.K, Russia and Germany ahead of the tourism season to lure holidaymakers to the country as Ankara anticipates a revival in tourism activities in July.

Facebook's April 2020 Coordinated Inauthentic Behaviour Report, published on May 5, said a total of eight networks of accounts, Pages and Groups were removed in the last month for violating the social media giant's policy against foreign and domestic interference. 

An international agreement to build the EastMed gas pipeline, which will carry natural gas from the East Mediterranean to Europe through Greece, was submitted to Parliament on Tuesday for ratification.
The agreement was signed by Greece, Cyprus and Israel on January 2, 2020, in the presence of the leaders of the three countries.

The New York Times picked up the most awards as the 2020 Pulitzer Prize winners were announced virtually on May 4 owing to the coronavirus outbreak.    

Prize board administrator Dana Canedy declared the winners from her living room via a livestream on YouTube rather than at a ceremony at New York's Columbia University.    

Global deaths from the coronavirus pandemic topped a quarter-million on May 4, mostly in the U.S. and Europe even as both regions slowly moved away from lockdown and world leaders raised billions towards a vaccine.    

The article, referencing intelligence sources and published by the highly regarded Respekt weekly magazine, set off a burst of curt and conflicting statements from Prague and Moscow in a diplomatic dust-up that threatens to escalate. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman dismissed the report as fake, and the foreign ministry in Moscow demanded action. 

Turkey has intensified hydrocarbon exploration and drilling activities in the Eastern Mediterranean despite the COVID-19 pandemic, which along with low oil prices has caused the temporary suspension of activities of foreign oil companies in the region.

Despite the negative consequences of the pandemic on drilling plans in the region, Turkey is expanding its operations.

A Syrian baby suffering from an eye illness was brought to Turkey for medical treatment on May 3. 

Baby Yusuf was born with a blood gland on his eye at one of the refugee camps where displaced Syrians are living in Idlib, northwestern Syria.

He has a risk to lose his one eye due to illness.