Spain

The finance ministers of the 28 EU member states approved at their meeting on Tuesday the investment plan of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

The ministers approved the regulation for the European Investment Plan Fund, as Italy promised to contribute EUR 8 B to the programme.

The EU intends to provide a new financial aid package to Ukraine estimated at EUR 110M in 2015.

The statement was made by European Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn, TASS news agency reported.

He said that the larger portion of the sum will be utilized to assist the private sector in the country.

Greek artist Konstantinos Kerestetzis presents his Istanbul paintings at a new exhibition at the city?s Sismanoglio Megaro building of the General Consulate of Greece The historic Sismanoglio Megaro of the General Consulate of Greece in Istanbul is currently hosting a painting exhibition by Konstantinos Kerestetzis, curated by Christos Gavras.

By Emma O?Brien and Nick Gentle

European bonds rose as the region?s central bank began buying sovereign debt. Greece led declines in stocks while shares in emerging markets fell to a three-week low.

Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) Giorgiana Hosu said on Friday that drugs worth a total of 16 million euros have been seized last year.

Photo credit: Radu TUTA / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

Greece needs to pay back all the money it received from its euro zone partners rather than asking for debt relief, the head of the euro zone's rescue fund was quoted as saying on Friday.

I??l E?rikavuk isil.egrikavuk@hdn.com.tr Turkey is appealing to the European Union to help it combat the phenomenon of ghost ships used by smugglers to send hundreds of migrants at a time toward European shores.
     

EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said Wednesday there was no "diabolical plan" by Spain and Portugal to topple Greeces new hard-left government after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras accused the countries of undermining debt talks with Brussels.

It is "premature" to talk of a third bailout for Greece, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Wednesday, playing down talk of a new rescue package being considered for the debt-ridden eurozone member.

"We are going to focus on implementing what was agreed in the Eurogroup," Juncker said at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Brussels.

BELGRADE - Serbian Justice Minister Nikola Selakovic said Wednesday that Serbia would in a month and a half from now adopt its first strategy for investigation of financial crime, which will introduce a series of measures to improve and strengthen the implementation of financial investigations.