All News from Balkans
Once-bustling Monastiraki Square is almost deserted
A man is seen Thursday in an otherwise empty Monastiraki Square, usually one of the capital's most popular meeting points for both tourists and locals. A lockdown imposed by the government early last week to curb the spread of the coronavirus has been broadly observed by most people, the authorities have said, though the police continue to record hundreds of transgressions every day.
Istanbul mass transit riders must wear masks
Residents of Turkey's largest city taking mass transit now must wear face masks to help stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, authorities said on April 3.
"Passengers without a face mask will not be admitted on buses, metro, metrobus, or city line ferries as of tomorrow," Murat Ongun, a spokesperson for the Istanbul Municipality, said on Twitter.
Turkish Airlines halts domestic flights till April 20
Turkish Airlines on April 3 announced that due to the continuing coronavirus outbreak, it will suspend all domestic service until April 20.
On the heels of earlier flight suspensions due to the virus, the national flag carrier's "limited number of flights to and from 14 major cities will all be canceled until April 20," announced Bilal Eksi, Turkish Airlines' CEO.
Low oil prices drag Middle East economies to collapse
The low oil price environment in the global market is dragging the Middle Eastern oil-producing countries to collapse, whose economies are strongly dependent on crude oil production and exports.
UK wants to work with Turkey to meet demand for medical equipment: Ambassador
The coronavirus pandemic has created a huge demand in countries for certain sorts of medical equipment and much of this is manufactured in Turkey, British Ambassador to Ankara Dominick Chilcott has told Hürriyet Daily News, expressing his country's will to further cooperate with Turkey to meet the demand in the two countries.
Hazelnut exports reap $1.65 bln in Sept-March
Turkey, the world's biggest hazelnut supplier, yielded revenues of $1.65 billion from the nuts exports between September 2019 and this March, according to a regional trade group on April 2.
The Black Sea Hazelnut and Products Exporters' Association data showed that the seven months figure jumped 52 percent from the same period last year.
Karahantepe on way to be new face of Turkey
Karahantepe ancient site in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa, which is home to more than 250 Neolithic-era T-shaped obelisks similar to the ones in the world-famous Göbeklitepe, is on the way to become the new face of Turkey.
Doctors reduce burden on their colleagues with ‘virtual hospital’
More than 60 doctors from different branches, who came together to alleviate the workload of physicians struggling with COVID-19 on the field, are providing free consultancy services to citizens on social media.
New rules introduced for utility bills
Turkey's energy regulator EPDK has announced new measures for natural gas and electricity bills for the next three months amid the coronavirus break.
ESPA cash set to boost real economy
European resources of 4.5 to 6.5 billion euros are being released from the Partnership Agreement for the Development Framework, known in Greece as ESPA, to be rapidly channeled to the real economy so they can be used to mitigate the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Courier companies are overloaded
Courier companies are these days facing demand comparable to the pre-Christmas period or Black Friday, as the coronavirus crisis has sent their workload soaring. However, the conditions they have to operate in are tough, and they are now scrambling to adapt to meet the jump in demand as a result of households' rapid swing toward online commerce.
Staikouras: No touching the cash buffer
The government will not touch the country's cash buffer and will announce fresh support measures next month, Finance Minister Christos Staikouras said on Friday, adding that the economy is expected to rebound considerably in the year's second half, moderating its annual contraction for 2020 to 3-4 percent.
ATHEX: Mixed session ends another week of losses
The mixed session that brought the bourse week to a close on Friday saw the benchmark and blue chips record losses, while the mid-cap index advanced and rising stocks outnumbers losers at a ratio of almost two-to-one, on what was the lowest daily turnover of the last eight sessions.
Round the clock medical centers imminent to ease burden on hospitals
As the next phase of its response to the coronavirus pandemic the Health Ministry has planned an overhaul of the primary healthcare system that aims to relieve some of the pressure on overburdened hospitals, chiefly through the creation of a network of 24-hour medical centers treating patients with mild symptoms of Covid-19.
A Tale of Two Viruses
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we