Anadolu Agency

Turkish relief efforts following Beirut's deadly port blast are also helping to strengthen bilateral relations, said a Turkish parliamentarian on Aug. 15.

Turkey's Central Bank is expected to keep interest rates unchanged next week, according to an Anadolu Agency survey on Aug. 14. 

The eighth monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting of this year will be held on Thursday (Aug. 20) to announce the bank's decision on interest rates.

A majority of 22 economists surveyed by Anadolu Agency forecast no change in interest rates.

Turkey's current account balance posted a deficit of $2.93 billion in June, slightly down from the market expectation, according to the Turkish Central Bank data on Aug. 14.

The June figure widened by $2.8 billion from the same month last year, data showed.

The country's 12-month rolling deficit totaled at $11.1 billion, the bank said.

The Association of Friends of All Africa (TADD), a Turkish aid organization, has donated an assortment of humanitarian items to the people of Kamuli District in eastern Uganda.   

The donations include solar kits, which will go a long way in providing lighting to homes. 

Pakistan's Embassy in Turkey is hosting a seven-day photo exhibit in the capital Ankara. 

The exhibit - "Colors of Pakistan Through the Eyes of Turks," done in coordination with Anadolu Agency and the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality - features 52 sheets of photographers, including Anadolu Agency photojournalists Metin Aktas and Ismet Keten.

Turkey's current account balance is expected to show a deficit of $3 billion on average in June, according to an Anadolu Agency survey on Aug. 12. 

The country's balance of payments figures for June will be released by the Turkish Central Bank on Friday, Aug. 14.

The resumption of flights between Turkey and Russia amid strong measures to fight coronavirus set off a flood of tourists, with 80 airplanes full of Russian tourists landing in the resort city of Antalya in just one day, according to local officials.

With the pandemic looming over vacationers, there has been growing interest in halal tourism which offers greater privacy, an international tour operator said.

The health crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic greatly influenced the activity of European news agencies in terms of working procedures, and some expect a drop in revenues, according to the directors of some of these media outlets in interviews published on Monday on the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA) website.

The first thing to be done in the fight against desertification is to prevent land degradation and then engage in restoration that rehabilitates the destroyed land, experts said. Caused primarily by human activities and climatic variations, desertification directly affects human life and the sustainability of the planet.