Georgia

European Union member states on Feb. 27 approved visa-free travel for Georgia, after agreeing safeguards to prevent any upsurge in arrivals from the former Soviet satellite.

Georgia, along with much larger Ukraine, has been urging the EU to grant visa-free travel so as to show its citizens that close ties with Europe can deliver concrete benefits.

The third meeting of the Consultative Council on the project South Gas Corridor will start in Baku on Thursday.

Representatives of the European Commission, Georgia, Turkey, Albania, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Croatia, Italy and Greece will discuss the prospects for transporting 10 billion cubic metres of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian region to Europe.

The only way to jumpstart stalled Turkey-EU ties is to hold a high-level summit between the two parties, Turkish EU Minister Ömer Çelik has said, suggesting that it should occur in the first half of 2017 and produce concrete results in Turkey's accession process, as well as a visa exemption to Turkish nationals. 

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is in talks with Gulf sovereign wealth funds to invest jointly, and hopes to complete a round of fund-raising for such investments by the end of this year, the bank's president said on Feb. 13.

Bulgaria's top ranked tennis player Grigor Dimitrov will vie for the title of Sofia Open in the afternon after a swift victory against Nikoloz Basilashvili (Georgia).

Dimitrov will face David Goffin of Belgium after a 63-minute game that ended 6:1, 6:3.

Turkey's tourism revenue dropped to $22.1 billion in 2016, a 29.7 percent decrease compared to 2015, as the number of foreign arrivals to the country witnessed a dramatic plunge, official data showed Jan. 31. 

A dangerous weekend weather system killed at least 18 people in the U.S. South, with Georgia officials reporting more than a dozen deaths on Jan. 22, after severe thunderstorms and tornadoes buffeted several states. 

President-elect Donald Trump began a long holiday weekend that honors slain black civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. by attacking another rights activist and politician who had said he does not see Trump as a "legitimate president." 

The number of foreign arrivals to Turkey dropped by 21.3 percent to 1.35 million in November, compared to the same month in 2015, temporary data from the Tourism Ministry showed on Dec. 29. 

A 60-year-old Turkish woman, whose travel photos went viral on the internet after she lost her camera in a car in which she was hitchhiking, has been found in the Aegean province of İzmir.  

Thousands of social media users sparked a viral campaign to find her and nicknamed her "Ayşe Teyze" (Aunt Ayşe).