Continents

The Christian and Muslim leaders in ethnically divided Cyprus are urging for the speedy repair of a 15th century church inside a United Nations-controlled buffer zone cutting across the capital Nicosia, after it partly collapsed.

Turkey's central government budget balance posted a surplus of nearly 5.1 billion Turkish liras ($953 million) in January, new data from the Treasury and Finance Ministry showed on Feb. 15.

Retail sales volume in Turkey decreased by 9.2 percent in December 2018 compared with the same month of previous year, according to a statement by the Turkish Statistical Institute on Feb. 15.

In what has been described as a show of force to Greece and Cyprus, Turkey's navy is preparing to hold its biggest ever exercises according to Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency. 

The "Blue Homeland" exercise, with the participation of frigates, destroyers and fighter jets, will take place in the Black Sea, the Aegean and the Mediterranean between February 27 and March 8. 

A court within the British military bases in Cyprus has sentenced a Palestinian man to six months in prison after finding him guilty of trying to illegally bring two men into a base from the island's Turkish Cypriot breakaway north.

A bases statement said Thursday that Mohammed Aljaro was arrested as he tried to drive through a checkpoint last month.

Syria's territorial integrity will not be preserved if the country's east and Manbij city are not cleared of the YPG, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said at a three-way summit with the Russian and Iranian presidents in the Black Sea coastal city of Sochi, expressing high hopes for a resolution to the eight-year-long war.

Turkey is going ahead with a purchase of Russia's S-400 missile system, a Turkish parliamentarian said ahead of an informal Friday deadline which a US official said Washington has set for Ankara to respond to a rival US offer.

The scholarship program offered by Turkey's Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB) is making the country a global hub for higher education, the head of the presidency said on Feb. 13.

American energy giant ExxonMobil is expected to announce a discovery of a large gas reserve in plot 10 of Cyprus' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) next week, according to Cyprus' Sigma Live news network.

The Cypriot station referred to a report by Italy's Agenzia Nova that cited a high-level Cypriot source at the the Egypt Petroleum Show (EGYPS) in Cairo which ended on Wednesday.

This was published by Pristina-based Koha.

"Haradinaj has, according to the valid rules, constitutional powers and law, so far addressed all issues on the agenda and will continue to deal with all issues related to the agenda," Doneta Gashi, Haradinaj political adviser, told the newspaper.