Decades

The Afghan government announced today that it has released 100 Taliban prisoners from jail, France Press reported. This happens a day after the rebels announced that they were suspending the peace talks with Kabul about exchanging prisoners, according to them.

Miletic is serving his sentence in a prison in Finland.

Turkish and Russian troops have conducted their third joint patrolling mission, the Turkish defense minister said on April 8, in line with the March 5 agreement brokered between Ankara and Moscow that brought a temporary cease-fire in Syria's Idlib province.

In 2020 France will undoubtedly experience its worst year of economic recession since the end of World War II. This was forecast today by Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire during a hearing in the French Senate's Committee on Economic Affairs.

The problem. Mitigating the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic will require a significant increase in public spending to rescue sinking economies and further shield health systems. At the same time, tax revenues will be collapsing as long as economic activity remains suppressed. Budget deficits will inevitably swell, leading to soaring public debt.

The Taliban said their peace deal with the United States was nearing a breaking point, accusing Washington of violations that included drone attacks on civilians, while also chastising the Afghan government for delaying the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners promised in the agreement.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called on EU nations to invest billions in the bloc's budget to avert catastrophic economic consequences from the current coronavirus crisis.

Eurozone states that need aid from the bloc's bailout fund to tackle the coronavirus should get it quickly and be first subjected to visits from officials proposing policies like during the eurozone crisis, Germany's finance minister said.

Vucic urged those Serbs who had left to return "to their ancestral homes and build a future here," promising special incentives to bring them back and help tackle the demographic crisis afflicting Serbia and much of the rest of Central and Eastern Europe.

By George Gilson