ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish police have arrested the Islamic State militant group’s top figure in Turkey, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Tuesday. Soylu said on Twitter “important plans” had been seized along with the militant. No further details wer... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks fell on Friday as data out of China, the euro zone and the United States put a lid on expectations for a sustained global rebound, with traders already worried about a delay in U.S. fiscal stimulus. A review of the U.S.-China trade ... More »
SARAJEVO (Reuters) – The Sarajevo Film Festival will be launched entirely online on Friday after a spike in coronavirus cases forced organisers to cancel plans to stage Europe’s first in-person movie fair since the outbreak of the pandemic. Just ten days ago a... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – European shares rose on Monday as industrial activity in China gained strength, another sign of recovery from the coronavirus pandemic that added to hopes the global economy would also return to health. The broader Euro STOXX 600 rose 0.6%, ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Gold soared to an all-time high on worsening ties between the United States and China, a sinking dollar and ultra-low interest rates on Monday, while stock markets faltered before a deluge of corporate earnings. Europe’s main stock markets w... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Signs emerged that leaders of northern European Union countries were willing to compromise on a 1.8 trillion euro ($2 trillion) coronavirus stimulus plan on Monday as talks in Brussels extended to a fourth day. Divided and slow to respond ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – EU leaders reported some progress on Monday after three days of haggling over a coronavirus stimulus plan, sending the euro to a four-month high and Italy’s borrowing costs to lows not seen since March. An attempt to reach a compromise faile... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The euro and euro zone bond markets held out hope European Union leaders would strike a deal on a recovery fund for the bloc’s pandemic-ravaged economy on Monday, but the region’s stock markets took a cautious turn lower as talks paused. The... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Global stock markets rallied to four-week highs on Monday as investors counted on a revival in Chinese activity to boost global growth, even as surging coronavirus cases delayed business re-openings across the United States. MSCI’s All-Count... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Thousands of Turkish lawyers protested outside Istanbul’s main courthouse on Tuesday against a government plan to reform bar associations, saying it aims to silence dissent and will lead to politicization of their profession. Under a draft... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – European shares picked up on Tuesday after a weak start, extending the optimism of the Asian session, and oil prices steadied as investors looked for signs of an economic recovery in the second half of 2020. The MSCI world equity index, whic... More »
SOFIA (Reuters) – CSKA Sofia’s Australian striker Tomi Juric has tested positive for COVID-19, the 31-times Bulgarian champions said in a statement late on Sunday. The 28-year-old forward, who has played 41 times for his country, has been isolated. Other CSKA ... More »
LJUBLJANA (Reuters) – China’s household appliances maker Hisense (000921.SZ) plans to start producing TV sets in Slovenia in January 2021, creating about 350 jobs in the country, Hisense said on Monday. Production would be approximately 1.5 million TV sets in ... More »
POSTOJNA, Slovenia (Reuters) – Three rare aquatic creatures known as baby dragons are going on display in an aquarium at Slovenia’s Postojna Cave, one of the country’s biggest tourist attractions. The cave-dwelling animals, officially called proteus or olms, h... More »
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece and Italy will sign an agreement on maritime boundaries during a visit by Italy’s foreign minister to Athens on Tuesday, the Greek Foreign Affairs Ministry said. The deal follows months of tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean region ... More »
GRADISKA, Bosnia (Reuters) – Kobe Bryant, the 18-time NBA All-Star who died in a helicopter crash in January, has been honored with a giant mural commissioned by sports enthusiasts and painted on the side of an elementary school building in northern Bosnia. “K... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union leaders meeting are on Thursday expected to defer a final decision on how to finance the bloc’s economic recovery in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, diplomats and officials said. The 27 national leaders have alrea... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union countries on Thursday evening agreed the emergency credit lines from the euro zone’s bailout fund “will be available until COVID-19 crisis is over”, a draft of their deal read. Afterwards, euro countries should remain commit... More »
SARAJEVO (Reuters) – Bosnia’s most popular band, Dubioza Kolektiv, invites its audience to “stay connected and disinfected” during a weekly “Quarantine Show” online to cheer up fans locked in their homes due to the coronavirus. Bosnia, like most states in Euro... More »
BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) – Rockets landed near a site connected with foreign oil firms and state-run companies in Iraq’s southern city of Basra early on Monday, without causing damage or casualties, oil and police sources said. The rockets, which police said were... More »
(Reuters) – The IBF’s mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev said he will donate half of his purse from the world heavyweight title fight against Briton Anthony Joshua to help medical workers fight the “devilish” coronavirus. The 38-year-old Bulgarian is expected t... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Help to euro zone members struggling under the weight of the coronavirus crisis should come from the European level, European Central Bank board member atold Greek newspaper To Vima in an interview. “This is not just a question of Europea... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia will send 11 military planes carrying medical equipment to Serbia to help it fight the coronavirus outbreak, the defence ministry in Moscow said on Friday. The announcement came a day after the Kremlin said Serbian President Aleksanda... More »
ISTANBUL/ANKARA (Reuters) – Shops closed across Turkey on Thursday to help halt the coronavirus spread, dimming the economy’s prospects and raising questions for hundreds of thousands of workers after Ankara pledged $15 billion in support and advised Turks to ... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan issued a decree on Friday postponing all events related to science, culture and art, as it seeks to contain a surge in coronavirus cases. The country’s death toll has reached four, Health Minister Fahrettin... More »
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece distanced itself on Wednesday from suggestions that it planned to drag a centuries-old dispute over the return of the Parthenon marbles into Brexit negotiations. Government spokesman Stelios Petsas said Athens would keep up its campai... More »
ATHENS (Reuters) – A humanoid figure dressed as a maid holds a jug in its right hand and, as hidden gears click and whirr, lifts it and pours wine into a cup a bystander has placed into the palm of its left. The robot is a recreation of the automatic servant o... More »
SOFIA (Reuters) – Bulgarian prosecutors have pressed new charges including unlawful possession of antiques of historical value against fugitive gambling tycoon Vasil Bozhkov, one of the country’s richest men, officials said on Thursday. Bozhkov, owner of sever... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey has reduced the range and the levels of fees and commissions that banks can charge clients, according to central bank and banking watchdog regulations announced on Monday. The measures will cut the various charges banks can charge f... More »
SOFIA (Reuters) – The 29th edition of the Varna International Ballet Competition, the oldest ballet competition in the world, has been postponed due to insufficient financial support, organisers said on Thursday. A new date for the outdoor event, known in the ... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey’s consumer price inflation rose a bit more than expected to 12.15% year-on-year in January, official data showed on Monday, climbing for the third consecutive month after a dramatic drop last year. A currency crisis in 2018 sent inf... More »
PLOVDIV, Bulgaria (Reuters) – Stamen Karamfilov bends low over a canvas, adding the finishing touches to a woodland landscape – no mean feat considering the Bulgarian artist is almost totally blind. He initially gave up all hope of painting again when he sudde... More »
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Roger Federer continues his quest for a 21st Grand Slam title at the Australian Open on Tuesday but for his journeyman opponent Tennys Sandgren their quarter-final meeting is the latest chapter in a story of survival in professional tenni... More »
SOFIA (Reuters) – Bulgarian veterinary authorities said on Wednesday they would cull 39,656 pigs after detecting an outbreak of African swine fever at a farm in the northeast, the second industrial farm in the country to be hit by the virus in the last five da... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union leaders are meeting in Brussels on Thursday and Friday for talk on climate, the EU’s long-term budget, Brexit, the euro zone and Russia sanctions, among others. Here are comments made by them on Thursday ahead of the summit.... More »
SOFIA (Reuters) – Bulgarian Stoyanka Mutafova, one of the world’s oldest actresses performing regularly on stage, has died aged 97. Dubbed the queen of Bulgarian comedy, Mutafova began performing in 1945, when she played a maidservant in Moliere’s “Scapin the ... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Istanbul has secured 110 million euros ($121 million) of financing from Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) for an underground transport project, the mayor of the Turkish city said on Sunday. Speaking at a news conference, Ekrem Imamoglu gave no furt... More »
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey said on Monday it had deported two Islamic State militants — a German and an American — beginning a programme to repatriate fighters that has caused friction with its NATO allies since it launched an offensive in northern Syria. Allie... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany does not yet know the identity of seven people Turkey plans to deport on the grounds that they have fought for the Islamic State militant group, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Monday. Earlier, Turkey said it would deport seven ... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – The founder of an organization that trained the Syrian “White Helmets” emergency response group has died in Istanbul, his neighbor and a diplomat said on Monday. James Le Mesurier, founder of the Mayday Rescue group, was found dead early o... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The 27 European Union countries that will remain after Brexit hope to agree on Monday to delay Britain’s divorce until Jan.31 with an earlier departure possible should the factious UK parliament ratify their separation deal, sources said. ... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – A Turkish soldier died in hospital after an attack by the Kurdish YPG militia in Syria’s Ras Al Ain region, Turkey’s Defense Ministry said on Monday, bringing the death toll from the attack to two. The ministry had said on Sunday that a ro... More »
BEIRUT/ANKARA (Reuters) – The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Sunday said they had withdrawn from the border town of Ras al Ain under a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal, but a spokesman for Turkish-backed Syrian rebels said the withdrawal was not yet... More »
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday he will never allow electronic cigarette companies to produce their products in Turkey, urging Turks to drink tea instead. Speaking at an event against smoking in Istanbul, Erdogan said he had ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other senior members of Congress held talks in Jordan on Saturday with King Abdullah II and other top Jordanian officials. Pelosi said in a statement the visit was at “a critical time for the security ... More »
BREZE, Bosnia (Reuters) – Zorica Rebernik has spent her life in red and plans to stay that way — even after she dies. After four decades dressing in the color from head to toe, the 67-year-old Bosnian has had tombstones made for herself and husband Zoran — who... More »
SARAJEVO (Reuters) – Ajna Jusic, the first baby to be registered as born of rape during the Bosnian war in the 1990s, describes to a packed Sarajevo theatre the discrimination and bullying she endured as a child with an unknown father and a mother branded a “w... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) has postponed the final decision whether to build a car plant in Turkey, a company spokesman said, amid international criticism of the country’s military operation in Syria and concerns about potential reputational ... More »
WASHINGTON/BEIRUT/ANKARA (Reuters) – President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Turkey on Monday and demanded the NATO ally stop a military incursion in northeast Syria that is rapidly reshaping the battlefield of the world’s deadliest ongoing war. Trump, who... More »
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Monday Syrian Kurdish YPG fighters had emptied a jail holding Islamic State prisoners in a part of Syria where Ankara is mounting an offensive, and that the prisoners there had been abducted. Turk... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – The United States said it was pulling troops from northeast Syria, in a major shift which clears the way for a Turkish military offensive against Kurdish-led forces and hands Turkey responsibility for thousands of Islamic State captives. A... More »
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that U.S. troops had started to withdraw from parts of northeast Syria after his phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump, adding that talks between Turkish and U.S. officials on the matter ... More »
(Reuters) – Novak Djokovic may be one of the fittest athletes in the world but the world number one wrestled with rare feelings of being hopelessly out of shape during a workout with retired sumo professionals on Monday. The 32-year-old Serb, who is in Tokyo t... More »
BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Hungary’s national food safety authority Nebih has found five cases of African swine fever in wild boar carcasses near Budapest, it said on Sunday. The causes of the infections found in a closed hunting area in Budakeszi, west of the Hunga... More »
SELA PRI KAMNIKU, Slovenia (Reuters) – A large wooden sculpture that strongly resembles Donald Trump was erected this week in Slovenia, home country of Trump’s wife Melania, though its designer insists it is meant to represent a “statue of liberty”, not the U.... More »
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) – Turkey on Monday replaced mayors from a pro-Kurdish party with state officials in three cities and detained more than 400 people for suspected militant links, the Interior Ministry said, a move likely to fuel tensions in the main... More »
BUCHAREST (Reuters) – American heavy metal band Metallica has donated 250,000 euros to a Romanian association building the country’s first pediatric oncology hospital, they said. The donation to Daruieste Viata (Give Life), founded in 2012, came ahead of the b... More »
SOFIA (Reuters) – Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said the Balkan state’s government will compensate owners who voluntarily cull their domestic pigs, as the country works to stamp out an outbreak of the highly contagious African swine fever. Almost 130... More »
SOFIA (Reuters) – Bulgaria’s veterinary authorities said on Friday they would cull 8,253 pigs after detecting an outbreak of African swine fever at a breeding farm in the northeast of the country, the sixth industrial farm in the Balkan nation to be hit by the... More »
SARAJEVO (Reuters) – Some of the world’s top film makers, including two-time Oscar-winning director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, will show their movies and hold master classes honoring the 25th Sarajevo film festival in August, the festival director said on Fr... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey took its first deliveries of the Russian S-400 air defense system on Friday, a development likely to trigger U.S. sanctions on Ankara and escalate tensions between Turkey and its Western partners in the NATO military alliance. Why d... More »
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece’s opposition conservatives returned to power with a landslide victory in snap elections on Sunday, and Prime Minister elect Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he had a clear mandate for change, pledging more investments and fewer taxes. The win... More »
SOFIA (Reuters) – Bulgaria has confirmed a new case of African swine fever among backyard pigs in the village of Novachene near the town of Pleven in the north of the country, the national food safety agency said on Friday. Bulgaria already reported two cases ... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union leaders are close to picking Dutch socialist Frans Timmermans to head the European Commission, two diplomats said on Monday, after an uninterrupted 18 hours of talks during which the bloc’s political families vied for influe... More »
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece’s opposition conservatives are expected to ride a wave of anger over continuing austerity measures to seize power from Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s leftists in next Sunday’s election. The country is heading for elections three mont... More »
SOFIA (Reuters) – Bulgaria hopes to join the precursor to euro zone membership, the ERM-2 exchange rate mechanism before year-end, Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov said on Wednesday, pushing back Sofia’s initial target of joining this summer. The Balkan coun... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – The Turkish lira, bonds and shares gained on Monday after the opposition dealt a stinging blow to President Tayyip Erdogan by winning control of Istanbul in a re-run mayoral election on Sunday. Turkish assets have lost value since March am... More »
(Reuters) – The head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, steps down at the end of October and the 19 euro zone countries are now looking for his replacement. The shortlists of likely candidates are almost exclusively male. It is one of several top jobs... More »
MOGOSOAIA, Romania (Reuters) – “Repeat after me! To be together with who I want,” a family of Romanian witches chant via a video call to a client in India paying for a love spell. The session, in a decorated shed in a back yard 15 km (9 miles) north of Buchare... More »
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greek artist Virginia Axioti’s work is seen by thousands of people every week, but none of it is digital. As the designer of hand-painted billboards that hang over the entrance to Athens’ Athinaion cinema advertising the newest film, she can... More »
ROUEN, France (Reuters) – Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic led France to their sixth Fed Cup final as they won the doubles to seal the two-time champions’ dramatic 3-2 victory over Romania in their semi-final on Sunday. The two 25-year-olds defeated wor... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – The Turkish economy contracted a sharper than expected 3.0 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018, its worse performance in nearly a decade, in the clearest sign yet that last year’s currency crisis is tipping it into recession. Turkey, a m... More »
SARAJEVO (Reuters) – The Olympic spirit is back in Sarajevo after rival Bosnian ethnic elites set aside their differences to host the largest sport event in the country since the 1984 Winter Olympics and war of the 1990s. The Winter European Youth Olympic Fest... More »
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece’s deputy health minister has told the European Union’s top health official to butt out after getting a reprimand for smoking in public. Deputy minister Pavlos Polakis was caught on video footage this week holding a cigarette while dan... More »
SARAJEVO (Reuters) – Nermina Alic learned her trade as a coppersmith from her watching father as a child. Now she is hoping her skills – and a battle against prejudice – can help keep the dying art alive. The 37-year-old was chosen to craft the peace flame tor... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Nearly 300,000 Syrians have returned to their country after Turkey’s two cross-border operations in northern Syria, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu was quoted as saying on Saturday. Turkey has carried out two operations, dubbed “Euphrates... More »
PODGORICA, Montenegro (Reuters) – In a nostalgic homage to a now-defunct nation, a bronze statue of former Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito was unveiled on Wednesday in Montenegro’s capital Podgorica. Tito, who led former communist Yugoslavia from the end of Wo... More »
GAZIANTEP, Turkey (Reuters) – Missing fragments from one of Turkey’s most striking ancient treasures, the haunting, wide-eyed “Gypsy Girl” mosaic, have returned home more than half a century after they were plundered and smuggled to the United States. On Satur... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Rating agency S&P Global expects the amount of bad loans on Turkish banks’ books to double over the next 12-18 months and their total credit losses to rise to as much as 2.5 percent from the recent average of 1.4 percent. In a new report pub... More »
BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Starting out as a unit production manager in Romania’s film industry more than two decades ago, Ada Solomon felt she needed to punch above her weight. But after fighting with crew on set early on in her career, Solomon, now a producer of ... More »
ATHENS (Reuters) – Archaeologists in Greece have discovered what they believe to be the oldest known extract of Homer’s epic poem “The Odyssey”. A team of Greek and German researchers found it on an engraved clay plaque in Ancient Olympia, the birthplace of th... More »
REPINO, Russia (Reuters) – There has been a relentless positivity and forward-looking tenor to England’s approach to this World Cup but before the adventure in Russia began, manager Gareth Southgate forced his players to confront a nightmare from the past. Two... More »
ANKARA (Reuters) – President Tayyip Erdogan appointed his son-in-law as Turkey’s finance minister on Monday hours after he was sworn in with sweeping new executive powers, promising a “strong government and a strong Turkey”. The lira TRYTOM=D3, which has lost ... More »
REPINO, Russia (Reuters) – England manager Gareth Southgate says he is not about to change his team’s approach for Wednesday’s World Cup semi-final against Croatia, saying he wants the “same again” from his young side. Although Croatia are the most difficult o... More »
SOFIA (Reuters) – China backs EU integration and wants to use a weekend summit with central and eastern Europe to boost cooperation with the region, not undermine the 28 member bloc, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Friday. Li is visiting Bulgaria, where sta... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey ordered the detention of 331 soldiers on Friday in two operations targeting alleged supporters of the U.S.-based Islamic cleric who Ankara says orchestrated an attempted coup two years ago, state media and Istanbul police said. The ... More »
TIRANA (Reuters) – Albanian actors and activists rallied on Thursday to demand the government halt a project to demolish the National Theatre in Tirana, but the ruling Socialists pushed the plan through parliament. They protested in front of parliament as lawm... More »
NIZHNY NOVGOROD, Russia (Reuters) – Croatia’s elated coach Zlatko Dalic lauded his captain Luka Modric who missed a penalty in extra time but then scored another in a shootout victory over Denmark on Sunday that put them in the World Cup quarter-finals. “I am ... More »
SOFIA (Reuters) – Bulgaria aims to join the EU’s banking union on the same day it enters the “waiting room” for euro zone membership, where it must spend at least two years before joining the single currency, its prime minister said on Friday. Boyko Borissov s... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU leaders except Britain are to discuss on Friday Britain’s exit from the European Union and deeper integration of the euro zone after a deal on migration reached in the small hours. [nL8N1TU1MP] Below are the leaders’ comments before the... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish forces are waiting for the right time to carry out an operation in northern Iraq’s Qandil region where high-ranking members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) are located, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Monday.... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – There is no threat of a new sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone despite an anti-establishment coalition government taking power in Italy, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said in remarks published on Saturday. Asked by th... More »
KOSTOLAC, Serbia (Reuters) – Serbian archaeologists at the site of the ancient Roman city of Viminacium have found an intact sarcophagus with two skeletons bedecked with gold and silver adornments. Ilija Mikic, an anthropologist at the site, said the skeletons... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Political turmoil in Italy, the euro zone’s third largest economy, could hit economic growth in Germany and affect the whole euro zone, the Berlin-based DIHK Chambers of Industry and Commerce said on Wednesday. The likelihood of snap Italian... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – The German government on Thursday voiced concern about anti-European statements made by members of Italy’s incoming governing coalition, and the BDI industry association urged Rome to stick to European Union treaties and euro zone budget rul... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Following is the address by U.S. Episcopalian bishop, Michael Bruce Curry, at the wedding of Britain’s Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle, as delivered. And now in the name of our loving, liberating and life-giving God, Father, ... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan said he plans to take greater control of the economy after presidential elections next month and the central bank will have to take note of what the president says and act accordingly. His comments helped pushed the... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A resurgent dollar and higher borrowing costs are smashing through Argentina and Turkey’s currencies like a wrecking ball and raising the likelihood more broadly that emerging markets’ three-year long interest rate cutting cycle is at an end... More »
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) – Kurdish electrician Sukru Gunduz was out on a job when a friend came running to tell him his house was being knocked down, with five members of his family inside. Angry and alarmed, he rushed home. By the time he got there, a mec... More »
ZAGREB (Reuters) – Croatia’s deputy prime minister, Martina Dalic, who is also the economy minister, on Friday survived a no-confidence vote prompted by discontent in the opposition over her handling of the debt crisis in the largest Balkan firm Agrokor. [AGRO... More »
