News archive of December 2014

Bad weather in the Adriatic Sea is thwarting efforts to tow a fire-ravaged ferry to Italy, so authorities can search it for more possible dead and investigate the cause of the blaze that killed at least 11 people.

The Italian Coast Guard rescued 970 migrants on Wednesday after smugglers put their cargo ship -- located sail in Greek waters the previous day -- on automatic pilot heading straight for a crash into the Italian coast and abandoned the command.

The year ended in the Greek stock market with annual losses of 29 percent for the benchmark, but Wednesday provided an unexpected rise to prices that left some observers wondering what it is they may have missed and the traders have already in mind.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu will not attend the country’s top business organization’s general assembly on Jan. 22, 2015 due to the organization’s claims that their addressee was the prime minister and not the president, according to prime ministry news sources.

Devlet Bahçeli, leader of Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), labeled 2014 as a downgrade for Turkey, saying the country "has regressed and is trapped in tension while suffering the pain of not being able to see the future." In his New Year message, the MHP leader said "law in Turkey fell through the floor and justice was silenced."

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu called on the Turkish nation to open a new page in 2015 for the sake of the "country and its children."

Citing the general elections in 2015, Kılıçdaroğlu said that people's choices would determine the future of the country.

Amid increasing anger at official and popular levels at the supposed Christian aspects of New Year's celebrations in Turkey, members of the far-right Great Unity Party (BBP) symbolically ran Santa out of town Dec. 31 in the northwestern province of Bolu.

Another EUR 9mn to repair flood-damaged homes

BELGRADE -- Marko Blagojevic says the government has so far allocated RSD 4.2 billion for the reconstruction of houses damaged in the May floods.

It also "secured another EUR 9 million for the coming year," explained the director of the Serbian Government Office for Reconstruction and Flood Relief.

Strategy against money laundering and terrorism funding

BELGRADE -- The Serbian government adopted at its Wednesday session the national strategy for the fight against money laundering and terrorism funding.

Parliament dissolved, Greece to vote on Jan. 25

ATHENS -- The Greek parliament has been dissolved ahead of early elections to be held on January 25, as announced by the Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.

Greek MPs on Monday failed in their third and final attempt to elect former EU Commissioner Stavros Dimas (73) as head of state.