News archive of March 2020

In Turkey, Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector posted the strongest reading of the last two years in February.

According to the Istanbul Chamber of Industry PMI Manufacturing Index report, prepared in cooperation with London-based global data firm IHS Markit, the index rose to 52.4 last month thanks to solid rises in both output and new orders.

The United States dispatched two senior diplomats for talks with Turkish officials and to pay a visit to the Turkish southern provinces of Hatay and Gaziantep on the Syrian border amid the ongoing conflict between Turkey and the Syrian regime over Idlib province.

The United States will dispatch two senior diplomats for talks with Turkish officials and to pay a visit to the Turkish southern provinces of Hatay and Gaziantep on the Syrian border amid the ongoing conflict between Turkey and the Syrian regime over Idlib province.

The EU border and coastguard police Frontex expects the situation on Greece's border with Turkey to deteriorate, according to a confidential report leaked to German newspaper Die Welt.
The report, which reportedly warns of a mass migratory influx, came after Turkey said last week it would no longer stop refugees from attempting to cross by land or sea into Greece.

A member of a council that advises Iran's supreme leader died on March 2 after falling sick from the new coronavirus, state radio reported, becoming the first top official to succumb to the illness that is affecting members of the Islamic Republic's leadership.

Expediency Council member Mohammad Mirmohammadi died at a Tehran hospital of the virus, state radio said. He was 71.

A rocket hit an armored vehicle carrying Turkish customs personnel in an attack near the border with Iran, killing one person and injuring others, Turkish officials said, adding that clashes were underway in the area.

The terror attack occurred in the Gürbulak district, 3 kilometers from Turkey's border gate with Iran.

Weeks full of political drama. Unexpected twists and turns. Then tragedy. These are not the usual characteristics associated with contemporary politics in Germany.

Pete Buttigieg, who entered the Democratic presidential race as a relative unknown and positioned himself as the future of the party during an improbable rise to the top tier of a crowded field, ended his White House bid on March 1.

Israelis began voting on March 2 in the country's unprecedented third election in less than a year to decide whether longtime Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stays in power despite his upcoming criminal trial on corruption charges.

Police in North Macedonia said a mobile border patrol on Sunday found 78 migrants, including six minors, crammed in a van during a routine checkup in the central part of the country and arrested two men, suspected for illegal migrant trafficking.