Turkish Armed Forces

An intercity ferry carrying passengers from Istanbul to the northwestern province of Bursa was searched late Feb. 28 due to a bomb hoax, Do?an News Agency has reported. Two suspects were detained over the incident.

Heavy fog blanketed Istanbul on Feb. 29 affecting transportation in the metropolis, including the cancelations of most ferry lines as well as disruptions in air traffic. 

Many city ferry lines were canceled due to the fog, which began to show its effects early in the morning.

However, ferry lines bound for the Prince Islands and the Golden Horn continued without disruption.

Ankara has extended condolences to Russia over a deadly coal mine accident which killed dozens of people in Russia's far north over the weekend.

Israel on Feb. 28 welcomed the fragile ceasefire in neighboring Syria but warned it would not accept Iranian "aggression" or the supply of advanced weapons to Hezbollah.

No religious minority group in Turkey should have to look abroad to educate its religious clerics, Directorate General of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) head Mehmet Görmez said on Feb. 28, expressing lukewarm support for the reopening of the Halki Seminary.

A British stag party ended abruptly when a Ryanair pilot diverted a flight to Berlin, where German police temporarily took into custody six young men and levelled misdemeanour charges.

Elton John gave a surprise West Hollywood concert to several thousand fans ahead of the Oscars, with Lady Gaga as guest performer.

Qatar's balance of trade fell almost 60 percent in the year to January, official figures released on Feb. 28 showed, as the Gulf country grapples with a slump in global energy prices.

The death toll in Russia's worst mining disaster in recent history climbed to 36 on Feb. 28 as officials said 26 missing workers had not survived and another six, most of them rescuers, had been killed in a new explosion.

Fitch Ratings affirmed Turkey's sovereign rating at BBB-, the lowest investment grade rating, with a stable outlook on late Feb. 26, noting that fiscal discipline remained in place in 2015 despite two parliamentary elections.