Ethiopia

BELGRADE - Serbia will back the candidacy of Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus for World Health Organisation (WHO) director-general, Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic said Thursday.

Nikolic announced this at a Belgrade meeting with Tedros, a candidate of the African Union and special adviser to the prime minister of Ethiopia.

The cautious have likened it to an attempt to send a manned mission to Mars. However, Yannis Pitsiladis, professor of sport and exercise science at the University of Brighton in the UK, is aiming to achieve it by 2019.

Moscow has vetoed a US-backed resolution condemning the Khan Shaykun incident on April 4 as a chemical attack while demanding that Syria open up its military bases to inspections.

Russia, which has veto power as one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, was joined by Bolivia in voting down the resolution. China, Ethiopia and Kazakhstan abstained.

At a hotel in Addis Ababa well-known for hosting jazz greats, thousands of fans lined up on a Saturday night to headbang along with what is still a rarity in Ethiopia's diverse music scene - a rock band.

These days, one of the main topics of discussion in Turkey is far from sports and its ethics due to the approaching referendum. However, with the latest news that added three more Turkish national athletes to the long chain of Turkish sportspeople who have been tested positive with doping, I wanted to write about the need for doping.

Ethiopian-born Turkish athlete Elvan Abeylegesse has been stripped of the two silver medals she claimed at the Beijing 2008 Olympics over 5,000m and 10,000m, along with her 10,000m silver medal from the 2007 World Championships, for doping violations.

Bulgarians abroad will be able to vote in the upcoming snap parliamentary elections on March 26 in a total of 70 countries and 371 voting sections.

The number of sections was determined via a decision of the Central Election Commission (CEC) taken on March 4, while Bulgarians abroad filed declarations to vote out of the country until February 28.

UNESCO's Turkey National Committee has been preparing for the inclusion of a whistle language, Hıdırellez, and the ancient city of Aphrodisias in the western province of Aydın to the UNESCO World Heritage List. 

The number of people travelling to Turkey for transplant operations has doubled in the last two years, a specialist doctor told state-run Anadolu Agency on Feb. 10.        

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said his office will make its final decision this week regarding charter amendments that were sent to him for approval after being passed by parliament on Jan. 21.

If the president approves the amendments as expected, the articles will be submitted to a public referendum some time in April.