Eurasia

The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ, EFJ) have sent a letter to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

The letter urges the international organization to select and appoint "without delay" its new freedom of media representative.

Beijing's military development has placed it on 'near-parity' with Western nations, with some weapons having no equivalent, a British think tank says. Meanwhile, NATO members are lagging behind in the development of advanced military capabilities.

In this country, 49 percent of us have never been to a movie in their lives, 39 percent of us have never read a book, 66 percent of us have never gone to a concert or the theater; 86 percent of us have never been to a hobby course. The most frequent activity 85 percent of us have done is watch television, according to an IPSOS poll from last year.

The European Union has slightly cut its growth forecast for the Turkish economy, according to a fresh report released on Feb. 13. 

In its winter economic forecast, the European Commission forecasted a 2.8 percent growth for Turkey in 2017 and 3.2 percent growth in 2018. 

In its previous report, its 2017 and 2018 forecasts were 3 percent and 3.3 percent respectively. 

Speaking of his impressions following his trip to Paris last week, Turkey's Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Ömer Çelik had some interesting things to say. He pointed out to the forthcoming crucial elections that are to be held in three European countries; France, Germany and Holland, all of which would test the impact of the right-wing ideology in the European continent.

The World Bank has revised its growth forecast for Turkey in 2016 to 2.1 percent from 3.1 percent, the bank said in its economic report for Turkey on Feb. 2.

The bank said it reviewed the forecast "because recovery in the fourth quarter was weaker than envisaged," while adding that net exports would help the country's growth rate recover in 2017.      

The Greek High Court has ruled not to extradite eight officers who flew a military helicopter to Greece on the night of the failed coup on July 15, 2016 and demanded political asylum.

Turkey's population saw an increase of over one million compared to last year, reaching 79,814,871 people, the Turkish Statistics Institute announced on Jan. 31.

According to 2016 results from the records of Address Based Population Registration System, males made up 50.2 percent of the total population and females made up 49.8 percent.

A young man has been killed by a tiger in front of his horrified wife and child after getting dragged into its zoo enclosure.
The incident occurred at the Youngor Wildlife Park in the city of Ningbo, about 200 kilometres (125 miles) south of Shanghai.

Turkey has demanded the retrial of eight soldiers who fled to Greece after a failed coup last year and said it may take measures, including scrapping a migration deal with Athens, after a Greek court rejected an extradition request.