Western Asia

The overall solvency ratio of the Cyprus banking sector stood at 21.2% at the end of December 2022, the same as September 2022, according to data published by the Central Bank of Cyprus last week.

According to key aggregate financial indicators for the Cyprus banking sector, by CBC, an annual increase of 50 base units was recorded.

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic spoke by phone with the president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, on Friday.

The discussion topics included the upcoming COP28 summit on climate change, further strengthening of comprehensive cooperation and the current regional and global political situation.

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Friday accepted an invitation from the president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, to attend a UN conference on climate change in Dubai.

The invitation was presented to him by the UAE Ambassador to Belgrade Mubarak Al Dhaheri.

Turkey's economy is at the top of the agenda as President Erdogan announced his new cabinet. Despite the message of reform and normalization that Erdogan hopes to convey with this new cabinet, markets remain skeptical as the Turkish lira continued its slide against the dollar.

A real estate deal in Jerusalem's Old City, at the epicenter of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has sent the historic Armenian community there into a panic as residents search for answers about the feared loss of their homes to a mysterious investor.

At the height of the Islamic State group's rampage across Syria, the world watched in horror as the militants blew up an iconic arch and temple in the country's famed Roman ruins in Palmyra.

Eight years later, restoration work on the site has been held up by security issues, leftover ISIL land mines and lack of funding.

Iran demonstrated today its first domestically produced hypersonic missile, the governmental IRNA news agency reported. The announcement is expected to heighten Western concerns about Tehran's missile capabilities.

Iranian media published a photo of the missile, dubbed Fatah, from a ceremony attended by President Ebrahim Raisi and senior military officials.

Turkey's president may have a new five-year mandate but he has no magic wand for the country's ailing economy, experts warn. Some fear the worst is still to come.

The appointment of Mehmet Simsek as Turkey's new treasury and finance minister at the weekend has sparked some investors' hopes of a return to monetary orthodoxy in a country beset by soaring inflation. Despite yet another fall in the lira on June 5, markets hold him in high regard.

Saudi Aramco held talks with Turkish contractors last week to discuss $50 billion of potential projects in the Gulf kingdom, Bloomberg has reported.