News
Turkey may exit Nato by year’s end say retired admirals and generals
Survey report from New York-based Academy Securities notes Ankara’s increasing cosiness with Moscow and rows with the US.
Smallprint shows Caspian Sea summit was not the ‘summit to end all summits’
Signing of convention made for a nice photocall, but expect more interminable wrangling on how to divide up the oil and gas resources.
Romanian president and ruling party attack each other over protest violence
President Iohannis accuses government of failing to take responsibility for brutal intervention by riot police at recent protest, while ruling PSD says the president incited “social anarchy”.
Emerging markets ask how contagious Turkey's currency and debt malady might be
Economic contagion experts are sizing up Turkey’s meltdown against the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis which caused the Russian economy, and others, to collapse. With the Turkish lira in freefall should other emerging markets be feeling the jitters?
Turkish market turmoil: central bank moves bring little respite, lira bashed again as Erdogan points finger at US
Technocrats scramble for effective remedial measures, president hits out at White House for seeking to “stab your strategic partner in the back”.
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I remember how brutal Turkey’s last dollar crisis was—but so does President Erdogan
Michael Daventry recalls the torturous slog and loss of dignity that followed the country’s 2001 currency collapse—and led to the rise of a then little-known leader. Could history repeat itself?
Lukashenko slams Russia for "barbarian" behaviour towards Belarus as Moscow mulls suspension of subsidies
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko believes that the Russian leadership acts in "a barbaric way" towards Minsk, considering his country to be like "their vassals" amid reports that Moscow intends to limit its credit support and oil subsidies.
LGBT Prague Pride supporters march as parliament debates same-sex marriage laws
Tens of thousands of LGBT activists attended the Prague Pride festival at the weekend while the Czech Republic parliament grapples with a same-sex marriage law
‘Crisis? What crisis?’ says Turkey’s Erdogan
Turkish lira crashes to astonishing all-time low of 7.24 to the dollar in early trading but if Turkey's leader is to be believed there is no possible economic explanation for it.
EU approves plans to privatise Slovenia's largest bank NLB
But the soon to be appointed minority government headed by Marjan Sarec depends on support from far-left Levica that staunchly opposes privatisation, making it unclear how Ljubljana will carry out its promise to sell off the bank.
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Romanians back on the streets after Bucharest protest violence
50,000 anti-corruption protesters return to Victory Square to demand the government's registration, unbowed by lavish use of tear gas and clashes with riot police the previous night.
Turkey’s economy in meltdown, bank failures can’t be ruled out
Lira’s death spiral looks set to spark undeniable debt and liquidity crisis.
Violence erupts at mass protest staged by Romanian diaspora in Bucharest
Riot police fought back anti-corruption protesters, spraying impressive quantities of tear gas into the crowds and using water cannons to disperse the 100,000 people gathered in Victory Square.
Turkish lira plummets to 6.80 on double hit from Erdogan, Trump
Turkey’s leader speaks of God and economic war, US president piles on tariffs saying relations are “not good”.
Moldovan president endorses controversial fiscal amnesty package
Moldovans will be able to pay a 3% tax in return for declaring undeclared or under-valued assets, which critics claim will enable the legalisation of stolen funds including those from the $1bn banking fraud revealed in 2014.
UPDATE: Turkish balance of payments crisis 'around corner' as lira crashes through 6.0
Markets underwhelmed by government’s new economic plan.
Turkish officials keep markets in suspense as lira plumbs new lows against the dollar
Finance minister under fire for his silence, markets wonder if Erdogan can really go to the IMF having once prided himself on escaping its “tutelage”.
Russian shares tank on US announcement of new Russia sanctions over UK poisoning
Russian stocks tumbled after the US State Department announced it will impose new sanctions on Russia by the end of August over the alleged used of military-grade nerve agent in the poisoning of former Russian agent Sergei Skripal on UK soil
Seven political parties in the running for parliament seats in Ukraine's 2019 election
Opposition leader and former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna Party is currently leading the polls. Tymoshenko is also the front-runner in the concurrent presidential election race in 2019.
Five Slovenian parties nominate ex-comedien Sarec for prime minister
Sarec's prospects of winning the upcoming vote in parliament after cobbling together a coalition of five small parties informally backed by Levica still look shaky.