Diary

ANKARA (AA) - Here are the main topics Anadolu Agency's English Desk plans to cover on Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020 (coverage may change depending on developing/ breaking stories):

TURKEY

ANKARA - Following latest developments on COVID-19 outbreak in Turkey, worldwide, discovery of new coronavirus variant.

RUSSIA

SOCHI - Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov to chair 8th meeting of the Joint Strategic Planning Group.

US

WASHINGTON - Senate expected to take up override of US President Donald Trump's defense spending bill veto as soon as Tuesday.

WASHINGTON - Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to bring increased COVID-19 stimulus payments up for unanimous consent vote with full floor vote uncertain.

AZERBAIJAN

BAKU - Monitoring cease-fire between Azerbaijan, Armenia, latest developments on front line.

THE ECONOMY

ANKARA - Free Trade Agreement between Turkey and UK to be signed with attendance of Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan.

ANKARA - Turkish Statistical Institute to release Economic Confidence Index for December.

ISTANBUL - Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency to announce banking sector statistics for November.

SPECIAL REPORT

Google rejects Uganda move to close YouTube channels

By Hamza Kyeyune

KAMPALA (AA) – American tech giant Google has turned down Uganda Communications Commission (UCC)’s request to close 17 YouTube channels for allegedly fanning violence, asking for more justifiable reasons to take any action.

SPECIAL REPORT

‘Ethiopia aims towards true exercise of rights’

By Sadik Kedir Abdu

ANKARA (AA) - The "disgruntled" Tigrayan People Liberation Front (TPLF), once a member of the former ruling party, has crossed the "red line" by launching an offensive measure against the northern national Defense Command Post stationed in Tigray, the Ethiopian envoy in Ankara told Anadolu Agency.

SPECIAL REPORT

Turkish woman’s tryst with olive oil to beat cancer

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) – Natural olive oil cure and medical attention helped Gamze Deniz, a cancer patient to recover from the deadly disease. She has now established a boutique firm producing cold-press olive oil in the Aegean Sea resort town of Bodrum.

SPECIAL REPORT

Qatar-Bahrain rift imperils possible Gulf rapprochement

By Mohammed Alragawi

ISTANBUL (AA) - In a new escalation of the Gulf crisis, Qatar announced last Thursday that it had informed the UN Security Council of a violation of its airspace by four Bahraini fighter jets.

SPECIAL REPORT

‘Failure of Arab Spring benefits Gulf monarchies’

By Zehra Nur Duz

ANKARA (AA) – A decade ago, the last week of December had come with hope for the Middle East with scenes of mass protests gaining momentum that soon came to be known as the Arab Spring.

SPECIAL REPORT

Europe: Worst year over, hope remains for New Year

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON (AA) - In the final days of 2019, Brexit negotiations between the UK and the EU was undoubtedly the biggest news item for Europe.

SPECIAL REPORT

US 2020: COVID, protests, denials, and a new president

By Andy Roesgen

CHICAGO (AA) - In December 2019, Americans had no reason to think 2020 would be radically different than the year that was just wrapping up.