Diary

ANKARA (AA) - Here are the main topics Anadolu Agency's English Desk plans to cover on Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2022 (coverage may change depending on developing/breaking stories):

TURKIYE

ANKARA - Following worldwide pandemic situation, efforts to stem new omicron coronavirus variant.

ANKARA - Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to hold joint news conference with his Finnish counterpart Pekka Haavisto.

GERMANY

BERLIN - Chancellor Olaf Scholz to meet French President Emmanuel Macron and Polish President Andrzej Duda to discuss diplomatic options to avert war between Ukraine and Russia.

UKRAINE

KYIV - French President Emmanuel Macron to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

KYIV - Following developments at Ukraine-Russia border amid increasing tensions.

ECONOMY

ANKARA - Turkish Transport and Infrastructure Ministry to release airport statistics for January.

WASHINGTON - US Commerce Department to announce trade balance for December.

PARIS - Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development to release unemployment figures for December.

SPORTS

BEIJING - Following 2022 Winter Olympic Games in China.

ISTANBUL - Following round of 16 matches in Ziraat Turkiye Cup.

ISTANBUL - Following Fenerbahce Beko-Real Madrid match in Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.

SPECIAL NEWS

Ban on student unions causes political drought in Pakistan

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Professor Mahmood Ghaznavi recalls the campaigning for the 1982 student union elections at the Karachi University when thousands of students would throng the university's sprawling sports ground in support of their respective candidates on the last day of electioneering.

SPECIAL NEWS

Blocking internet gives rise to VPNs in Uganda

By Hamza Kyeyune

KAMPALA, Uganda (AA) - The number of people in Uganda with an internet connection keeps growing, with many citizens increasingly depending on digital technologies to do business, work, study, and socialize.

SPECIAL NEWS

Farmers to play key role in India’s critical provincial polls

By Ahmad Adil

MUZAFFARNAGAR, BAGHPAT, India (AA) - Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in India yielded to the demands of farmers in November last year by repealing controversial farm laws, the mood on the ground reveals that their yearlong agitation has tell-tale effects on the poll prospects of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

SPECIAL NEWS

Women, children rolling Indian cigarette denied minimum wages

By Shuriah Niazi

NEW DELHI (AA) - As the world observes World Smoking Cessation Day on Wednesday, experts in India believe that the government must frame rigid laws to protect the interests of those engaged in making beedis, an Indian cigarette made of loose tobacco wrapped in leaves from the tendu tree. As beedi workers usually work from homes, the beedi industry takes advantage of that and benefits at the cost of workers.

SPECIAL NEWS

Guardians’ ignorance taking Bangladeshi children to unsafe digital world

By Md. Kamruzzaman

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - Tens of thousands of Bangladeshi youngsters, particularly school-aged teenagers, are becoming victims of unsafe internet and addicted to mobile and computer games, mostly owing to a lack of awareness on the part of parents and guardians, which authorities and analysts describe as concerning.

SPECIAL NEWS

Tanzania’s women farmers make fortunes growing grapes

By Kizito Makoye

DODOMA, Tanzania (AA) - Women farmers in Tanzania are making great fortunes growing grapes and leading a quiet agrarian revolution in the country’s winery sector, which provides an economic lifeline to hundreds of families in the capital city of Dodoma.

SPECIAL NEWS

Vaccinating 80% of world population in 6 months may end pandemic: Sputnik V developer

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - After more than two years, the coronavirus pandemic continues raging the world, evolving in a series of waves, bringing new dangerous strains.