Diary

ANKARA (AA) - Here are the main topics Anadolu Agency’s English Desk plans to cover on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019 (coverage may change depending on developing/breaking stories):

TURKEY

ANKARA - President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to address meeting of small business owners and shopkeepers.

ANKARA - Erdogan to attend inauguration ceremony of several development projects in capital's Mamak district.

ANKARA - Turkey’s statistical authority TurkStat, to release annual poultry and milk production figures for 2018.

ANKARA - European Statistical Office (Eurostat) to release industrial production figures for December 2018.

ISTANBUL - Following developments in wake of deadly building collapse in Kartal district.

BELGIUM

BRUSSELS - Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar to attend NATO defense ministers meeting, hold bilateral talks in Brussels.

US

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump to meet Colombian President Ivan Duque at White House.

UK

LONDON - British Prime Minister Theresa May to take MPs' questions at House of Commons.

LONDON - British activists who survived 2010 Gaza flotilla raid by Israel to hold news conference.

GERMANY

BERLIN - Chancellor Angela Merkel to meet Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel for talks on bilateral relations, EU issues.

RUSSIA

SOCHI - President Vladimir Putin to meet Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko.

MOSCOW - Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to meet Lesotho counterpart, Lesego Makgothi.

MOSCOW - News conference of representatives of all major Palestinian political groups following three-day of talks with Russian officials in Moscow.

VENEZUELA

CARACAS - Monitoring developments amid calls for protests by supporters and opponents of President Nicolas Maduro.

SYRIA

ALEPPO / IDLIB - Monitoring developments in Syrian civil war in wake of US decision to withdraw troops.

SOUTH AFRICA

JOHANNESBURG - Thousands of trade union members to begin nationwide strike against large-scale layoffs in public and private sectors.

SPORTS

ISTANBUL - FIFA Executive Football Summit set to begin.

LONDON/AMSTERDAM - First leg of UEFA Champions League last 16 round matches to continue. Tottenham to face Dortmund, Ajax to play against Real Madrid.

SPECIAL REPORT

Local officials hail Turkish largesse in Syria’s Afrin

By Ali Abo Rezeg and Erdogan Cagatay Zontur

ANKARA (AA) - At Ankara-hosted forum, pro-opposition Syrian officials praise Turkey’s role in improving everyday life in liberated Afrin.

SPECIAL REPORT

US: Omar's faux pas shines light on AIPAC influence

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - When Rep. Ilhan Omar shot off an ill-advised tweet Sunday, she, perhaps unwittingly, exposed not only the limits to which public officials should use the social media platform but the power of one of the most influential lobbying groups in Washington.

SPECIAL REPORT

Sinn Fein say hard border will trigger Irish unity vote

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON (AA) - The fate of a referendum on Irish unity is not tied to Brexit, but in the event of a no-deal Brexit with Britain crashing out of the European Union, the timing is right for the question to be put to the people, said the deputy leader of Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein.