Diary

ANKARA (AA) - Here are the main topics Anadolu Agency’s English Desk plans to cover on Monday, Dec. 30, 2019 (coverage may change depending on developing/breaking stories):

TURKEY

ANKARA - President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to attend ceremony for national scientific awards.

ANKARA - Erdogan later to welcome his Moldovan counterpart Igor Dodon with official ceremony. Erdogan, Dodon to hold tete-a-tete meeting, High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council meeting, signing ceremony and press conference.

ANKARA - Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to meet opposition leaders Kemal Kilicdaroglu and Meral Aksener prior to Turkish parliament session for possible military deployment in Libya.

RUSSIA

MOSCOW - Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to meet his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif.

SOMALIA

MOGADISHU - Following aftermath of Saturday's terror attack which killed nearly 80 people, including two Turkish nationals.

ALGERIA

ALGIERS - Prime Minister-designate Abdel Aziz Jarad launches talks to form government.

TUNISIA

TUNIS - Prime Minister-designate Habib Jemli to hold press conference on latest efforts to form new government.

LIBYA

TRIPOLI - Monitoring clashes between UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) and forces of Khalifa Haftar.

IRAQ

BAGHDAD - Following anti-government protests.

SYRIA

ALEPPO / IDLIB / HASAKAH / RAQQA - Monitoring developments in civil war and Syrians fleeing northwestern Idlib de-escalation zone towards Turkish border amid attacks by Assad regime, Russian army, and Iranian-backed groups.

INDIA

NEW DELHI - Monitoring developments in controversial citizenship law.

ECONOMY

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

ANKARA - Culture and Tourism Ministry to reveal Number of Arriving-Departing Foreigners and Citizens for November.

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

SPECIAL REPORT

Africa faces major challenges in 2020

By Hassan Isilow

JOHANNESBURG (AA) - Africa made great progress in a number of fields in 2019, including holding peaceful elections in many parts of the continent and increased economic growth.

SPECIAL REPORT

Canadians ride wild rollercoaster in 2019

By Barry Ellsworth

TRENTON, Canada (AA) - The year 2019 was a series of peaks and valleys for Canada marked by fractious relations with China, the Toronto Raptors winning their first NBA title outside the U.S., revelations that the prime minister wore blackface and the re-election of Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government, but with a minority rather than a majority.

SPECIAL REPORT

Year of climate strike: Climate change protests in 2019

By Burak Bir

ANKARA (AA) - Along with a large number of protests that were based on political or economical aspects from Asia to Latin America, climate protests also hit the streets and squares around the world, thanks particularly to the Fridays For Future.

SPECIAL REPORT

Opinion - New India law aims to disenfranchise Muslims

By Iftikhar Gilani

ANKARA (AA) - A few months ago, when India completed its seven-year effort to find illegal immigrants in the northeastern state of Assam, the results were hard to digest for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

SPECIAL REPORT

India: Fear has gripped the Muslim-majority town of Rampur

By Shuriah Niazi

RAMPUR, India (AA) - Fear has gripped the Muslim-majority town of Rampur, 250 kilometers (150 miles) northwest of Indian capital New Delhi, as police have booked 141 people and are hunting thousands of others, for participating in protests against the new citizenship law.

SPECIAL REPORT

‘Indian state is acting in panic,’ says rights defender

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) - After India’s new citizenship law triggered violent protests nationwide, the law enforcing agencies rushed to issue legal notices against people in Uttar Pradesh province of India, accusing them of damaging public property.