Diary

ANKARA (AA) - Here are the main topics Anadolu Agency’s English Desk plans to cover on Thursday, Dec. 15, 2016 (coverage may change depending on developing/breaking stories):

TURKEY

ANKARA - President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim to meet Slovenian President Borut Pahor and the president of Tatarstan in the Russian Federation Rustam Minnikhanov in Ankara.

Yildirim to also meet Moldovan Deputy PM and Economy Minister Octavian Calmic.

ANKARA - Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci to attend Turkey-Tatarstan Business Forum signing ceremony of bilateral agreements. Press conference to follow.

ANKARA – Erdogan to attend security meeting at presidential palace.

BELGIUM

BRUSSELS - European Union leaders' summit: Turkish-EU migration deal expected to be on the agenda.

FRANCE

PARIS - Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault holds talks with UN Special Envoy for Syria.​

PARIS - Protest expected in front of Russian embassy to condemn situation in Aleppo .

UK

LONDON - Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isik to attend meeting of foreign ministers to discuss fight against Daesh.

GERMANY

BERLIN - Turkish EU Minister Omer Celik to meet German Federal Minister for Special Tasks Peter Altmaier to discuss EU-Turkey cooperation in refugee crisis.

SWITZERLAND

GENEVA - Press stakeout with UN Special Advisor to the Special Envoy for Syria, Jan Egeland, following meeting of International Syria Support Group's Humanitarian Access Task Force.

GENEVA - Release of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Global Wage Report 2016-2017.

US

[MOVED] Japan seeks pressure on NKorea for abductions issue

- 40 years later, Japanese government still seeks accountability for citizens kidnapped by Pyongyang

By Selcuk Acar and Canberk Yuksel

NEW YORK (AA) - Japan seeks the international community’s attention to help pressure North Korea to address the abduction of Japanese citizens by the isolated nation nearly four decades ago, a government minister responsible for the issue told Anadolu Agency.

SYRIA

ALEPPO – Follow-up on situation in Aleppo.

EGYPT

CAIRO – Arab League to hold emergency session to discuss ongoing crisis in Syria’s Aleppo.​

ZIMBABWE

HARARE - President Robert Mugabe expected to be confirmed as party candidate for 2018 election.

SOMALIA

MOGADISHU- MPs expected to be sworn in. They will vote for president on Dec. 28.

MYANMAR

YANGON – Former military general-led commission set up to probe attacks on border posts claims security forces abided by law in response that saw anything between 76 and around 400 villagers killed.

INDONESIA

JAKARTA – President Joko Widodo again set to visit earthquake stricken province as number of homeless reaches 85,000.

PHILIPPINES

ZAMBOANGA - Communist rebels in peace talks with government slam President Rodrigo Duterte for failure to release political prisoners, a promise they say he has made twice.