ANKARA
Here are the main stories that The Anadolu Agency's English News Desk will cover on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2015:
TURKEY
ANKARA – Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to chair meeting of Council of Ministers plus a ruling Justice and Development Party group meeting at parliament.
ANKARA – Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to separately meet with his Mauritanian counterpart, Ahmed Ould Teguedi, and Mahmoud Vaezi, Iran's information and communications minister.
Special Report:
Flying between Turkey and Russia … 50 times a month
Turkish textiles are in hot demand in Russia; now AA meets the Azerbaijani couriers who take dozens of passenger flights a month with this precious cargo.
ISTANBUL (AA) – Azerbaijanis living in Istanbul have found a new way of making money: flying to Moscow from Istanbul and back 50 times a month. A group of Azerbaijanis in Istanbul take the two-and-a-half-hour-flight from Turkey’s biggest city to the Russian capital almost every day to carry products from Istanbul’s textile companies.
UNITED STATES
NEW YORK – Trial of alleged operator of Silk Road “dark web” site starts.
EUROPE
GERMANY – President Joachim Gauck, Chancellor Angela Merkel and political leaders expected to join a protest vigil organized by Turkish and Muslim organizations to condemn recent terrorist attacks in France, but also to highlight peaceful co-existence of Muslims and non-Muslims in Germany.
GERMANY – German Islam Conference, a forum of dialogue between representatives of the German government and of Muslims in Germany, to convene.
BALKANS
SERBIA – President of Serbia, Tomislav Nikolic to meet Turkish ambassador in Belgrade, Mehmet Kemal Bozayem.
SOUTH ASIA
INDIA – Christians in India say they have been targeted for attacks by hardline Hindu nationalist groups.
SRI LANKA – Pope Francis arrives in Sri Lanka for a two-day visit where he will celebrate a special Mass and attend interfaith discussions. He arrives only days after a new Sri Lankan president was elected largely on pledges to further reconciliation efforts between the island’s various ethnic and faith groups.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
ISRAEL – Four French Jews killed in the Paris attacks to be buried in west Jerusalem.
MALAWI – NGOs protest against a non-AIDS-related group run by the country’s First Lady getting funding from the National AIDS Commission.
KENYA – Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry due in Nairobi to promote Egypt's candidacy for a non-permanent UN Security Council seat for 2016-2017.
Special Reports:
No more cremation of Ebola bodies; Liberians relieved
By Evelyn T. Kpadeh
MONROVIA (AA) – The Liberian government's recent decision to stop the cremation of Ebola victims has come as a relief to Liberians who saw the practice as alien to their local culture and traditions.
"Let me not lie, the decision by the government to burn human beings made people scared, including myself," Emmanuel Fallah, a 32-year-old resident of Monrovia, told The Anadolu Agency.
Minister, economist, ex-preacher lead Zambia presidency race
By Francis Maingaila
LUSAKA (AA) – Zambians will go to the polls on Jan. 20 to elect a new leader following the death of President Michael Sata in a London hospital late last year. Voters will choose from among 11 contenders, including an incumbent minister, an economist and a one-time Christian preacher.
SE ASIA-PACIFIC
SOUTH KOREA – South Korea and United States pushing ahead with joint military exercises this year, despite loud North Korean opposition.
CAMBODIA – Hun Sen celebrating 30 years in power in Cambodia, making him the world's sixth longest serving premier – or “dictator” as a new Human Rights Watch report released on Tuesday states.
INDONESIA – Search team raises AirAsia QZ8501’s second black box containing the cockpit voice recorder from the seabed in the Karimata Strait.
AUSTRALIA – Politicians calling for changes to discrimination laws say Charlie Hebdo cartoons would be banned in Australia under present legislation.
