Diary

ANKARA

Here are the main stories that The Anadolu Agency's English News Desk will cover Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2014:

SPECIAL REPORTS

Turkish Business: 2014 Year in Review

By Bahattin Gonultas

- ANKARA – Turkish businesses have expanded in exports and mergers and acquisitions. Ibrahim Caglar, the head of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, says Turkish business expanded at reasonably healthy pace in 2014, in spite of geopolitical and economic hurdles. 

- A Year of ‘Risk On’: Global Business Trends for 2014

By Andrew Jay Rosenbaum

- ANKARA -- Both consumers and businesses around the world put risk back on in 2014.

- Top UN stories of 2014

  By Mustafa Caglayan

- NEW YORK -- Marred by discord, disease and disruption, 2014 was replete with conflicts, crises and contingencies that forced the United Nations to face some of its most difficult challenges in recent history.

- Traces of the Cold War echo across Europe

By Ilgin Karlidag

- BRUSSELS -- ''History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme,'' American author Mark Twain once said. More than two decades have passed since the end of the Cold War but, in 2014, it echoed across Europe and the rest of the Western world once again as Russia and Europe’s relationship soured over the Ukraine crisis.

- As another year ends, Syria's agony lingers

-ANKARA -- No one can predict how much life the deadly Syrian civil war has in it, but what is clearer than day at the end of 2014 is that thousands of Syrian men, women and children have lost their lives and millions more have become refugees.

- Iraq 2014: Instability, displacement, beheadings

- ANKARA -- It has been a tough year for Iraq, a country struggling to stay afloat amid deteriorating security conditions, falling oil prices and political instability.

 - Elections set pace for South Asian politics in 2014

- ANKARA -- South Asia's political landscape has changed significantly in the last year, with historic and controversial elections having a strong impact on its political trends and the course of regional relations.

- Southeast Asia-Pacific year round up

- ANKARA -- It was a year of democracy and disasters around the Southeast Asia-Pacific region in 2014. In several countries, such as Myanmar and Thailand, democracy seemed on the retreat while in others, notably Indonesia, nations seemed to be moving towards a more Western style of leadership. In Hong Kong, students’ calls for true elections came to little in the face of an unyielding Beijing-backed government.

-2014 sees weakened al-Shabaab, newborn Somalia

By Yassin Juma

- MOGADISHU  --  Somalia, a troubled Horn of Africa nation that has not known peace since 1991, made significant military and economic headway in 2014.

- Johannesburg church to evict Zimbabwean migrants (photos)

By Hassan Isilow

- JOHANNESBURG - The future of hundreds of migrants who have been living at the central Methodist church in Johannesburg remains uncertain after the church's board ordered them to vacate the property by Dec. 31.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

IRAN

- TEHRAN – Turkish Economy Minister Zeybekci meets Iran’s First Deputy President Cihangiri, Industry and Mines Minister Nimetzade and Information and Communication Minister Vaizi.

GAMBIA

- BANJUL – There is uncertainty in Gambia after reports emerge of a failed coup involving forces loyal to Lamin Sanneh, who allegedly attempted to overthrow the government while President Jammeh was on a private visit outside the country.

TUNISIA

- TUNIS – The newly-elected President of Tunisia Essebsi will be sworn in.

SE ASIA-PACIFIC  

 INDONESIA

- JAKARTA -- Search for missing AsiaAir flight resumes amid bad weather and discovery of six bodies.

HONG KONG

- HONG KONG – Additional police to be deployed for New Years as protesters called to gather after 14-year-old girl, arrested for drawing pro-democracy graffiti, is sent to children's home.

www.aa.com.tr/en