Ankara / AFP Turkey has condemned as “very unfortunate” Pope Francis’s declaration that the mass killings of Armenians a century ago by Ottoman forces amounted to a genocide, saying it bore traces of “the mentality of the Crusades.” “It is not an objective statement that conforms with reality,” Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canlikli said late on Saturday, quoted by …

  WASHINGTON On June 1, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development issued its latest economic forecasts. In 2016, it predicted that the world economy would grow 3 percent, the United Kingdom 1.7 percent and the euro area (the 19 countries using the euro) 1.6 percent. We don’t know how these figures will now be revised, but we do know …

  Sunday was the day for festivities and pride in Panama as people there marked the inauguration of newly expanded multibillion dollar Panama Canal that will link the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans and boost the regional and international trade. Currently, some 5 percent of global maritime commercial traffic uses this strategic waterway, which provides a valuable shortcut between North …