NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THERE is practically no news this week from the. Near East. The Turks are still accumulating forces in Rou- melia, and the Bulgarians have stopped the demobilisation of their reserves, but neither State has taken any decided step. The Sultan promises "amnesty and repatriation" to refugees who will return to their villages ; but as the refugees are too wise to believe him, this amounts only to another Turkish. promise. The new conditions formulated by Russia and Austria have been laid before the Sultan, but his decision has not been given, and till then the conditions are kept secret. At Sofia it seems to be believed that both parties are beating time, which may very well be, as both await the result of the " negotiations " in the Far East, which, in spite of optimistic telegrams from Tokio, are still far from a definite settlement.
