Turkey's Halkbank dismisses U.S. charges, Erdogan calls them 'ugly'

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey's Halkbank said on Wednesday that U.S. charges against it amount to an escalation of Washington's sanctions on Ankara over its military incursion in Syria, while President Tayyip Erdogan called them an "unlawful, ugly" step.U.S. prosecutors on Tuesday charged the state-owned lender with taking part in a multibillion-dollar scheme to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran. In response, Halkbank's shares plunged as much as 7% on Wednesday despite a new ban on short selling. The..