Negotiators from Iran, Russia and Turkey met in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana on Wednesday, the Kazakh foreign ministry said, for two days of talks aiming to preserve a fragile 10-week-old truce in northern Syria.

 

Talks were underway between delegations from the three regional power-brokers as well as the Syrian government and opposition, the ministry said in a statement.

 

Both facing pressure from Washington, Moscow and Ankara ditched the US dollar when finalizing their landmark S-400 air defense missile systems deal and will do so in the future, Russian leader Vladimir Putin said.

 

“We understand that if we’ll make transactions in [US] dollars, they won’t come through,” Putin told reporters on Wednesday, citing his recent talks with Turkey’s leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “So we thought up another option.”

 

Muslims from Tatarstan sent humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. The cargo consists of more than 65 types of drugs for the treatment of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, bronchopulmonary system, musculoskeletal system, eyes and other organs. Antiseptics and suture surgical materials were also sent.

 

As Germany still struggles to balance its migration policy, the Interior Ministry has apparently decided to take one of the issues into its own hands and, through an ad campaign, boost the numbers of voluntary repatriations.

 

The ministry, led by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Bavarian ally Horst Seehofer, decided to lure potential repatriates with a supposedly bright future awaiting them in their countries of origin – as well as a sort of a complimentary gift should they agree to go home voluntarily.

 

Plans for building a sea port in on one of Russia’s northernmost areas have been brought back to life. The $4 billion project in the Nenets region is key to the country's strategic plan to open shipping in the Arctic.

 

The project has reportedly been included in Moscow’s list of major investment projects on transport and infrastructure development. The new port, which will be located in the small Nenets settlement of Indiga, will be operated year-round.

 

High up in Lebanon’s mountains, the lifeless grey trunks of dead cedar trees stand stark in the deep green forest, witnesses of the climate change that has ravaged them.

 

Often dubbed “Cedars of God”, the tall evergreens hark back millenia and are a source of great pride and a national icon in the small Mediterranean country.

 

The cedar tree, with its majestic horizontal branches, graces the nation’s flag and its bank notes.

 

It was a moment that summed up everything we knew about Liverpool striker Sadio Mane - but the Senegalese striker didn't want it seem at all.

 

Some time ago a video footage emerged of the frontman cleaning mosque toilets hours after scoring against Leicester in the Premier League.

 

It reinforced how kind and down to earth the 26-year-old Muslim is.

 

The IV All-Russian Scientific Conference "Internal Dialogue in Islam: Reality and Prospects" has started today in Kazan. The purpose of the conference is to develop recommendations for the Muslim community in creating and operating a mechanism of constant internal dialogue with those who are set on such a process. The event is attended by religious and secular experts from Kazan, Moscow, Ufa, Makhachkala, Sevastopol.

 

First "honesty shop" has been opened in one of the universities of the Kazakh city of Shymkent.

 

What makes it different is that there are no sellers in the premises, students and teachers take all the goods themselves, and put the money in a special box.