Russia & CIS

A trilateral meeting between Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian presidents will take place in St. Petersburg on June 26, APA reports citing 1in.am.

Baghdadi died in an air strike on IS's stronghold of Raqqa in northern Syria.

Azerbaijan will grant military service deferment to bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree students, who are Azerbaijani citizens receiving education in the country and abroad.

Azerbaijan is expected to apply the ASAN Visa system this summer.

An amendment to the Law “On state duty” was discussed during the Azerbaijani parliament’s extraordinary plenary meeting on Tuesday.

Experts warn temperatures this week will rise further and well above seasonal norms.

As of April 1, 2016, Azerbaijan’s external public debt made $7,448.7 mln (AZN 11,486.6 mln), external public debt/GDP ratio – 21%.

The bill 'On science' has been put for discussion in the third reading at the extraordinary plenary session of Milli Majlis.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has met the European Union Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini as part of his ongoing visit to Norway.

Russia begin their Euro 2016 football tournament journey on Saturday, playing their first match against England at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille.

The Russian State Duma voted to strip opposition deputy Ilya Ponomarev of his powers for not fulfilling his duties, the Vedomosti newspaper reported Friday.

Members of the Russian State Duma on Friday approved the third reading of a law regulating the work of news aggregators, the Slon.ru news website reported.

French bank Societe Generale began closing the accounts of Russian diplomats in Paris without explanation on Friday, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Oxana Sokolovskaya, the lawyer who defended captured Russian soldier Yevgeny Yerofeyev in a Kiev court, is to sue Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko for "damage to her honor and her professional reputation."

The Russian Central Bank lowered its key interest rate by 0.5 percentage points to 10.5 percent on Friday, the TASS state news agency reported.

Russian opposition politician Andrei Pivovarov has been found guilty of bribery and illegally accessing a police database, the Interfax news agency reported Friday.

As his first international race, the Kanazawa marathon was a special occasion for Viktor Ugarov, 30.

Hajo Seppelt, the German journalist behind the ARD documentary on doping in Russian sports, allegedly threatened political commentator Olga Skabeyeva and her crew during an interview in Germany.

All Russian officials are to swear an oath as part of taking office, Minister of Labour and Social Development Maxim Topilin announced Friday, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Russia is facing its biggest brain drain in the last 20 years, British newspaper The Times reported Friday.