For over a month is going the process of normalization of relations between Turkey and Russia, which were in crisis after the shooting down in November 2015 of the Russian bomber over the Turkish-Syrian border by the Turkish air force. Russia then introduced trade-economic sanctions towards Turkey, including suspended charter flights to the country. On Tuesday, August 9th Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet in St. Petersburg with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the normalization of relations.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on August 9. The key theme of the meeting will be lifting of Russia’s ban on imports of Turkish products as well as their economic and regional cooperation. There are going to be made some decisions which would help economic growth and improve the prospects for their long-term bilateral prosperity. According to what Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said on Friday, Turkey still hasn’t paid Russia any compensation for the downed Russian Su-24 bomber. Yuri Ushakov mentioned that this issue may be raised at the next meeting of Turkish and Russian Presidents, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin.

A US-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters has seized most of a key Syrian city from so-called Islamic State (IS), activists and commanders say. Manbij is situated at an intersection of roads just south of the Turkish border.It has been under IS control for more than two years.Small numbers of IS militants are still resisting, using civilians as human shields, the alliance says.The Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition of US-backed fighters including the powerful Kurdish YPG militia, launched a campaign to retake the northern city two months ago.

In the afternoon of 6 August, opposition forces attacking from the South-west managed to break through the blockade of the city and established contact with eastern districts, which were under siege by the government forces since mid-July. This is a major achievement of a week-long offensive and will enable the opening of a supply route to rebel-controlled parts of the city. The rebel takeover of Ramouseh districts also threatens the supply to government-help Western Aleppo and can thus turn the tide of the battle for the city.

Pakistani helicopter made an emergency landing in Afghanistan when it was heading for maintenance and repairs, in the fixing post of a firm belonging to the Russian Helicopters company, the Russian holdings’ reported TASS. "Pakistan’s Mi-17 commercial helicopter piloted by Pakistani pilots was on its way to an enterprise belonging to the Russian Helicopters holdings for repairs," the press service said. The helicopter made an emergency landing in Afghanistan because of a technical breakdown. After that, the helicopter went on fire. The crew including six retired Pakistani military and a Russian air navigator were not damaged.

Mark Pieth, Swiss anti-corruption expert, and Joseph Stiglitz joined a seven-member commission whose aim is to investigate Panama’s immensely opaque financial system, but both quit the group on Friday, saying that the country’s government refused to guarantee the committee’s report would be made public. The Panamanian government defended the committee’s “autonomous” management in a statement and it said the resignations of Stiglitz and Pieth were due to unspecified “internal differences”.