Political leaders from across the political spectrum, including former prime minister Matteo Renzi, have tweeted best wishes to the veteran politician.
The German government has said that there is "unequivocal proof" that Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent. Chancellor Angela Merkel said he was a victim of attempted murder and the world would look to Russia for answers.
A foreign ministry spokesperson said that the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship is the only format for the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and Armenia doesn't view Turkey as a mediator.
Istanbul is the most iconic city for women's emancipation in Turkey and today Istanbul's name is also associated with the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, writes Elife Biçer-Deveci
There are reports of continued tensions on the Line of Actual Control separating India and China. Chinese troops carried out aggressive moves to change the status quo on the South Bank of Pangong Tso and the attempts had been thwarted, the Indian Army said on Monday (31 August).
In the meantime in Baku Azerbaijani officials have expressed disquiet at what they say has been a serious Russian military build-up of Armenian forces since the clashes on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border in July.
Writing in the French newspaper, Journal du Dimanche, the EU Foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said Moscow was "intending to prevent Europeans from providing help to civil society that's revolted against rigged presidential elections."