Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke Sunday by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin. During the call, Erdogan reportedly called for Russia to move toward a cease-fire in Ukraine, to open humanitarian corridors for the Ukrainians and to sign a peace agreement. The conversation during which Erdogan offered to mediate …

Multiple Russian banks on Sunday announced plans to begin issuing cards using a Chinese card operator’s system with Russia’s Mir network after Visa and MasterCard pulled out of Russia. Sberbank, Alfa Bank and Tinkoff all said they would begin using the Chinese UnionPay system, according to Reuters. The announcement comes …

Finally, France will be leaving Mali, nearly a decade after the original military intervention in 2013. The repercussions of this decision will hardly be confined to this West African nation, but will likely spread to the entirety of the Sahel Region; in fact, the whole of Africa. France’s decision to …