Turkey and Russia have signed an accord for Moscow to supply Ankara with S-400 surface-to-air missiles, CNN Turk and other media reported on Friday, finalizing a deal the two countries have been working on for more than a year. The S-400 deal, reportedly worth about $2.5 billion, has caused concern in the West because Turkey is a member of NATO and the system cannot be integrated into NATO's military architecture.

Suicide bombers stormed a Shiite cultural centre and news agency in the Afghan capital on Thursday, killing more than 40 people and injuring scores, many of them students attending a conference. Islamic State said in an online statement that it was responsible for the attack, the latest in a series the movement has claimed on Shiite targets in Kabul.

US embassies in Turkey are to resume full visa service following security assurance from Turkey’s government on US consular staff. US had suspended all non-immigrant visa services after the arrest of one of its consulate employees in October. The worker had been detained over suspected links to a cleric blamed for last year’s failed coup in Turkey.

President Recep Erdogan of Turkey in a telephone call on Friday with Pope Francis, discussed the situation around Jerusalem, stressing the importance of preserving the city’s status, Turkish media reported, citing presidential sources. During the talks, both Erdogan and the Pope stressed that the protection of Jerusalem’s current status was crucial in order to ensure stability in the region, the Daily Sabah newspaper reported.

The Israeli government said thousands of African asylum seekers, who have applied for refugee status in Israel but have not received a response, must leave the country within 90 days or face imprisonment. The government said that it would soon adopt regulations, which will make asylum seekers, who are yet to receive a response, leave within this period or face imprisonment.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko, who was banned for life from the Olympic Games this month over doping, said on Wednesday that he is stepping down as chairman of the 2018 World Cup organising committee. “(Organising committee director Alexei) Sorokin will be the chairman,” Mutko was quoted by Russian agencies as saying, two days after suspending his role as president of the Russian Football Union, according to AFP reports.