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Turkey's foreign minister said Dec. 30 that the recent diplomatic tension between Russia and the United States "will serve nothing but add to the existing problems".

FM Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu told reporters in southern Antalya province that such a tension "between the global actors" will be no good "for both of the countries and for the region."

President-elect Donald Trump praised President Vladimir Putin for refraining from tit-for-tat expulsions of Americans in response to US punitive measures over alleged Russian interference in the November election.

Putin's decision came despite the foreign ministry asking him to send home 35 US diplomats after President Barack Obama had expelled the same number of Russian staff.

Russian military jets have hit Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) targets near al-Bab after receiving intelligence from the Turkish military.

The Turkish Armed Forces said on Dec. 30 Russian aircraft had carried out three air strikes against ISIL in the area of al-Bab and south of the town in northern Syria, killing 12 of the militants.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has described the truce reached between the Syrian regime and the opposition groups as a "base for negotiations on a lasting peace" in the war-torn country, reiterating Ankara's call for other prominent actors to join the Turkish-Russian efforts. 

The Turkish military announced on Dec. 30 that Russian jets hit positions of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) near the Syrian town of al-Bab. 

We are leaving a very difficult year behind. Turkey and the Turkish people have witnessed worst ever coup attempt on July 15 in a direct attack on its fragile democracy by a group of pro-Gülen military personnel and other bureaucrats. 

The self-proclaimed “conservative provocateur” Milo Yiannopoulos’ book is in the second place of the best-sellers in Amazon just 24 hours after its release was announced.

The backorders for his book “Dangerous” brought him above “Tools of Titans” and behind Carrie Fisher’s “The Princess Diarist” that died of a heart attack a few days ago.

BELGRADE - The CNN is spreading 'false information' by reporting that Russia closed the Anglo-American School of Moscow in retaliation to a new set of US sanctions, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

In an unusual diplomatic move, the Russian President Vladimir Putin chose to deescalate the tensions with the US and decided not to deport the 35 US diplomats for now, as he was advised to do earlier today by the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Dec. 30 that the U.S.-led international coalition struck Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) targets in northern Syria's al-Bab province for the first time in a long while.

Çavuşoğlu also said Ankara would welcome the U.S. at upcoming Syria peace talks in Astana, saying "no parties were excluded" from the Astana process.