The UN Security Council plans to adopt a resolution next week aimed at halting funding to Islamic State militants from oil, antique trafficking and ransoms.
A march by an emergent anti-Islamisation group in the German city of Leipzig failed to drum up much support, with first estimates showing turnout at below 1,000.
The Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris were a "wake-up event" for freedom of expression, movie legend Robert Redford said as he launched the Sundance Film Festival.
Pope Francis heads to Turkey with a brief to use his populist touch to rebuild bridges with the Islamic world that were damaged by his predecessor Benedict XVI.
A professor from Gumilyov Eurasian National University has asked President Nursultan Nazarbayev to protect the Mausoleum of famous Sufi scholar located at the territory for Kazakhstan from religious fanatics.
A six-year old girl in West Kazakhstan cannot go to school because of the ban on headwear in the school's charter. Parents of the girl filed a lawsuit citing the Constitution but lost. They are going to appeal.