Is a former mob-connected hustler—a real estate developer who in 2010 worked on the same floor as Donald Trump as his “senior advisor”—threatening to spill some beans that could harm the president’s reputation?

Freedom of the press, a devastating landslide, meeting a manaschi, and a special bonus; weekend reads.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu states that Ankara and Moscow have come to an agreement on the purchase of the Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile defense system.

Kazakhstan’s Halyk Bank may have to inject at least 230 billion tenge ($738 million) into Kazkommertsbank, the troubled lender it’s set to buy for less than $1 after a state bailout, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

Director of the European External Action Service Luc Devigne and Deputy Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Roman Vassilenko co-chaired the Cooperation Committee meeting that met recently in Astana to make headway on issues pertaining to the EU-Kazakh Enhanced Partnership and Co-operation Agreement (EPCA), writes Colin Stevens.

Kazakhstan, it seems, has been one of the worst violators of a promise made in December to cut oil production. According to data in the International Energy Agency’s March Oil Market Report [PDF], Kazakhstan had agreed to a 20,000 barrel per day cut but instead increased production over the baseline month level (October) by 78,000 bpd.