Diary

Classes were once held in the open air, under a tree, or in a small room of an Ethiopian traditional building constructed of wood and mud with crumbling walls, leaking roofs, and pupils sitting in circles around their graceful teachers, said an Islamic seminary teacher, explaining how the madrassah began in the Horn of Africa nation.

Drawing attention to the key role played by the seas in contributing to a sustainable and healthy life, environmental NGOs in Turkey called for using "common sense" to resolve the mucilage problem in the Sea of Marmara.

Turkey's Presidential Symphony Orchestra hosted world-famous Portuguese Fado singer Sara Correia at a concert to mark Portugal's rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Desertification affects the lives of approximately 2 billion people around the world and turns people into "ecological migrants", according to the head of a nonprofit environmental group. -