Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan (AFP): EU chief Charles Michel on Friday took part in a key summit in Central Asia, telling AFP that Brussels wanted a “sincere” partnership with the energy-rich region. Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted global powers like China and the European Union to seek a greater role in Central Asia at a...
KABUL, Afghanistan (AA): Two Afghan girls educate the children of poor families living in caves in a classroom in Bamyan — one of Afghanistan’s poorest provinces. Ruya Serferaz (18) and her English class friend Besbegum Havari (19) set off every day regardless of adverse weather conditions, and teach Persian, English, mathematics, ...
Balasore, India (AFP): At least 288 people were killed and hundreds more injured in a three-train collision in India, officials said Saturday, the country’s deadliest rail accident in more than 20 years. Wreckage debris was piled high at the crash site near Balasore, in the eastern state of Odisha, where some carriages had been tossed [&...
ANKARA (AA): At least 50 people were killed and over 300 injured as trains collided in Odisha state in eastern India, officials said on Friday evening. “There are two passenger trains and one good train involved in the incident,” Odisha Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena told local broadcaster NDTV. According to Odisha State Disaster Management Auth...
ANKARA (AA): In the sweltering heat of New Delhi, 38-year-old Karam Bir seeks respite under a tree as he checks his phone, hoping for a call that would bring him some desperately needed work. A sewer cleaner, Bir has been out of work for the past few days, making him anxious about how he can […]
ISLAMABAD (AA): Pakistan on Friday announced a barter trade agreement with Russia, Iran, and Afghanistan in an attempt to ease the mounting pressure on its fast depleting foreign exchange reserves. According to an official notification issued by the Ministry of Commerce, the country began implementing the “Business-to-Business (B2B) Bart...
KARACHI, Pakistan (AA): Pakistan’s annual inflation reached an all-time high in May, hitting almost 38%. Inflation rose to 37.97% year-on-year last month, the highest-ever in the country, according to the Statistics Bureau of Pakistan. It was 36.4% in April, which at the time was the highest on record. The month-on-month rise in May was 1.58%,...
ISLAMABAD (AA): Taliban have praised the World Bank’s report on Afghanistan’s economic landscape and called it a “factual assessment” of their country’s economic condition. Lauding the “accurate portrayal of facts,” Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the acting deputy prime minister for economic affairs, said: R...
Doha, Qatar (AFP): QatarEnergy has signed a 15-year deal to supply liquefied natural gas to Bangladesh’s state-owned gas company Petrobangla. The state-owned hydrocarbon giant will supply 1.5 million tonnes annually starting in January 2026, the Qatari firm said at a signing ceremony in Doha. “It can reach up to 1.8” million ...
ISTANBUL (AA): A court in Australia has dismissed a decorated soldier’s case against media organizations and three journalists over their coverage of alleged war crimes in Afghanistan. The defamation case was dismissed after Judge Anthony Besanko found that the newspapers had “proven several of the key allegations” of war cri...
