News

Uzbekistan has submitted diplomatic notes to Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry and the Office of the Prosecutor General following reports that 13 of its citizens were subjected to forced labor under degrading conditions at farms in the Kyiv region.

What Happened

Thirteen Uzbek nationals, aged 22 to 42, were lured to Ukraine with promises of high salaries. Upon arrival, their passports were confiscated, and they were forced to work at two agricultural enterprises with severe restrictions on movement.

Authorities say the operation was organized by a Chinese national with assistance from individuals from Thailand, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. A criminal...

U.S. President Donald Trump has issued a stark warning to the Taliban after the group rejected Washington’s demand to hand over control of Afghanistan’s Bagram Airbase.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: «If Afghanistan does not return the Bagram Airbase to those who built it — the United States of America — there will be serious consequences!»

The remarks follow Trump’s earlier statement in mid-September, when he announced Washington’s intention to reclaim the facility, which once hosted American forces. He argued that the base is strategically important, given its proximity to sites in China...

Pfizer has announced plans to begin clinical trials later this year for a once-daily version of its weight-loss pill danuglipron, following the abandonment of a twice-daily version last year due to high dropout rates and side effects such as nausea and vomiting.

The new formulation is part of the second generation of weight-loss pills being developed by major drugmakers, including Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, aimed at offering patients a more convenient alternative to injectable treatments. Analysts predict that the global weight-loss drug market could surpass $150 bn in annual sales by the early 2030s, with Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy...

The Central Bank of Uzbekistan has confirmed that it will not be including cryptocurrencies in its international reserves for the foreseeable future.

Speaking at a press briefing, Sanjar Valiev, head of the department for managing international reserves, explained that while some advanced economies have started adding alternative assets such as cryptocurrencies, Uzbekistan does not consider the move appropriate at this stage.

«Cryptocurrency is an asset with very high volatility, which makes it impractical to include in the country’s reserves,» Valiev said.

He noted that other states that have incorporated digital assets into their reserves had...

Between September 8 and 19, the Korean railway company KORAIL held training sessions for 15 employees of Uzbekistan Railways, focusing on the operation and technical servicing of high-speed trains.

The programme was part of a contract signed in June last year for the supply and maintenance of six EMU-250 trains worth 2.7 bn won ($1.9 bn). During the course, KORAIL experts introduced participants to key train systems, including brakes, traction equipment, control systems, and safety features.

The training combined theory and practice. Participants studied daily and scheduled maintenance procedures, examined breakdown cases, and honed their skills at repair facilities...

Charlie Kirk makes a brief but unexpected posthumous appearance in a new documentary released only nine days after his assassination.

The late conservative activist, who was shot dead while speaking at Utah Valley University on September 10, is seen in In Whose Name? sitting in on a 2018 discussion with Kanye West and Candace Owens about politics and culture.

The film, largely shot on iPhone by first-time director Nico Ballesteros, tracks West’s turbulent career over six years as he moved deeper into controversy and conspiracy. During this period, he met with Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA...

Telecom operators in Uzbekistan will be able to connect directly to international internet networks under a new government decree.

Operators without direct access are now permitted to use international connections for commercial purposes and to serve users until January 1, 2030. The measure will operate as a pilot scheme until the start of that year.

According to the Ministry of Digital Technologies, the decision is intended to encourage investment in the telecoms sector, improve information security, and align national legislation with World Trade Organization agreements.

Uzbekistan sold 17,387 gold bars with a combined weight of 380 kilogrammes in the first eight months of 2025, the Central Bank reported at a press conference.

For comparison, 14,382 bars weighing 236 kilogrammes were sold in 2024, a figure 2.5 times higher than in 2023. Since 2020, sales of gold bars in the country have grown more than sixfold.

As of September 19, the Central Bank set the following retail prices for measured gold bars:

Enterprises in Uzbekistan now have access to a new investment instrument that enables them to modernise production through foreign financing while settling obligations with carbon credits. This mechanism was made possible by the recently adopted law on greenhouse gas emission limits and a presidential decree on participation in the international carbon credit market, according to Shokhzod Islamov, head of the Green Economy Development Department at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, speaking to Kursiv Uzbekistan.

He described the system as offering businesses «a real path to modernisation without credit burdens». The principle is straightforward: when a company reduces resource consumption...

The Kyiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office has announced the release of 13 Uzbek citizens from forced labour, where they were held in inhumane conditions.

Ukrainian authorities detained two Chinese nationals, one Uzbek and a Ukrainian woman, suspected of recruiting and transporting people from Uzbekistan to Ukraine.

«The suspects coerced and deceived vulnerable individuals, targeting those without housing or work and in difficult financial situations,» the prosecutor’s office said.

Officials added that the suspects were recruiting outside Ukraine.

Those forced into labour were fined for the smallest infractions. According to investigators, the victims were aged...

Uzbekistan has signed protocols on market access with Argentina, Australia and Honduras. The agreements were concluded this week in Geneva by a delegation headed by Saida Mirziyoyeva, Chief of Staff to the President.

In addition, the Uzbek side reached preliminary arrangements with two more World Trade Organization members. With these developments, Uzbekistan has now finalised negotiations with 29 countries, has provisional agreements with two WTO members and needs to complete talks with only three states to finalise the accession process.

Kursiv also reports that South Korea’s Deputy Permanent Representative to Geneva, Choi Sung-yo, has been appointed chair of the World Trade...

Rapper DaBaby has provoked criticism after releasing a new music video that re-enacts a fatal stabbing on a North Carolina light rail train, recast as an intervention that saves a life.

The track Save Me, released on September 16 by the artist whose real name is Jonathan Lyndale Kirk, quickly gained traction online, surpassing 400,000 YouTube views by September 17 afternoon. However, its graphic subject matter has prompted backlash across social media.

The video dramatises the killing of 23-year-old Ukrainian immigrant Iryna Zarutska, who was fatally stabbed while travelling on a Charlotte Area Transit System train last month...

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc has opened in Japanese cinemas today, September 19, accompanied by a brand-new trailer. The preview teases more footage alongside the ending theme JANE DOE, a collaboration between Hikaru Utada and Kenshi Yonezu.

The feature is directed by Tatsuya Yoshihara, who previously helmed episodes four and ten of the Chainsaw Man TV anime and worked extensively on Black Clover. Scriptwriting duties return to Hiroshi Seko, while Kazutaka Sugiyama reprises his role as character designer at MAPPA. Supporting roles include Souta Yamazaki and Shun as sub character designers, Sota Shigetsugu as action animation director, and...

US country songwriter Brett James has died in a small plane crash, industry officials have confirmed. He was 57.

Although he released a solo album in the 1990s, James was best recognised for his prolific songwriting, penning hundreds of country hits. His most acclaimed work was Jesus, Take The Wheel for Carrie Underwood, which earned him two Grammy awards in 2007 for best country song and best female country vocal performance

Tributes From the Country Music World

The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame said James was on board a single-engine plane when it went down on September 18.

The United States is working to retake Bagram airbase from the Taliban, Donald Trump has said, signalling Washington’s intention to reclaim a key strategic foothold lost during the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal.

The US president indicated that negotiations with the Taliban were under way for American forces to once again occupy the airfield, which was previously the largest US military site in Afghanistan. He stressed its importance as a regional outpost given its location just an hour’s flight from Chinese nuclear weapons facilities.

Speaking alongside Keir Starmer at Chequers on September 18, Trump remarked:

«One of...

Ned Fulmer has announced his separation from his wife, Ariel, just hours after publicly claiming their marriage had grown stronger.

The former Try Guys member, who left the YouTube comedy group three years ago following allegations of an affair with a colleague, told People earlier this week that he and Ariel had worked through their issues in therapy and rebuilt trust. Ned, once widely known online as a devoted «wife guy,» described the process as painful but said their bond had become «stronger than before.»

However, TMZ revealed only hours later that the couple have in fact ended their 15-year...

Prabir and Sanjukta Mitra, a Bengali couple based in the UK, embarked on a 100-day, 27,000km overland expedition from King’s Lynn to Kolkata to raise awareness about diabetes. The journey, designed to follow the ancient Silk Route through 20 countries, took an unexpected turn when a navigational error pushed them 430km off course in Uzbekistan.

The couple, travelling in their Toyota Hilux nicknamed ‘Chetak’, arrived at Kyzyl Kala, a remote village far from their intended stop at Karakalpakstan’s Qizil Qala fortress. Instead of frustration, they found themselves warmly embraced by locals who regarded them as guests from «the land of...

DBS, Franklin Templeton and Ripple have signed a memorandum of understanding to introduce tokenised trading and lending products for institutional investors on the XRP Ledger. The initiative will use tokenised money market funds and stablecoins to provide a flexible way to shift assets during volatile market conditions.

According to the announcement, the project will allow investors to move funds between yield-generating assets and stablecoins, supporting round-the-clock rebalancing. Lim Wee Kian, CEO of DBS Digital Exchange, said tokenised securities offer «efficiency and liquidity» to global markets while catering to the demands of digital asset investors.

DBS Digital Exchange will list sgBENJI...

The first US exchange-traded funds linked to XRP and Dogecoin have made a striking market debut, generating $54.7 mln in trading volume and leaving analyst forecasts in the dust.

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas noted that most new funds manage around $1 mln in their first session, but these crypto products proved far more active. «No slouch,» he said on X, pointing out that the numbers signalled strong appetite for upcoming digital asset funds awaiting regulatory clearance.

$XRPR traded $37.7m on Day One, which edges out $IVES for the biggest day one (natural) $ volume...

Karoline Leavitt has drawn attention after sharing a religious post that tied a Utah earthquake to the killing of Charlie Kirk.

The White House press secretary reposted a message on Instagram that described a 4.1 magnitude tremor striking Utah on the same night as Kirk’s death, presenting it as a sign of divine anger. The post highlighted the symbolism of numbers in scripture, noting that 40 represents trials while 41 signifies change. It also referred to Acts 7:57, which describes the stoning of Stephen, Christianity’s first martyr.

The earthquake was recorded near Vernal, around 150 miles from Orem, where...

In a sport defined by precision, speed, and high-stakes drama, it was a whiskered wanderer, not a world champion, who captured hearts at the 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Meet the “Paddock Cat,” the stray feline who turned the Baku circuit into her personal runway and became Formula 1’s most unexpected viral star.

From Track Intruder to Internet Icon

The F1 paddock cat in Baku was pawsitively adorable. (Meow) 😻 pic.twitter.com/dKMhZwVCeP

— Motorsport (@Motorsport) September 18, 2025

It all started with a few curious sightings: a sleek, streetwise cat weaving through the paddock, brushing past mechanics...

The first benchmark results comparing Xiaomi’s new 17 Pro with Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro have surfaced, highlighting a clear leader in processing power, GSMarena reports.

The Xiaomi 17 Pro, powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset and 16 GB of RAM, recorded 3025 points in single-core and 9178 points in multi-core tests on Geekbench. In contrast, Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro, equipped with the A19 Pro processor built on a 3-nanometre process, achieved around 3650 points in single-core and 11,500 in multi-core performance, placing it ahead on raw computing strength.

Despite this, Xiaomi is expected to compete...

Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Centre (AntAC) has reported that the family of National Security and Defence Council Secretary Rustem Umerov holds eight real estate properties in the United States.

According to the organisation, the assets include three apartments in Florida, one in New York and four villas near Miami. In his 2024 asset declaration, Umerov stated that his wife Leila and their three children live in the United States.

The AntAC said the information was verified using open and paid databases, as well as sources in the US with access to property records. For security reasons, the organisation did not disclose...

Flamengo secured a 2–1 win over Estudiantes in their latest Copa Libertadores fixture at the Maracanã. The Brazilian side took control early when Pedro converted a well-timed pass from Giorgian De Arrascaeta after 12 minutes.

Estudiantes responded before the break, as Mauro Méndez headed in from a corner to level the score. The second half saw Flamengo dominate possession and press higher up the pitch, restricting the visitors to counterattacks and set pieces.

The decisive moment arrived in the 78th minute when Gerson struck from distance, restoring Flamengo’s lead. Despite some late pressure from Estudiantes, the hosts held on to...