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Two separate earthquakes, both of just over magnitude 4, hit Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan about 12 hours apart. The Kyrgyzstan quake caused no reported damage or injuries, and the US Geological Survey reported no casualties from the tremor in Tajikistan.

A magnitude 4.2 earthquake struck Kyrgyzstan at 1:08am local time on Thursday, according to the Institute of Seismology of Kyrgyzstan. Its epicentre was located in the Jumgal district of Naryn region, near the village of Min-Kush, at a depth of 21km.

Kyrgyz authorities said the intensity at the epicentre was about four points. No damages or injuries...

Kazakhstan’s government has mandated offshore oil and gas companies to free up space for counter-terrorism teams to deploy near their Caspian facilities. This adds a new layer of physical protection around some of the country’s most valuable energy assets. 

Oil and gas companies operating in Kazakhstan’s Caspian waters will have to provide the country’s maritime anti-terrorism headquarters with a deployment site near their production facilities. A relevant order signed by Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov on 6 August takes effect on 17 October.

Such a site must accommodate at least 10 rapid response team operators, have...

Tashkent city administration has moved to calm fears over the future of Yangiobod, one of the capital’s best-known flea markets, after it was included in a sweeping plan to privatise 35 markets and trading sites. Officials now promise to preserve its traders, specialisation and character, although the privatisation decision is still on the table.

Yangiobod – also commonly known as ‘Yangiabad’ among Russian speakers – was one of 35 markets and commercial sites earmarked for open online auctions under a presidential resolution signed in July. The proposal is designed to reduce direct state involvement in Tashkent’s markets and bring private...

Uniqlo launched a fresh set of three styles in Southeast Asia this month, ensuring that the hijab remains a permanent LifeWear category rather than an occasional designer collaboration. 

The new line from the Japanese retailer comprises the AIRism UV Protection Hijab, Georgette Hijab and Satin Hijab, along with inner caps. The AIRism version features the brand’s cooling fabric, UPF50+ protection and a triangular shape for quick everyday wear, while the georgette and satin options provide more traditional draping styles.

Iran has looked at striking US military assets in south-east Europe if President Donald Trump launches a fresh offensive, insiders close to the Iranian government claimed. Tehran is also reportedly eyeing attacking critical communications in the Strait of Hormuz as its leadership prepares for another round of fighting.

Iranian forces have scouted potential US targets in Bulgaria, two local insiders told the Financial Times on Wednesday. The country agreed to host up to eight US aerial refuelling aircraft and 250 personnel at Bezmer Air Base last month, with the first tankers arriving at the end of July to support...

Rick and Morty fans may not have another long wait for new episodes. Season 10 is on track to arrive around the same time of year as Season 9, pointing to a 2027 return and another uninterrupted weekly run.

The schedule is expected to stay consistent, showrunner Scott Marder told Deadline Hollywood on Tuesday. «Yes, Season 10 is going to come out at the same time; it’s going to run all the way through,» he confirmed. 

Co-creator Dan Harmon then supplied a more Rick and Morty-appropriate production update: «It’s been generated by...

The Chinese travel platform Trip.com is now being described by Russian industry figures as a key competitive risk, thanks to its ability to offer cheap foreign flights, a vast hotel network and access to customers that local booking services cannot easily match.

Leonid Pustov, who runs the startup commission at the Russian Union of Travel Industry, told business daily Kommersant that Trip.com is increasingly considered a «key risk» by Russian online travel agencies. 

Trip.com can bargain for cheaper fares with foreign airlines and provide a wide range of hotels overseas, Pustov remarked. That is particularly uncomfortable...

Spider-Man almost broke the box office record, and Marvel may have an even bigger hit on its hands. Advance ticket sales for Avengers: Doomsday was approximately 65% higher than those for Spider-Man: Brand New Day at this point in the run, according to The Wrap citing theatrical sources.

It is a striking comparison, given that Brand New Day was far from a modest benchmark. Tom Holland‘s latest Spider-Man film debuted with $355 million in North America and $927 million worldwide, trailing only Avengers: Endgame in total revenue.

Apple’s next iPhone 18 Pro could deliver a sizeable performance jump without demanding more from the battery. A new supply-chain claim says the A20 Pro chip will be 18% faster than its predecessor while improving power efficiency by as much as 30%.

Apple’s next flagship iPhone may be getting one of its more meaningful chip upgrades in years.

The A20 Pro, expected to power the iPhone 18 Pro and the rumoured iPhone Ultra, could deliver 18% higher performance and 30% better power efficiency compared with the A19 Pro, according to leaker Fixed Focus Digital quoted...

Uzbekistan will allocate at least $1 billion to a new unified exporter-support system and loosen foreign-currency requirements, as the government tries to help local companies find customers and expand into overseas markets.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said on Tuesday that Uzbek companies need more support to win customers abroad. During an open discussion with business leaders in the historic town of Khiva, he announced a new «Export Navigator» scheme that would guide businesses through market entry, certification, logistics and other aspects of the marketplace, covering 80% of consulting costs for international tenderers. At least $1 billion will go to export support.

The next Pirates of the Caribbean may have found a way to bring Johnny Depp back without handing him the entire ship. Margot Robbie is reportedly set to lead the new story, while Depp is in talks to return as Captain Jack Sparrow in a supporting role.

Long-time Pirates producer Jerry Bruckheimer confirmed at D23 that discussions with Depp are under way as Disney works on a new screenplay.

«We’re talking with Johnny, we’re working on a screenplay, and hopefully we can get this done,» Bruckheimer told Deadline. Depp has played...

Regional rivals in the Middle East should rely on institutions designed to manage crises rather than military deterrence, Vladimir Norov, Uzbekistan’s retired foreign minister and former secretary-general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, has argued. 

In an op-ed in Diplomat Magazine, Norov backed a proposed Muscat Process that he says has been floating around since June through a «Group of Friends.» The plan calls for regular talks between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, Iran and Iraq to be held in Oman before the arrangement eventually evolves into a permanent regional security mechanism.

The Strait of Hormuz

Pakhtakor football club was drawn to host Cristiano Ronaldo‘s Al Nassr in the AFC Champions League Elite, with Tashkent gearing up for one of its biggest club football nights in years. The date is not yet finalised, and Ronaldo’s participation is not guaranteed either, but the Saudi champions are officially scheduled to play at Pakhtakor’s home ground.

Pakhtakor said Tuesday’s league-stage draw had given them home fixtures against Al Nassr, Esteghlal, Tractor and Al Qadsiah.

The draw gives Uzbek fans a chance to see Ronaldo, one of...

A Tesla robotaxi appears to have found an unconventional solution to a blocked route: drive through it.

An undated video posted to Reddit on Monday shows what the poster identifies as a Tesla Robotaxi stopping in front of a queue of flexible traffic bollards. The vehicle hesitates, then inches forward, hitting several posts and ploughing on through the separated area rather than backing out. You can hear a passenger reacting as the car hits them.

The original Reddit post does not say when the footage was taken and there’s nothing in the post to suggest Tesla has commented on the...

Geely will begin producing luxury models from its wider brand portfolio at Volvo Cars factories in Europe from 2028, as the Chinese automaker pushes to localise more production and boost overseas sales.

Volvo’s European plants would play a key role in the group’s localisation strategy and would build premium vehicles for other Geely-owned brands, incoming Geely Auto chairman An Conghui announced. He did not single out any factory or model.

CarNewsChina reported that the most likely candidates are models from premium and high-end brands Zeekr and Lynk & Co, although Geely has not confirmed the details. Today, Volvo has...

Two students have died in a shooting at a private school in the southern Philippines, including the suspected gunman. Authorities said the attacker brought a pistol and a rifle onto campus and opened fire inside a classroom.

Warning: This article contains images some viewers may find distressing.

The shooting happened on Tuesday morning at the junior high school attached to Ateneo de Zamboanga University in Zamboanga City, according to police and university officials.

A preliminary police report said a Grade 9 student brought two firearms onto the campus and shot a male student in...

One MP has threatened to lobby for the cancellation of Ye’s concerts in St Petersburg unless the rapper publicly supports Russia, while an Orthodox vigilante movement says it will review his repertoire before deciding whether to oppose the shows.

Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, is due to perform in St Petersburg’s Gazprom Arena on 10 and 11 October, making him one of the biggest international music stars to schedule a Russian appearance since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in 2022.

Demand has been far from shy. Tickets started at 9,000 rubles ($106) and go up to...

The search for three climbers missing on the Korumdu Peak in southern Kyrgyzstan has entered a grim new phase after drones spotted shapes believed to be their bodies on a remote mountainside.

On August 1, Belarusians Maksim Polyansky, 43, Nikolai Sviridov, 60, and Lithuanian Sergei Rubtsov, 37, summited Peak Korumdu at 6,613 metres. They last spoke the next day, saying they would leave the mountains on 4 August. They never reached the waiting car.

A drone surveying the mountain on 16 August captured the aftermath of a snow-and-rock slide, according to rescuers. The climbers’ gear was found lower down the...

Tributes have poured in from across Hollywood on the back of the death of Hayden Panettiere, with co-stars, filmmakers and long-time friends remembering her as an unusually gifted performer whose career began almost before she could walk.

Panettiere died on Sunday, 16 August, aged 36, her family confirmed through her representative. No cause of death has been announced. Police in Greenville, South Carolina, said their preliminary investigation had found no signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances, while the case remains under investigation. 

Her father, Skip Panettiere, described her as an «incredible light» who brought joy both to those...

Google recently announced the Pixel 11 Pro Fold, but the first leaks about its 2027 replacement are already circulating. The Google Pixel 12 Pro Fold is slated to emerge next August, possibly with a Tensor G7 CPU – and there is plenty of pressure on Google to trim weight, boost battery capacity and finally deliver its foldable, flagship-level cameras.

The Pixel 12 Pro Fold is likely to ship as part of Google’s 2027 Pixel generation, with August the most realistic date if the company adheres to its usual timetable. One early leak even gives the foldable...

Around 1.4 million Uzbek nationals currently work across nearly 40 countries, according to Uzbekistan’s Migration Agency figures mentioned in a fresh Central Bank review. Russia still hosts by far the largest group, at 834,200 people, or roughly 60% of the total.

That leaves almost 560,000 Uzbek workers outside Russia. Europe accounts for 258,000, compared with 84,400 in Kazakhstan, 72,100 in Turkiye and 46,400 in South Korea. The continent now hosts more Uzbek workers than the three traditional destinations combined.

The Central Bank explicitly described the trend as a diversification of Uzbekistan’s labour-migration geography, adding that Uzbek workers were increasingly...

The United States is reportedly preparing to inform Kazakhstan that it may have to decide between competing American and Chinese AI frameworks as Washington hardens its approach to the global technology race.

A draft State Department letter obtained by Reuters is addressed to 35 countries that signed a US AI Opportunity Statement in June. It warns that countries that join the American-led Pax Silica framework cannot be part of competing initiatives whose requirements conflict with Washington’s.

The draft letter purportedly said that countries should «choose deliberately» and argues that Pax Silica membership is a commitment, not simply a...

AstraZeneca has halted a Phase III trial of an experimental lung cancer treatment after an independent review found it was unlikely to deliver the benefits researchers had hoped for.

The eVOLVE-Lung02 trial was studying volrustomig, the experimental drug in question, combined with chemotherapy as a first-line treatment for patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. The trial was for people whose tumours do not express the PD-L1 protein, which doctors use to help determine how likely some cancers are to respond to immunotherapy.

The independent monitoring committee stated that the combination would probably miss both of the study’s two main...

US President Donald Trump has welcomed the new defence agreement between Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan, giving his clearest public endorsement yet of an alliance that could reshape security ties across the Middle East and South Asia.

Trump has publicly backed the Saudi-Türkiye-Pakistan defence pact, calling it a «big, bold and important first step» towards stronger regional security.

«This shows how the Middle East is coming together and how countries will finally be able to defend themselves more effectively,» Trump wrote on Truth Social. He congratulated the three countries and called the...