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Uzbekistan has drawn almost $2 bn in investments into its artificial intelligence and digital technology sectors, while IT services exports have increased 4.5 times, nearing $1 bn, officials said during an AI forum attended by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

The number of universities training IT specialists has nearly tripled to 145, with 80,000 students enrolled. Through the Bir Million Dasturchi project, over 2 mln young people have upgraded their technical skills. More than 20,000 computer science teachers nationwide are completing intensive courses at the New Uzbekistan University, conducted in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

In healthcare, digital...

Uzbekistan will establish a National Transfer Office in the United States’ Silicon Valley, while a supercomputing and AI cluster will be launched in the country with the support of Nvidia, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced.

The initiatives are aimed at advancing artificial intelligence across Uzbekistan. «Centres of the Future» will teach schoolchildren AI technologies, and an annual competition will select the best student startup ideas in AI, with winners receiving state-of-the-art laboratories.

President Mirziyoyev also revealed a presidential AI competition, which will send 100 talented young people each year for internships at leading tech companies in the United States, the...

India’s Adani Group plans to invest up to $5 bn in Alphabet-owned Google’s artificial intelligence data centre in Andhra Pradesh, an executive said on Friday. The project, Google’s largest investment in India, is part of a $15 bn five-year plan to build AI-focused data infrastructure in the southern state.

Adani Connex, a joint venture between Adani Enterprises and private data centre operator EdgeConneX, could provide significant backing for the campus, which will initially have a 1-gigawatt power capacity in Visakhapatnam. Adani Group CFO Jugeshinder Singh said other partners are also interested as the demand for high-capacity data centres...

Google’s Gemini chatbot has added support for the Uzbek language, the Ministry of Digital Technologies announced. The AI assistant now supports about 40 languages, including English, Russian and Ukrainian.

Officials said the update marks a significant step for Uzbekistan’s digital development and AI ecosystem, giving specialists, entrepreneurs and everyday users access to advanced tools in their native language.

Google’s AI Plus subscription also became available in Uzbekistan this autumn at a price of $5 per month. Gemini Google’s family of multimodal large language models (LLMs) or the Gemini AI assistant powered by these models. It is capable of producing...

The presidents of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda are set to travel to Washington next week to sign a peace agreement and meet US President Donald Trump, sources told Reuters. The meeting is scheduled for December 4, according to Congolese presidential spokesperson Tina Salama. Representatives for Rwanda’s Paul Kagame and the White House did not immediately comment.

The visit aims to reinforce a US-brokered peace deal reached in June and a Regional Economic Integration Framework agreed earlier this month. The two leaders are expected to ratify both agreements, with Congo emphasising that respect for national sovereignty is...

The 2025 MAMA Awards opened in Hong Kong with a quieter tone than usual yet still delivered headline moments as ROSÉ, ENHYPEN and IVE emerged as early winners.

Actor-singer Park Bo Gum hosted night one where two of the grand Daesang prizes were revealed. ROSÉ and Bruno Mars won Song of the Year for «APT.» while ENHYPEN claimed Fans’ Choice of the Year. New SM Entertainment girl group Hearts2Hearts was named Best New Artist and also placed in the Fans’ Choice Female Top 10 alongside Irene of Red Velvet and aespa, signalling strong early support.

Other notable winners included:

Airbus has ordered immediate repairs to 6,000 jets from its A320 family in one of the largest recalls in its history, Reuters reports. The fix involves reverting to earlier software and must be completed before the aircraft return to service. More than half of all A320s worldwide are affected.

Airlines across the United States, Europe, India and Latin America warned of delays and cancellations. American Airlines said 340 of its A320 aircraft need the update and expects most repairs to be finished within a day. Lufthansa, IndiGo and easyJet have also taken aircraft out of service briefly.

Avianca said...

Prince William and Kate Middleton are preparing for a high-profile 2026 tour of the United States to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence — a move said to have angered Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

According to insiders, the Palace wants the Prince and Princess of Wales to take a leading role in the celebrations, especially as King Charles’s health may prevent him from travelling. US officials are reportedly eager to host the couple, with President Trump said to have personally requested their attendance.

The trip is viewed within royal circles as an opportunity for...

Aerosmith have claimed their first-ever UK number one album with One More Time, a collaborative project with pop-rock star Yungblud, the Official Charts Company announced.

The milestone comes more than five decades after the band’s debut and marks Yungblud’s second chart-topping album of 2025, and his fourth overall.

Yungblud thanked fans for the support, calling the achievement «the cherry on top of a crazy, emotional year,» and praised Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry for joining him on the record.

One More Time also topped the UK vinyl and record store charts.

Elsewhere, The Stone Roses returned to...

Russia’s state communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, has threatened to fully block WhatsApp, accusing the platform of failing to comply with national laws on crime prevention, state media reported on Friday.

The warning follows restrictions introduced in August on some WhatsApp and Telegram calls, as authorities claim foreign-owned services, including Meta’s platforms, routinely refuse to provide data requested in fraud and terrorism investigations.

«If the messaging service continues to fail to meet the demands of Russian legislation, it will be completely blocked,» Roskomnadzor told Interfax.

WhatsApp has accused Moscow of trying to cut millions of...

As the 2025 Game Awards approach, criticism is emerging over the reception of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, one of the year’s most heavily nominated titles. The game, praised by many fans as a revival of the JRPG genre, has earned 12 nominations and become a major talking point online.

But some in the gaming community, including writer Jakejames Lugo, argue the acclaim has tipped into exaggeration. Lugo, who has completed the game, says it is solid but «overwhelmingly praised to the point of hyperbole,» suggesting its awards momentum reflects hype rather than balanced evaluation.

Expedition 33 has been...

Huawei is developing a successor to its unconventional Pura X foldable, according to new reports from China.

The original Pura X, released in March, stood out among vertical foldables with its unusually wide 16:10 aspect ratio. The design appears to have performed well enough for Huawei to move ahead with a second-generation model.

The Pura X2 is expected to debut in the first quarter of 2026, powered by the company’s upcoming Kirin 9030 chipset — an upgrade from the Kirin 9020 used in the current model.

No other specifications have leaked so far, but further details are expected...

Oscar Piastri claimed Sprint pole at the Lusail International Circuit after edging George Russell by 0.032s in a tight SQ3. Lando Norris starts third, keeping his 24-point lead intact before Sunday’s title-deciding Grand Prix.

Piastri had already topped FP1 and carried that pace into qualifying, while Norris had his final lap disrupted by traffic. Max Verstappen endured another tense evening with steering and balance complaints, and slipped to sixth after being beaten by Yuki Tsunoda in a rare upset for the Dutchman.

SQ1 saw Fernando Alonso, Verstappen and Piastri set the early pace as Lewis Hamilton dropped out in...

A Namibian councillor named Adolf Hitler Uunona has officially removed his middle name after years of unwanted international scrutiny.

The 57-year-old, re-elected this week for a fifth term as councillor of Ompundja in northern Namibia, said he had updated his ID documents to go by Adolf Uunona, stressing he has «nothing to do» with the Nazi dictator.

«My name is not Adolf Hitler, I am Adolf Uunona,» he told The Namibian, adding that he had long rejected attempts to link him to Adolf Hitler: «People try to associate me with someone I do not...

Iran has announced it will boycott next week’s draw for the 2026 World Cup in Washington DC after the United States issued only a limited number of visas to its delegation.

Iranian Football Federation spokesman Amir Mehdi Alavi said the team would not attend the 5 December ceremony, calling the US decision «unsportsmanlike». While visas were granted to four delegation members, including head coach Amir Ghalenoei, federation president Mehdi Taj was not approved.

The US maintains strict visa rules for Iranian nationals due to long-standing political and security concerns.

Alavi said FIFA president Gianni Infantino and the organisation’s...

Britain has failed to secure entry to the EU’s €150bn (£130bn) Security Action for Europe (Safe) defence programme after talks collapsed over cost.

The EU demanded up to €6.5bn (£5.7bn) for UK participation, while London offered a maximum of €300mln (£262mln). The scheme, a key part of Sir Keir Starmer’s post-Brexit «reset», would have allowed British defence firms to bid for preferential contracts.

«Negotiations were carried out in good faith, but we will only sign agreements that provide value for money,» said Nick Thomas-Symonds, the UK’s minister for EU relations.

As a result, British companies...

As of November 1, 2025, Uzbekistan’s international reserves have reached nearly $60 bn, with over 80% comprised of gold. The Central Bank has started to diversify its assets, having invested approximately $1 bn in U.S. Treasury bills. These figures were shared by Abror Mirzo Olimov, the Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Central Bank, during the international roundtable titled “The Role of a Floating Exchange Rate in an Inflation-Targeting Regime”, which took place in Tashkent on November 27, 2025.

The purpose of reserves and basic management guidelines

At the beginning of his speech, Abror Mirzo Olimov addressed the...

Sir Salman Rushdie has said he believes Britain is going through a period of decline, not only in economic terms but also in how the country perceives itself. Speaking on LBC’s Tonight with Andrew Marr, he argued that the United Kingdom is shrinking in confidence and struggling to adjust to its post-imperial role. He added that some reassessment after the end of Empire was necessary, yet the growing level of prejudice today is what he finds most troubling.

Asked if casual racism has resurfaced in 2025, Sir Salman said he felt it had to some degree. He recalled facing...

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has signed a law banning the sale of e-cigarettes and related liquids in Uzbekistan, the Ministry of Justice press centre reports.

Those involved in large-scale production, export or import of e-cigarettes prohibited in the country will face fines or imprisonment. Penalties can reach 500 basic calculation units, equivalent to 206 mln soums ($17,307), with jail terms of up to five years. Offenders may also be sentenced to corrective work for up to three years. Repeat violations carry the same punishments.

Individuals who voluntarily report themselves, admit guilt and hand over prohibited products will not face any...

Uzbekistan will introduce open banking under a presidential decision aimed at advancing the country’s fintech sector. The system is scheduled to go live at the start of September next year.

According to the document, open banking will allow secure data exchange between banks, payment firms and other fintech players. The reforms also include a special regime for using tokens as a means of payment from next year. In addition, pilot projects will test payment solutions built on distributed ledger technology, which stores and synchronises information across many computers.

A regulatory sandbox is planned, with its timeframe to be set...

Candace Owens sparked shock online by claiming on X that French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron paid to have her killed and that French Legion soldiers were involved in the death of Charlie Kirk. However, no evidence has emerged to support these allegations.

Right-wing commentator Nick Fuentes addressed Owens’ claims on his Rumble livestream. He said he did not believe the story because Owens provided no proof, adding that he would need even «one shred of evidence» to take it seriously. Fuentes emphasised that he does not want Owens harmed, but described her story as...

Uzbekistan’s Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov has received the credentials of Somalia’s first ambassador to the country, Ali Mohamed. Saidov announced the news on his personal Telegram channel.

He noted that both countries expressed commitment to further strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation across a range of promising areas.

Somalia recognised Uzbekistan’s independence on 17 February 2004. Diplomatic relations between Mogadishu and Tashkent were formally established in early February this year, with a joint communiqué signed in New York.

Somalia’s population in 2025 is estimated at 19.2 mln, with a GDP per capita of $1,900. The country experienced a series of armed...

Uzbekistan will establish a Uzbek-French university by order of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. The university will operate under Uzbek law and follow the guidelines of the French Universities Consortium.

Initially, the institution will offer master’s programmes, before expanding to bachelor’s and doctoral courses. A special preparatory programme will be introduced for admissions, and students can study on either a grant or a contract basis.

Graduates will receive two diplomas: one from the new Uzbek-French university and a second from a French university within the consortium. The French degree will be officially recognised in Uzbekistan.

Kursiv also reports that the...

In 2024 the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) directed a record $2.26 bn to Central Asia, with $938 mln allocated to Uzbekistan. These figures were highlighted at the third EU-Central Asia Economic Forum in Tashkent, which gathered over 400 participants from 32 countries.

Trade between the European Union and Central Asian nations has quadrupled over seven years, reaching €54 bn. The EU has invested more than €100 bn in the region, remaining its largest investor. Uzbekistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Jamshid Khodjaev emphasised that relations with the EU are steadily growing and moving towards deeper partnership.

The forum...