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Central Asia, a large region of nearly 80 million people, is at a crossroads surrounded by significant opportunities as well as risks.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:17:24 GMT

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development projects that the economies of the five Central Asian countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan – will grow by at least 5.2 % on average in 2023 and 5.4 % in 2024. This trajectory has been in place for two decades, which is undoubtedly welcome news.Over the past 20 years, Central Asian countries’ GDP has grown more than sevenfold at an average rate of 6.2%, which is faster than in most developing countries and more than twice as fast as the world as a whole.The region is also taking full advantage of its transit potential. The total foreign trade turnover of the Central Asian states over the last six years has exceeded $200 billion. Last year, Kazakhstan’s trade turnover broke a historical record, reaching $134.4 billion, exceeding the pre-pandemic level of $97.8 billion in 2019. Mutual trade between Central Asian countries is growing even faster than their total foreign trade.Despite these posit...

India busca conquistar la Luna con su histórica misión Chandrayaan-3

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:17:24 GMT

(CNN) — India aspira a convertirse en el cuarto país en realizar un aterrizaje controlado en la Luna con el lanzamiento de su misión Chandrayaan-3 previsto para este viernes.Se espera que Chandrayaan, que significa “vehículo lunar” en sánscrito, despegue del Centro Espacial Satish Dhawan en Sriharikota, en el estado sureño de Andhra Pradesh, a las 2:30 p.m. hora local (5 a.m. hora de Miami).Es el segundo intento de India de realizar un aterrizaje suave, después de que fracasara su anterior esfuerzo con el Chandrayaan-2 en 2019. Su primera sonda lunar, la Chandrayaan-1, orbitó la Luna y luego se estrelló deliberadamente en la superficie lunar en 2008.Chandrayaan-3, desarrollada por la Organización de Investigación Espacial de la India (ISRO), consta de un módulo de aterrizaje, un módulo de propulsión y un vehículo explorador. Su objetivo es aterrizar con seguridad en la superficie lunar, recoger datos y realizar una serie de experimentos científicos para conocer mej...

89-year-old woman reported missing in Little Havana found safe

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:17:24 GMT

Police have found an elderly woman who was reported missing in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood.According to City of Miami Police, 89-year-old Gilse Sanchez Ramos was located at a nearby hospital. Officials wanted to thank all who assisted in her search.

‘Hour of the patriots has arrived.’ Meloni urges far-right allies in Spain to help her change the EU

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:17:24 GMT

MADRID — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni backed Spain’s far-right Vox party on Thursday night, telling its hard-liners that their success in Spain’s July 23 elections would usher in “a change in the politics of Europe.”“It is crucial that a conservative, patriotic alternative be established,” Meloni said during a televised appearance at a Vox rally in Valencia. “Europe needs to become aware of its role and influence again to be a political giant instead of a bureaucratic one.”The Italian prime minister spoke at length about her government’s achievements and said that while many had tried to “isolate” her, she had strengthened her country’s position in Europe by firmly backing Ukraine and pitching Italy as an alternative gas hub amid the bloc’s energy crisis. “Now we are preparing to chair the G7 in 2024,” she added.Meloni also trumpeted her country’s tough migration policies, w...

WHO: Aspartame safe to consume despite weak cancer link

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:17:24 GMT

The common artificial sweetener aspartame is safe to consume despite some weak evidence linking it to a common type of liver cancer, according to two separate reports previewed by World Health Organization (WHO)-affiliated researchers on Friday.Aspartame is commonly used to replace sugar in food and drink products such as diet soda or chewing gum.Both assessments, one of which found there were no new health risk linked to aspartame and the other found a possible cancer link, are based on reviews of existing scientific literature and don’t include new research. The WHO only presented the summaries of the reports, with the full evaluations to be published within six months, the health authority said.While the WHO reiterated that the sweetener is safe, the organization’s head of food safety department said quantity was key.“We’re not advising companies to withdraw products nor we are advising consumers to stop consuming altogether. We’re just advising for ...

Gov. Wes Moore, Orioles’ John Angelos promise new Camden Yards lease ‘soon’ after falling short of ‘All-Star break gift’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:17:24 GMT

Orioles chairman John Angelos has repeatedly said that the Orioles will remain in Baltimore for years to come. Democrat Gov. Wes Moore, a friend of Angelos’, has echoed the confidence, as have Mayor Brandon Scott and even MLB commissioner Rob Manfred.The prospect of the Orioles relocating remains a remote one. But until promises become agreements, there could be a bit of apprehension in Baltimore, where the NFL’s Colts’ midnight move 39 years ago feels fresh for many.The Orioles’ lease with the Maryland Stadium Authority, the owner of Oriole Park at Camden Yards and their landlord, is what officially binds the club to the city. In the lease, under the “no relocation” heading, a move by the ballclub is forbidden.The lease — which has been in place since Oriole Park opened in 1992 — expires at the end of this year. In February, Angelos said he would “love to have [a new lease] as an All-Star break gift for everybody, really, in the...

Stock market today: Global shares buoyed by Wall Street’s winning week as inflation eases

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:17:24 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Global shares are mostly higher, buoyed by another rally on Wall Street fueled by hopes that cooling inflation will help stave off more interest rate hikes. France’s CAC 40 gained 0.3% in early trading to 7,394.68. Germany’s DAX fell 0.1% to 16,121.61. Britain’s FTSE 100 edged 0.2% higher to 7,453.21. The futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 fell less than 0.1%.China will release an update on economic growth in the April-June quarter on Monday. Analysts are forecasting that growth accelerated to more than 7% from a year earlier, up from 4.5% in the previous quarter, but largely due to sluggish business activity while the country was enduring its worst waves of COVID-19 outbreaks. In Asian trading, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost earlier gains, finishing down 0.1% at 32,391.26. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.8% to 7,303.10. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1.4% to 2,628.30. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged up 0.3% to 19,413.78, while ...

Man arrested for planning terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State, Poland’s security agency says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:17:24 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s Internal Security Agency said Friday it arrested an 18-year-old Polish citizen planning a suicide attack, on a government office, using an explosive belt. The agency, ABW, said in a communique the arrest took place on June 16 in southwestern Poland. It said the man converted to Islam last year and with a group of other people, inspired by the Islamic State extremist group, they were planning attacks on government administration offices. He was charged with participating in a crime ring, having terrorist goals, and planning actions that would have endangered the well-being of a large number of people as well as their lives. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 10 years in jail. The Associated Press

France celebrates Bastille Day with pomp, a tribute to India and extra police to prevent new unrest

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:17:24 GMT

PARIS (AP) — France is celebrating its national holiday Friday with whizzing warplanes and a grand Bastille Day parade in Paris — and with more than 100,000 police deployed around the country to prevent a new outbreak of unrest in underprivileged neighborhoods.This year, the annual events celebrating the start of the French Revolution on July 14, 1789 come in the wake of the nation’s most serious rioting in nearly 20 years, following the fatal police shooting of a teen with North African roots that laid bare anger over entrenched inequality and racial discrimination.India is the guest of honor at this year’s Bastille Day parade, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi set to watch in the VIP tribune alongside French President Emmanuel Macron. About 240 Indian troops will lead the march down the Champs-Elysees before thousands of French forces, and French-made Indian warplanes will join the traditional flyby that wraps up the event.France often showcases international partners on Bas...

Southeast Asian nations renew alarm over Myanmar violence. But diplomats can’t settle on a solution

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:17:24 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Southeast Asian foreign ministers renewed their alarm over — and condemnation of — air strikes, artillery shelling, and other acts of deadly violence in Myanmar, but struggled Friday to overcome differences on how to address the prolonged civil strife.The Myanmar crisis was high on the agenda when top diplomats of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations met Tuesday and Wednesday in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta. The 10-nation bloc includes Myanmar, but its foreign minister was again barred from attending this week’s meetings due to the military government’s failure to comply with a five-point emergency plan drafted to ease the violence.ASEAN has been trying to enforce the plan it forged with Myanmar’s top general in 2021, which calls for an immediate end to the violence, the start of talks brokered by a special envoy among contending parties, and the delivery of aid to displaced villagers. But Myanmar’s military government has done little to enforce ...