Uzbekistan moves toward Islamic banking as Senate backs new law
Uzbekistan is preparing to introduce Islamic banking after the Senate approved legislation creating a legal framework for Sharia-compliant financial s...
President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree renaming Volgograd International Airport as Stalingrad, invoking Soviet wartime memory as Russia continues its war in Ukraine.
Published on the Kremlin’s website late Tuesday, the decree states the renaming aims “to perpetuate the Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War.” The Battle of Stalingrad, fought between 1942 and 1943, was the bloodiest of World War Two, claiming over a million Soviet casualties and turning the tide against Nazi Germany.
The city itself was renamed Volgograd in 1961 as part of Soviet de-Stalinisation. But the name Stalingrad still resonates deeply in Russia—symbolising both immense sacrifice and Stalin’s brutal legacy.
Putin has repeatedly framed his war in Ukraine as a modern echo of that historical struggle, drawing controversial comparisons between Nazi Germany and today’s Ukrainian leadership. Kyiv calls the rhetoric a cover for imperial aggression.
In a fiery speech last year on the 80th anniversary of the battle, Putin condemned Germany for arming Ukraine and warned again that Russia’s entire arsenal—including nuclear weapons—remains at its disposal.
The renaming of the airport ties the present to a mythologised past—one shaped by blood, memory, and ongoing war.
Winter weather has brought air travel in the German capital to a complete halt, stranding thousands of passengers as severe icing conditions make runways and aircraft unsafe for operation and force authorities to shut down one of Europe’s key transport hubs.
Storm Leonardo hit Spain and Portugal on Tuesday, forcing more than 11,000 people from their homes, as a man in Portugal died after his car was swept away by floodwaters and a second body was found in Malaga.
An attacker opened fire at the gates of a Shiite Muslim mosque in Islamabad on Friday before detonating a suicide bomb that killed at least 31 people in the deadliest assault of its kind in the capital in more than a decade.
Ukraine and Russia carried out a rare exchange of 314 prisoners on Thursday as U.S.-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi closed with a pledge to resume negotiations soon, offering one of the clearest signs of diplomatic movement in months.
The United States and Iran are set to hold nuclear talks in Oman on Friday after Tehran requested a change of venue and a strictly bilateral, nuclear-focused format, a move that is fuelling questions about Iran’s negotiating strategy.
Agreements signed by the United States, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in Washington on 5 February show that the United States is changing how it secures access to strategic raw materials.
Azerbaijan has summoned Russia’s ambassador in Baku and issued a formal protest note over remarks by Russian lawmaker Konstantin Zatulin, escalating diplomatic tensions between the two countries.
France’s “absolute priority” remains the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on Thursday (5 February) during talks with his Syrian counterpart in Damascus, as Paris reassesses its counter-terrorism strategy.
Georgia and the United States have held a rare high-level meeting in Washington, reopening cautious discussion about relations after years of political stagnation.
Using art as a quiet alarm, a new exhibition in Baku is drawing attention to endangered wildlife and the need for environmental responsibility.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment