The eighth Congress of Religious Leaders in Astana: Dialogue and opportunities
The eighth Congress of World and Traditional Religious Leaders has commenced in Astana, bringing together around 100 delegations from 60 countries....
Bangladesh clinched two World Bank credits worth $850 million on Wednesday—$650 million to overhaul Chittagong’s Bay Terminal and $200 million to strengthen social protection—aiming to cut shipping costs, spur jobs and aid 4.5 million vulnerable citizens.
The World Bank and Bangladesh have signed two concessional loan agreements totaling $850 million to boost trade capacity, spur job creation and modernise the country’s social-safety net, the lender announced on Wednesday.
$650 million for Bay Terminal Marine Infrastructure Development – The funds will finance a six-kilometre, climate-resilient breakwater and new access channels at Chittagong, enabling the port to handle larger vessels. Officials expect shorter turnaround times and lower transport costs to save the economy about $1 million a day. When finished, the terminal should process roughly 36 percent of Bangladesh’s container traffic, benefiting more than one million people and expanding opportunities for women in port operations and trade.
$200 million for social-protection reform – The Strengthening Social Protection for Improved Resilience, Inclusion and Targeting project will deliver cash transfers, skills training, micro-credit and entrepreneurship mentoring to 4.5 million vulnerable people—especially youth, women, persons with disabilities and residents of climate-affected areas. A national registry will be created to sharpen beneficiary targeting and service delivery.
Both credits come from the World Bank’s International Development Association, which has committed over $45 billion to Bangladesh since 1971. Sustaining growth, said interim country director Gayle Martin, requires generating quality jobs for the nearly two million young Bangladeshis who enter the labour market each year.
AnewZ has learned that India has once again blocked Azerbaijan’s application for full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, while Pakistan’s recent decision to consider diplomatic relations with Armenia has been coordinated with Baku as part of Azerbaijan’s peace agenda.
A day of mourning has been declared in Portugal to pay respect to victims who lost their lives in the Lisbon Funicular crash which happened on Wednesday evening.
A Polish Air Force pilot was killed on Thursday when an F-16 fighter jet crashed during a training flight ahead of the 2025 Radom International Air Show.
At least eight people have died and more than 90 others were injured following a catastrophic gas tanker explosion on a major highway in Mexico City’s Iztapalapa district on Wednesday, authorities confirmed.
The eighth Congress of World and Traditional Religious Leaders has commenced in Astana, bringing together around 100 delegations from 60 countries.
The United States has named Afghanistan among the countries that it says have “failed demonstrably” to meet international counternarcotics obligations over the past year. President Donald Trump’s announcement, delivered to Congress on Monday, also included Bolivia, Burma, Colombia and Venezuela.
FBI director Kash Patel will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday on the Kirk murder case, Epstein records, and his leadership of the bureau.
A truck, a cache of explosives, and a pointed accusation: the case unfolding in Tbilisi has quickly become more than a domestic security matter. It now threatens to deepen the cracks in Georgia–Ukraine relations — ties once described as fraternal but increasingly defined by suspicion.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday visited a disputed archaeological site beneath Jerusalem, lending Washington’s support to a settler-led project that critics argue jeopardises prospects for a future Palestinian state.
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