In Kazakhstan, protests have been forming in the roads and around the country to make attention for their request of a better democracy. The president of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, has been firing and hiring people into new power strong positions. Tokayev “sacked” his deputy chief of staff with no reason being stated and replaced him with a previous aide. Tokayev… Read more »
Nepal’s Prime Minister, Sharma Oli, was rushed to a hospital in the country’s capital on Wednesday. Oli’s spokesman is saying that it was just a routine checkup and nothing to worry about, however, newspapers and other reporters and receiving different information. Media is saying that Oli went to the hospital for dialysis for his kidney. According to Nepal’s national newspaper,… Read more »
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the president of Kazakhstan, on Wednesday named Kanat Bozumbayev as a presidential aide, moving him from the key position of energy minister in a reshuffle which comes days after large protests calling for greater democracy. Tokayev did not immediately name a new energy minister for the oil-and-gas exporting Central Asian nation. He also appointed Madina Abylkasymova, until now a deputy… Read more »
At least 15 masked attackers have been killed and four others captured after a group of fighters attacked a border checkpoint in Tajikistan, killing a border guard and a policeman, according to authorities. The border guard service, in a statement on Wednesday, blamed the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, or ISIS) armed group for the attack. There… Read more »
An earthquake shook parts of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Indian-administered Kashmiron Friday, witnesses said. Friday’s magnitude 6.1 earthquake was centred in the mountainous Hindu Kush region in Afghanistan, at a depth of 210km (130 miles), the United States Geological Survey said. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Officials in the Afghan capital, Kabul, said they were assessing damage in areas around the sparsely populated epicentre…. Read more »
Defense Secretary Mark Esper has said he wants to reduce the number of US troops in Afghanistan “with or without” a peace agreement in order to give higher priority to strategic competition with China. The Trump administration is expected to announce plans to withdraw about 4,000 troops from Afghanistan, according to US media, after talks resumed a week ago between the US and the Taliban. Esper… Read more »
The ICC stands for the International Criminal Court and is where war criminals will go on trial for international crimes. However, Afghanistan’s courts are trying to appeal a hearing to have them prosecute their war criminals instead of the ICC doing so; they believe that justice will be served better if they are prosecuted with their courts. This dates back… Read more »
After three years of steady but piecemeal reforms, the government of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev faces its most demanding test yet — to persuade the international community through parliamentary and local elections on Dec. 22 that it is truly committed to democratic change. “We know the world is watching,” says Mahmud Istamov, deputy chair of the Central Election Commission. “The Uzbek… Read more »
Police in Mongolia have arrested 800 Chinese citizens as part of a major probe into cyber crime. Raids in the capital of Ulaanbaatar on Tuesday also resulted in computer equipment and mobile phones being seized by authorities. Gerel Dorjpalam, who heads Mongolia’s General Intelligence Agency, said those apprehended are suspected of crimes ranging from fraud and identity theft, to money laundering and computer hacking…. Read more »
A lawyer representing Afghanistan has told the International Criminal Court (ICC) judges that the country opposes a proposed international investigation into possible war crimes and other abuses committed during the Afghan conflict, saying its own courts should be allowed to prosecute war criminals. Lawyer Rodney Dixon spoke on December 5, the second day of a three-day hearing into the ICC… Read more »