Author: Rustem Zhandos

The head of Britain’s domestic intelligence agency warned the country’s leading research universities on Thursday that foreign states are targeting their institutions and imperiling national security. “We know that our universities are being actively targeted by hostile actors and need to guard against the threat posed to frontier research in the most sensitive sectors,” said the deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden, who also attended the briefing. The threat requires “further measures,” said the deputy PM, who announced that the government was launching a consultation with the sector so it could “do more to support our universities and put the right…

Explanations beginning to emerge after worst terror attack in Israel’s history They might as well have been sitting ducks. They are the tatzpitaniyot, mostly female soldiers stationed on the IDF bases near the Gaza Strip, their eyes glued to security cameras and other feeds of the border. Last Saturday morning, the Hamas terrorists who entered some of those bases with hang gliders shot at cameras and jammed some communications systems. They shot at the combat soldiers who were stationed at those bases, as well as at the tatzpitaniyot. “Yes, they surprised us, and we weren’t ready for it,” said a female soldier…

Punishing hot weather affects not only a person’s health or work productivity but also affects couples’ fertility and birth outcomes, a project by the National University of Singapore (NUS) found. Rising temperatures could further reduce Singapore’s resident total fertility rate, which dipped below 1 – a record low – in 2023. The rate refers to the average number of babies each woman would have during her reproductive years. Researchers from the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine studied sperm samples from 818 men that were already stored at the National University Hospital’s (NUH) andrology section. The scientists then traced the men’s…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh resigned on February 26 in anticipation of postwar governance challenges. “I see that the next stage and its challenges will require new governmental and political arrangements,” Shtayyeh said, emphasizing “the emerging reality in the Gaza Strip, the national unity talks, and the urgent need for an inter-Palestinian consensus.” American and Palestinian officials expect that Abbas will nominate Mohammed Mustafa, the chairman of the Palestine Investment Fund, as Shtayyeh’s successor. Expert Analysis “Bringing in Palestine Investment Fund chief Mohammed Mustafa and pushing out the current prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh is the rearranging of the…

DUSHANBE — Exorcism is a key source of income for Sabohiddin Shodiev, a popular cleric in his rural community on the outskirts of Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. Shodiev — not his real name — says that every week he treats about 15 clients who ask him to expel what they believe is an evil spirit, or jinni, possessing them, or to rid them from “an evil eye.”The 53-year-old cleric has been practicing exorcisms — which he learned to do from his father — for more than two decades. Most of Shodiev’s clients come from Dushanbe and nearby districts, but…

President Kassym-Joomart Tokayev approved the new government of Kazakhstan under the leadership of Olzhas Bektenov. The names of the ministers were published on primeminister.kz. Most of the ministers remained from the old government. Four ministers were replaced: Nurlan Baibazarov was appointed Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of National Economy instead of Alibek Kuantyrov, Madi Takiyev became Minister of Finance instead of Erulan Zhamaubaev, Akmaral Alnazarova was appointed Minister of Healthcare instead of Azhar Giniyat, and Chingis Arinov became the new Minister for Emergency Situations instead of Syrym Shariphanov. Members of the government who remained in their positions included First Deputy…

ASTANA – Erbulat Seilekhanov, the chief expert at the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies (KazISS), discussed the six main priorities for Kazakhstan’s chairmanship in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in a recent article.  According to the expert, these priorities aim to enhance the organization’s global role, contributing to the strengthening of friendship and good neighborliness within the SCO. They include ensuring security and stability, expanding trade and economic ties, strengthening energy cooperation, expanding cooperation in the digital sphere, enhancing collaboration in ecology, and developing cultural and humanitarian ties. Security and stability The Kazakh action plan for the chairmanship period includes implementing its…

ASTANA — Pfizer, Çalık Holding, Alarko Holding, and several other foreign companies have inked new contracts for projects worth $ 1.6 billion during the Kazakhstan Round Table on Global Investment (KGIR) held on Nov. 17, with the presence of Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov, the Prime Minister’s press service reported. Overall, 26 memorandums and commercial documents were signed across various sectors, including the agro-industrial complex, mining and metals industry, healthcare, light industry, mechanical engineering, education, and production of building mixtures and chemical products. Pfizer, a global pharmaceutical giant, is set to establish the production of the innovative pneumococcal vaccine Prevenar 20…

Kazakhstan aims to boost tourism revenue and attract more tourists, with $860 million in investments already in 2023, a 44% increase from last year. According to Yermerk Marzhikpayev, minister of tourism and sports, over three million Kazakh citizens travelled within the country in the first half of the year, and the goal is to attract 9 million domestic tourists and 1.4 million foreign tourists by the end of 2023. The Minister of Tourism and Sports emphasised the importance of integrating historical monuments and natural landscapes into tourism products, as well as simplifying the stay of foreign tourists and digitising services.…

Jakarta, Surabaya (19/11 – 20) With the elimination of their national team on Saturday, Indonesia’s capabilities to put on its finest show as the host of the 2023 Under-17 World Cup will be tested. Indonesia has been given a second chance to host a global football tournament once again, with the 19th Edition of the FIFA Under-17 World Cup, a moving spectacle held in Jakarta, Surabaya, Surakarta and Bandung, from 10 November to 2 December 2023. This opportunity arrived just months after FIFA stripped out Indonesia’s hosting rights for the 2023 FIFA Under-20 World Cup. The bid wa doomed by…