“There’s eight of us, and we’re a fun bunch,” says a cheerful Tazeen Jafri. She's excited, and for good reason. It's Eid: A time of family, love and joy. Eid can’t ever postponed, as Jafri and many others would agree. And this time, Jafri already knows exactly what’s in store: A table overflowing w»»»

In January—February 2026, a total of 1,428 individual residential houses were commissioned in Kyrgyzstan, the National Statistical Committee reported. The total floor area amounted to 198,000 square meters. The figures increased by 8.2 percent compared to the same period in 2025. Total investment i»»»

The Department of Chemicalization, Plant Protection, and Quarantine under the Ministry of Water Resources, Agriculture, and Processing Industry of Kyrgyzstan announces the start of corn exports to China. The first batch of 25 tons of corn was shipped on March 16. The exporter was Ziyabidin Ata farm»»»

Former head of the State Committee for National Security, Kamchybek Tashiev, has returned to Kyrgyzstan and is currently being questioned at the Main Investigative Department of the Interior Ministry, sources said. According to them, Tashiev had been outside the country since February 17. There has»»»

In Kyrgyzstan, public order measures will be strengthened during upcoming holiday events, Interior Minister Ulan Niyazbekov said during an online meeting. Heads of regional internal affairs bodies participated in the session. Participants reviewed the results of law enforcement activities for the f»»»

US President Donald Trump threatened on Thursday to "massively blow up" a vast Iranian gas field unless Tehran stops striking Qatari energy facilities. Washington "knew nothing" of Israel's earlier attack on Iran's South Pars gas field, he said, vowing that "NO MORE ATTACKS WILL BE MADE BY ISRAEL" »»»

Dubai: Gold prices in Dubai have dropped sharply from their March highs, opening a window for last-minute Eid shoppers looking to buy jewellery at relatively lower rates after weeks of elevated pricing. (Check latest UAE gold prices here, alongside prices in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwa»»»

Doha, Qatar: As the Iran-US war enters day 20, the agression against GCC countries has overnight seen huge escalation with energy sites across UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar being attacked on Wednesday and Thursday, March 18 and 19, 2026. Saudi Arabia stated that two of its refineries were attacked wi»»»

Doha, Qatar: The Amir His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani received a telephone call from HE Emmanuel Macron, President of the friendly French Republic. During the call, they discussed developments in the region, following the attack targeting Ras Laffan Industrial City, and its implication»»»

Global EV uptake expected is expected to accelerate as Iran war causes petrol price hikes. Since late February 2026, US-Israel strikes on Iran, in particular the Kharg Island export hub and Pars oil facility has been met with Iranian retaliation, i.e. blocking the Strait of Hormuz (20% of global oi»»»

Global solar generation has now crossed a historic threshold. In 2024, it surpassed 2,000 terawatt-hours (TWh) and reaching 2,131 TWh according to data from London-based think-tank Ember. This single milestone equals the entire annual electricity demand of India — one of the world’s largest and fas»»»

On March 18, a ceremonial reception dedicated to the celebration of Nooruz was held at the United Nations headquarters in New York. The event was organized by the Permanent Mission of Kyrgyzstan in cooperation with the missions of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Deputy Chairma»»»

Night-time demonstration tactical exercises were held at military unit No. 36806 of the South-Western Operational Command of the Armed Forces of Kyrgyzstan, the Ministry of Defense’s press service reported. According to the scenario, units practiced responding to a sudden threat from a simulated ad»»»

Global EV uptake expected is expected to accelerate as Iran war causes petrol price hikes. Since late February 2026, US-Israel strikes on Iran, in particular the Kharg Island export hub and Pars oil facility has been met with Iranian retaliation, i.e. blocking the Strait of Hormuz (20% of global oi»»»

Iranian missile attacks have killed three Palestinian women in the occupied West Bank and a foreign worker in central Israel, medics said Thursday. Falling shrapnel struck a hair salon in the West Bank town of Beit Awa near Hebron late Wednesday, killing the three women, according to the Palestine »»»

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Economist Ludwik Dudek warns that Poland lacks a comprehensive long-term strategy for financing defense, despite proposals to raise military spending to 5% of GDP and create new off-budget funds at Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego. Measures under the SAFE Act and the proposed Polish Defence Investment F»»»

Poland plans to invest PLN 1 trillion in energy over the next decade, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced at the PowerConnect conference in Gdańsk, calling energy security central to national security amid global conflicts. The spending will cover renewable energy, storage, nuclear power, and grid»»»

The Ministry of Justice will hold an expert discussion on Thursday to develop transparent criteria for nominating candidates for key positions in the judiciary, the Ministry's press service reported. Developing a standard in the justice sector is among the priorities of the current caretaker govern»»»

New York: The State of Qatar sent its ninth identical letter to HE Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres and HE Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations and President of the Security Council for the month of March, Michael Waltz, regarding th»»»

Dubai: Flights in the UAE are operating at a steady but limited pace, as airlines continue to adjust schedules following regional disruptions. While airline operations in the UAE and wider Middle East remain heavily disrupted, there are clear signs of improvement. Data from Cirium, an aviation data»»»

BTA will publish the names of the top-of-the-list candidates of every party/coalition for all constituencies for the April 19 parliamentary elections. The information about the candidates is provided by the respective political entity, the candidates themselves and other official sources. Nikolay Z»»»

Dubai: Filipino expats in the UAE are seeing stronger returns on every dirham sent home after the Philippine peso weakened to fresh lows, pushing remittance value higher at a time when global energy costs continue to rise. (Check live forex rates here) Sign up for our daily business newsletter, Che»»»

BTA will publish the names of the top-of-the-list candidates of every party/coalition for all constituencies for the April 19 parliamentary elections. The information about the candidates is provided by the respective political entity, the candidates themselves and other official sources. Radoslav »»»

BTA will publish the names of the top-of-the-list candidates of every party/coalition for all constituencies for the April 19 parliamentary elections. The information about the candidates is provided by the respective political entity, the candidates themselves and other official sources. Nikolay T»»»

Motorists across the UAE can expect free public parking and waived toll charges during the Eid Al Fitr holiday period, authorities confirmed. The festive period begins on Thursday, 19 March 2026, the final day of Ramadan, with Eid celebrations starting on Friday, 20 March 2026. Drivers are advised »»»

Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the State of Kuwait, the Lebanese Republic, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the State of Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Syrian Arab Republic, t»»»

China’s share in Kyrgyzstan’s external debt is approximately 36 percent. The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China to the Kyrgyz Republic Liu Jiangping stated, responding to a 24.kg news agency correspondent’s question about the level of country’s public deb»»»

The Pentagon has asked the White House to approve a funding request exceeding $200 billion to support the war in Iran, according to The Washington Post, a figure that could face strong resistance in Congress. The request would go far beyond current spending levels and aims to replenish weapons stoc»»»

OSLO — Scandinavian airline SAS said Tuesday it will cancel at least a thousand flights in April after the war in the Middle East sent fuel prices surging."The price of jet fuel has doubled in ten days. Even if we try to absorb cost increases as much as possible, this is a shock that directly hits »»»

HONG KONG — Oil prices sank Wednesday after Iraq said it had resumed exports through Turkey, avoiding the effectively closed Strait of Hormuz, while equities rose following another tech-led advance on Wall Street.The drop in crude, which saw WTI sink more than four per cent, came even as the United»»»

AMMAN (JT) — Minister of Agriculture Saeb Khreisat and Bulgarian Ambassador Metin Kazak on Wednesday discussed prospects of cooperation across a range of agricultural fields.The minister underscored the deep Jordanian-Bulgarian ties and stressed the need to build on these to advance cooperation in »»»

WASHINGTON, United States — US President Donald Trump's administration scrambled Wednesday to rein in surging energy costs from war in the Middle East, temporarily waiving a century-old shipping law and easing Venezuela sanctions.The moves came after oil prices rocketed following US-Israeli strikes»»»

Dubai: Petrofac’s agreement to sell its Abu Dhabi-based engineering and construction business, Petrofac Emirates, comes as part of a wider restructuring, with the group continuing to keep its existing contracts. Sign up for our daily business newsletter, Cheques & Balances.The deal, announced on Tu»»»

Cuba widely restored its electricity network on Tuesday after more than 24 hours of blackouts across the Caribbean island, which is under increasing pressure from the US to change its communist government. Cuba's leader Miguel Diaz-Canel on Tuesday said the US would face "unbreakable resi»»»

A US judge on Tuesday ruled that more than 1,000 Voice of America workers should be reinstated and the government should plan to resume international broadcasts following an earlier ruling that President Donald Trump's pick to oversee mass layoffs at the VOA was unlawfully appointed, making the job»»»

The head of the US's National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent, resigned from his post on Tuesday in opposition to the Trump administration's war on Iran. The former staunch Trump supporter said he could not support the war as "Iran posed no imminent threat" to the US. A top security official in U»»»

As US President Donald Trump threatens to take over Cuba, following the forced collapse of its national electric grid, Mark Owen welcomes Christopher Sabatini, Senior Research Fellow for Latin America Programme at Chatham House. What we are witnessing today, Sabatini explains, is not an isolated in»»»

The former president of Columbia University in New York, which was at the centre of sometimes violent protests against the war in Gaza, has spoken to FRANCE 24 about the importance of free speech and how universities have to teach it. Lee C. Bollinger is president emeritus of Columbia University; h»»»

Today in the Middle East, Day 19 of the war, there have been extensive air strikes, drone attacks and missiles launched. And fall-out is spreading far beyond the so called theatre of war. And the funeral of Ali Larijani, Iran's de facto leader, key advisor to the Ayatollah, the head of Nationa»»»

Ali Larijani was the head of Iran's Security Council and a key voice in the ear of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Gholamreza Soleimani was the head of the Basij militia. Both were pillars of Iran's security apparatus. If they have indeed been taken out, the question is who replaces»»»

Iran’s new supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said the “criminal murderers” who killed top security chief Ali Larijani must “pay for it”, in a rare written statement published Wednesday on his official Telegram channel. Larijani was killed in an Israeli strike earlier this week. Read our liv»»»

Israel has said it is reopening the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt on Wednesday. Israeli authorities had partially opened the crossing on February 2 as part of the peace plan agreed with Hamas in October, but closed it on February 28 when Israeli and US missiles and planes b»»»

At the Joussieh border crossing near the Syrian city of Homs, thousands of Syrian refugees are fleeing the devastating war in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah. Driven out by Israeli air strikes after years of exile in Lebanon, families and children wait for hours before returning to a country w»»»

Delano D'Souza is pleased to welcome Elisa Catalano Ewers, Senior Fellow for Middle East Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Our guest illustrates how Israeli envisions destroying the Iranian regime from within. Their approach is not one of immediate collapse, but of calculated and sustain»»»

Since the killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on February 28, US and Israeli strikes have decimated the regime's top ranks, from the commander of the Revolutionary Guards, to the country's security and intelligence chiefs. But even as the heads of the Ir»»»

Iran made no effort to rebuild uranium enrichment after its capabilities were destroyed in a June 2025 US-Israeli attack, US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard testified Wednesday, contradicting President Donald Trump's justifications for his ongoing war. FRANCE 24's Fraser Jackson reports from Washi»»»

Saudi Arabia intercepted and destroyed four ballistic missiles that were launched ​toward Riyadh on Wednesday, the Defence Ministry said, just ahead of a meeting of regional and Islamic foreign ministers in the Saudi capital. FRANCE 24's Hoda Abdel-Hamid reports from Doha.»»»

Speaking with FRANCE 24's Yinka Oyetade, Zaid Al-Ali, Visiting Fellow at Princeton University and Former UN Advisor in Iraq, explains that until the war in Iran broke out, Iraq had been able to "straddle between US-aligned interests and Iranian-aligned interests" but there's an "acute risk" that it»»»

Iran suffered major blows on Wednesday with the killing of its intelligence minister, Esmail Khatib, in an Israeli strike and an attack on the South Pars natural gas field, one of the world's largest gas resources and a pillar of the country's energy supplies. Tehran vowed retaliation for the attac»»»