Chris Rickleton News Today

A Kazakh bill would require workers and employers to pay more for health insurance for those earning higher wages. But the underfunded, corruption-ridden health system has not improved since the new plan was first introduced four years ago, and anger is growing.

From relations with Moscow to regional trade, five experts weigh in on how Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has left its mark on Central Asia.

When it comes to reexports, Kyrgyzstan has rediscovered its mojo amid the international trade chaos caused by the Ukraine war. But entrepreneurs in the Central Asian country are discovering that new trading advantages can fade as soon as the conditions in top export destination Russia change.

After bloody unrest in 2022 set in motion a process known as "de-Nazarbaevification," the return of Kazakhstan's former leader to the media spotlight -- and his recent meeting with Russia's Vladimir Putin -- has stirred speculation that the 83-year-old might not be done with politics after all.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led prayers on December 28 at the funeral of Razi Mousavi, a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) adviser who was killed in what Iran said was an Israeli air strike in Syria.

The death sentence for murder given to an Iranian man detained while taking part in last year's anti-regime protests is "illegal," a lawyer for victims' families has said.

Human rights groups and others have condemned the execution of a woman in Iran who was found guilty of killing the man she was forced to marry as a child.

Yahya Ebrahimi, an Iranian lawmaker who represents the Delfan district of Lorestan Province, has alleged that up to 2,000 suspects are risking execution for drug-trafficking offenses in the small western Iranian district.

Iran on December 20 hanged a woman convicted of murdering her husband, whom she married while still a child, defying an international campaign for clemency, rights groups said.

Filmmakers and film-festival organizers from around the world have called on Iran in an open letter to drop all charges against Iranian filmmakers Behtash Sanaeeha and Maryam Moghadam and lift their travel ban.