Afghanistan – Pakistan
(RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi) Afghanistan’s Taliban leaders said Pakistani air strikes killed dozens in the border regions between the two countries that Islamabad claimed were being used by militants as bases to launch attacks on Pakistan. Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesman for the Taliban government, said in a post on X on June 29 that the Pakistani military targeted the eastern Afghan provinces of Paktia, Paktika, and Kunar, along the border with Pakistan, killing 36 civilians, including children, and injuring 163 others. Meanwhile, Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said his country’s security forces “precisely struck terrorist camps and safe havens” in Afghanistan, “eliminating terrorists and destroying weapons and ammunition stockpiles.” – Pakistani Strikes Along Afghan Border Leave Dozens Dead
Germany
(Reuters/Al Arabiya) Five people are dead after a shooting in the northern German town of Stade, police said on Monday. Local media reported that the incident had taken place in a youth centre in central Stade, a town of just below 50,000 people to the west of Hamburg. – Five people dead in shooting in northern Germany, two detained, police say
Iraq
(AFP/Al Arabiya) Iraq’s government has given pro-Iran armed groups in the country until September 30 to disarm, its spokesman said during a press conference on Monday. – Iraq sets September 30 deadline for pro-Iran militias to disarm
Iraq – Syria
(Al Arabiya) Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein on Monday began his first trip to Syria since the December 2024 ouster of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad. Relations between the two countries have faced upheaval since the fall of al-Assad, who was a close ally of previous governments in Baghdad. Iraq at first approached new ruler Ahmed al-Sharaa cautiously but is now seeking to bolster trade and security cooperation with Syria, which is emerging from years of civil war. – Iraqi FM makes first visit to Syria since al-Assad’s fall
Israel – Gaza
(AFP/Al Arabiya) Gaza health officials said an Israeli drone strike killed three civilians and injured several others on Monday, the latest violence to hit the Palestinian territory despite a ceasefire. Israel and Hamas trade near-daily accusations of truce violations and the Gaza Strip remains gripped by bloodshed as progress stalls on permanently ending their war. “Three people were killed and several injured when an Israeli drone struck a group of civilians,” Al-Aqsa hospital said in a statement. – Gaza health officials say three killed in Israeli drone strike
Israel – Syria
(AFP/Al Arabiya) Turkey’s foreign ministry on Monday blasted Israeli incursions and fire in southern Syria, after tensions near the Golan Heights forced some local residents to flee. “We strongly condemn the Israeli attacks against Quneitra and Daraa, which violate the territorial integrity, unity and sovereignty of Syria,” a statement read. – Turkey ‘strongly condemns’ Israeli incursions in Syria
(AFP/Al Arabiya) Syria’s foreign ministry on Monday condemned Israeli incursions and bombardment in the country’s south a day after violence near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that state media and locals said caused residents to briefly flee. Tensions rose on Sunday in the village of Abidin in the Yarmuk Basin area in the southern province of Daraa after Israeli forces advanced into the area, with angry residents trying to block the road with stones to stop the patrol. – Syria slams Israeli incursions after violence in south
Russia – Central Asia
(RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service, RFE/RL’s Tajik Service and RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service) The disruptions to Russia’s energy sector due to its war with Ukraine are having a ripple effect in Central Asia, with fuel prices rising across the region and governments scrambling to find alternative sources to meet demand. Officials have sought to reassure consumers that supplies will be sufficient and that prices will eventually come down once global disruptions stabilize. Daniyar Amangeldiev, the first deputy prime minister of Kyrgyzstan, told reporters that rising fuel prices are unavoidable given the global geopolitical turmoil. “There is an opportunity not to raise prices sharply, but to increase them gradually, by 1 som every two weeks,” Amangeldiev said. One Kyrgyz som is equal to just over 1 US cent. “If prices fall on global exchanges, the Agency for Regulation of the Monopolies will work with fuel-importing companies and try to reduce prices”. But for Central Asians, the spike in prices has an immediate impact. – Russia’s Fuel Troubles Expose Central Asia’s Energy Dependence
Tech World, Security, and Surveillance
(DigWatch) Amazon has announced an additional $13 billion investment to expand AI and cloud infrastructure in India, bringing its planned investment in the country to $48 billion between 2026 and 2030. The company said the new funding will expand AWS data centre capacity in Mumbai and Hyderabad, giving startups, enterprises and government organisations access to AI chips, managed AI services, cloud technologies and developer tools. – Amazon announces it will invest $48 billion in India by 2030
(DigWatch) Moldova has approved a national framework regulation on academic integrity in higher education, introducing common rules on plagiarism, unauthorised use of AI and other forms of academic fraud. The regulation, approved by the government and developed by the Ministry of Education and Research, sets a single framework that all higher education institutions in Moldova will be required to implement. – Moldova mandates higher education students to declare AI tool usage
(DigWatch) The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has published a policy paper examining how AI and digital tools can help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) gain better access to sustainable finance, where they remain significantly underrepresented. The paper maps practical applications of AI and digital tools across the entire financing lifecycle, from sustainability data generation and reporting by SMEs to loan origination, credit assessment and portfolio monitoring by financial institutions. The OECD notes that AI has the potential to support the front, middle and back office of lending operations rather than a single stage of the financing process. – Leveraging AI and digital tools for SME sustainable finance | OECD
(DigWatch) Firms across the euro area are increasingly adopting AI, but only a small share are integrating it deeply enough to generate meaningful productivity gains. Data from the European Central Bank’s SAFE survey shows that although more than 70% of firms report using AI in some form, only 7% have integrated it deeply into their core operations. – What separates firms that use AI intensively from firms that don’t?
