
-
Kenya's economy faces climate change risks: World Bank
-
India's Modi in Sri Lanka for defence and energy deals
-
Fractious Republicans seek unity over Trump tax cuts
-
Trump's global tariff takes effect in dramatic US trade shift
-
'I don't have a voice in my head': Life with no inner monologue
-
Lula admits 'still a lot to do' for Indigenous Brazilians
-
California to defy Trump's tariffs to allay global trade fears
-
Sean 'Diddy' Combs faces more charges ahead of criminal trial
-
Intercommunal violence kills dozens in central Nigeria
-
Trump goads China as global trade war escalates
-
How can the EU respond to Trump tariffs?
-
Canada loses jobs for first time in 3 years as US tariffs bite
-
Nations divided ahead of decisive week for shipping emissions
-
US job growth strong in March but Trump tariff impact still to come
-
Stocks, oil slump as China retaliates and Trump digs in heels
-
US hiring beats expectations in March as tariff uncertainty brews
-
Where things stand in the US-China trade war
-
UK spy agency MI5 reveals fruity secrets in new show
-
Taiwan earmarks $2.7 bn to help industries hit by US tariffs
-
Greece nixes Acropolis shoot for 'Poor Things' director
-
Trump unveils first $5 million 'gold card' visa
-
BP chairman to step down after energy strategy reset
-
Indian patriotic movie 'icon' Manoj Kumar dies aged 87
-
Pacific nations perplexed, worried by Trump tariffs
-
Prominent US academic facing royal insult charge in Thailand
-
Yana, a 130,000-year-old baby mammoth, goes under the scalpel
-
Crops under threat as surprise March heatwave hits Central Asia: study
-
Japan PM says Trump tariffs a 'national crisis'
-
'It's gone': conservation science in Thailand's burning forest
-
EU leaders push for influence at Central Asia summit
-
Asian stocks extend global rout after Trump's shock tariff blitz
-
German industry grapples with AI at trade fair
-
Where Trump's tariffs could hurt Americans' wallets
-
Trump tariffs on Mexico: the good, the bad, the unknown
-
With tariff war, Trump also reshapes how US treats allies
-
Penguin memes take flight after Trump tariffs remote island
-
Tom Cruise pays tribute to Val Kilmer
-
'Everyone worried' by Trump tariffs in France's champagne region
-
UK avoids worst US tariffs post-Brexit, but no celebrations
-
Canada imposing 25% tariff on some US auto imports
-
Lesotho, Africa's 'kingdom in the sky' jolted by Trump
-
Trump's trade math baffles economists
-
Macron calls for suspension of investment in US until tariffs clarified
-
Trump tariffs hammer global stocks, dollar and oil
-
Mexico president welcomes being left off Trump's new tariffs list
-
Lesotho hardest hit as new US tariffs rattle Africa
-
Stellantis pausing some Canada, Mexico production over Trump auto tariffs
-
Rising odds asteroid that briefly threatened Earth will hit Moon
-
Is the Switch 2 worth the price? Reviews are mixed
-
Countries eye trade talks as Trump tariff blitz roils markets
RBGPF | 100% | 69.02 | $ | |
SCS | -0.56% | 10.68 | $ | |
BCC | 0.85% | 95.44 | $ | |
GSK | -6.79% | 36.53 | $ | |
CMSD | 0.7% | 22.83 | $ | |
RELX | -6.81% | 48.16 | $ | |
NGG | -5.25% | 65.93 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.13% | 22.29 | $ | |
RIO | -6.88% | 54.67 | $ | |
JRI | -7.19% | 11.96 | $ | |
AZN | -7.98% | 68.46 | $ | |
BTI | -5.17% | 39.86 | $ | |
VOD | -10.24% | 8.5 | $ | |
RYCEF | -18.79% | 8.25 | $ | |
BCE | 0.22% | 22.71 | $ | |
BP | -10.43% | 28.38 | $ |

Tajikistan launches crackdown on 'witchcraft' and fortune-telling
In a block of flats in Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe, a turbaned woman cautiously opened the door of her apartment a chink, letting out a waft of incense.
"I'm not taking on new clients. It could be a set-up," she says, as she closes the door again and locks it.
"I risk a heavy fine. I do not want people outside on my landing," speaking through the door.
A majority Muslim country in Central Asia, mountainous and impoverished Tajikistan has recently launched a crackdown against fortune tellers, clairvoyants, mediums and "witches".
Practitioners of the occult are keeping a low profile to avoid arrest and public shaming because of a government-led campaign against them.
Tajik police have stepped up raids against what they call "parasites engaged in some of the most detestable activities imaginable -- divination and witchcraft".
Other countries in Central Asia are also cracking down on what have become widespread practices with roots in pre-Islamic traditions.
- Thousands of arrests -
The fight against occult practices is part of wider strict controls imposed in the authoritarian country, which is seeking to curb both radical Islam and ancestral beliefs.
"Illegal religious teaching leads to scams, divination and witchcraft. Tajiks! The Prophet categorically forbade going to diviners and sorcerers," President Emomali Rakhmon, who has ruled the country since 1992, said last year.
Rakhmon also last year announced the arrest of 1,500 people "engaged in witchcraft and divination" as well as "more than 5,000 mullahs" who promised healing through prayer.
A repeat offence is now punishable by two years' imprisonment and a fine of 12,800 euros ($13,300) -- the equivalent of six years' average salary for a Tajik.
Witches and fortune tellers have adapted to avoid police raids.
"I no longer receive people in my home. I go to them," Adalat, a 56-year-old fortune teller, said during a session on the outskirts of Dushanbe.
She swung a string of pearls over some instructions scribbled on a piece of paper, mumbling a few words after asking her client some questions.
She said she is particularly skilled at reconciling fighting couples and seeing their future.
"Even as a child, I was tormented by nightmares which made me want to help people. But I only show my gift to people close to me," she said.
The price of consultations can range from a few euros to gold jewels depending on the client requests but Adalat said she "cannot live" off her fortune telling and relies on money sent to her by her son who works in Russia.
- 'Social inequality' -
One of her clients, Gulbakhor, said she had "turned to fortune tellers and healers mainly because of health problems".
"It's cheaper than conventional medicine, which is very expensive," the 42-year-old housewife told AFP.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union and a civil war in the early 1990s, Tajikistan has been plunged into poverty.
According to Mehrigiul Ablezova, a professor of sociology at the American University of Central Asia, "the attraction of witchcraft and fortune-telling may be linked to social inequality and a lack of access to public services".
"In countries where health or welfare systems are limited, people may seek alternative sources of treatment and support," she told AFP.
She said repression alone would not be enough to counteract these "deeply rooted traditions and beliefs in Central Asia that predate the introduction of Islam".
T.Morelli--CPN