Customers at the General Post Office (GPO) in Peshawar February 6 buy stamps commemorating the late computer prodigy Arfa Karim, who died of epilep...
Two cement plants closed in Kazakhstan’s Karaganda region on Jan. 21. Virtually all residents of two villages in the region were employed by the plants.
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Jan. 30.Pakistan has completed a preliminary probe into the Mumbai attacks, which India says were carried out by a banned Pakistani-based group
A joint declaration on strategic partnership signed by Presidents Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan and Patil of India, outlines plans for a number of bilateral projects.
Moscow's Central House of Artists hosted the launch of the Pamir Foundation, an organisation dedicated to protecting and promoting native culture and language among ethnic Tajiks in Russia.
Prime Minister Masimov announced that Kazakhstan will launch its second satellite, KazSat-2. Its first KazSat, assembled by Russian specialists, was lost in 2008, two years after its launch.
The Tashkent Central Internal Affairs Directorate launched an automated telephone information system Jan. 20 to report and record reports of crimes, emergencies and possible terrorist activities.
On Jan. 26 the first Kazakh Biathlon Championship opened at the new Tabagan shooting range, which was built to international standards for the sport.
Kazakhstan now has an incinerator for the disposal of medical waste in Aktiubinsk Region.
The serious situation with the power supply in Tajikistan requires the adoption of emergency measures. In the almost blacked-out country, as of Jan. 27, the limit on the supply of power had reached the capital where, by order of the president, restrictions had not previously been introduced.
U.S. President Barack Obama, in his first media interview since he took office just days earlier, said Americans are not the enemy of the Muslim world, and that Israel and the Palestinians should resume peace negotiations.
Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who has already dismissed 18 senior officials this year, made ten appointments on Jan. 26 to top government posts.
During a Jan. 22-23 visit to Uzbekistan by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the leaders of the two countries reached an agreement over new prices to be paid by Russia for Uzbek gas.
Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in Afghanistan Kai Eide discussed the issue on his recent visit to Tajikistan.
Taliban militants who seized control of large parts of Pakistan's Swat Valley are issuing a
The Kyrgyz government has drawn up the Kairylman (Return Migrant) programme for 2009 – 2011 that supports ethnic Kyrgyz returning from other countries.
In the final match of the CIS and Baltic Champions Cup on Jan. 25, Kazakh champions Aktobe lost to Moldovan side Sheriff of Tiraspol.
On most nights in Swat, local Taliban leader Shah Doran makes use of a portable radio transmitter to spread the word of newly proscribed “un-Islamic” activities, such as selling DVDs, watching cable television, singing and dancing, criticising the Taliban, shaving beards and allowing girls to attend school.
Qatar plans to build the largest Al-Bukhari mosque in Central Asia and a five-star hotel in Dushanbe.
Kyrgyzstan's film industry is emerging from 25 years of stagnation. While the country once produced only two or three film a year, private studios alone now are producing 10 to 15 feature films and TV series a year.
Advertising and infotainment publications were the first of Kyrgyzstan’s mass media to experience the consequences of the world financial crisis.
The Kazakh national oil and gas company Kazmunaygaz and Russia’s Gazprom agreed on increasing the transit tariff for gas pumped through the Kazakh pipeline from US$1.40 to $1.70 for 1,000 cubic metres per 100 km.
A special clinic at the Republic AIDS Relief Centre will be created in Uzbekistan.
Kazakh space agency Kazakhstan Garysh Sapary announced it will participate this year in the World Space Observatory/ Ultraviolet project. It will also create an Earth remote sensing system and a spacecraft assembly and testing centre.
President Bakiyev dismissed government and presidential administration officials, governors, and ambassadors on January 23.
In 2008, Uzbekistan saw the abolition of the death penalty, the partial lifting of EU sanctions and progress towards eradicating child labour in cotton fields.
An agreement regarding the transportation of NATO supplies to Afghanistan via Tajikistan is about to be reached.
Kazakhstan’s parliament has amended laws on elections, mass media, political parties, and local governments.
Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, the president of Turkmenistan, has approved a new military doctrine for his country. He has also dismissed his defence minister and the head of the State Border Service.
A grant from the Japanese government will provide US$87,800 to the National Antiquities Museum of Tajikistan.
The government of Kyrgyzstan is stepping up efforts to halt the rise in extremist propaganda in the country. This year, classes on the constitution and laws governing religion have been incorporated into training courses for clerics run by the Faculty of Theology at Osh State University.
The Tajikistan government has approved a resolution to create the International Programme Centre, a state agency that will assist Tajik citizens to study at universities abroad.
Uzbekistan's Centre for Russian Culture works to preserve and promote Russian culture, language, and traditions.
More than 70 percent of residents of Osh, a Kyrgyz city, are not familiar with the local budget and have never participated in public discussions about it, according to the first study of local budget transparency and openness.
In Tajikistan, the scandalous criminal case against Abdukodir Ermatov, the former director of the Talko state aluminium company, and Avaz Nazarove, the owner of the company Ansol, has been halted.
Kazakh Ambassador to Uzbekistan Zautbek Turisbekov said Kazakhstan is ready to sign futures contracts with Uzbek farmers.
The 41st criminal case charging Tajik law-enforcement agency personnel with exceeding and abusing their official powers was initiated in 2008.
The Kyrgyz parliament has adopted an ecological law which goes into effect on Mar. 1, 2009. The concepts of “ecological insurance” and “ecological audits” are entering into Kyrgyz law for the first time.
In Tajikistan, an unprecedented event has occurred. For the first time, a government bureaucrat has been charged with criminal responsibility for sending children to gather the cotton harvest.
Amansakhatov is described as a hard working artist. In 30 years of creative work he has completed almost 60 plays, several hundred paintings and drawings, as well as 30 books and has directed three feature films.
Government-controlled petroleum company KazMunayGaz has signed a contract with the Indonesian company Central Asia Petroleum Ltd. to buy 50 percent plus two voting shares of Mangistaumunaygaz.
The board of directors of the Islamic Development Bank has approved a US$52.65 million loan to restore irrigation canals in drought-ridden southern Uzbekistan. The $79 million project will begin this summer.
Tajikistan's leading economists discussed effects of the global financial crisis on the country.
Kazakh diplomat Vyacheslav Gizzatov has been appointed representative to the OSCE chairman on Combating Intolerance and Discrimination against Muslims.
The Kyrgyzstan government has decided that in the first half of 2009 energy company stock will be sold in a single packet.
The 17th CIS and Baltic Champions Cup kicked off in Moscow on Jan. 17.
January saw the publication of annual human rights reports from Freedom House and Human Rights Watch, along with the Heritage Foundation's rankings of economic freedom.
A seventh grade schoolgirl from Swat chronicles how the ban has affected her and her classmates. The diary first appeared on BBC Urdu online.
Kazakhstan Prime Minister Karim Masimov has instructed heads of government ministries and departments to create personal blogs on ministerial websites by the end of January.
Aktobe, Kazakhstan’s football champions, beat Armenia’s Ararat on January 18 in the CIS and Baltic Champions Cup, which is underway in Moscow.
On Jan. 17, FIFA published its January 2009 world rankings of national football teams.
Construction of the 46-kilometre railroad from Vakhdat to Yavan will begin in September.
A Committee against Political Repression has been formed in Kyrgyzstan. Its first meeting took place on Jan. 15.
The civil society organisation Bureau of Human Rights and Due Process has prepared its 2008 annual report on human rights in Tajikistan.
The National Statistics Committee said Kyrgyzstan’s shadow economy has grown by more than 18 times in the past 10 years from about US$1.4 billion in 1995 to more than $26 billion in 2007.
Tajikistan’s Finance Ministry is not planning to review the state budget for 2009 during the first quarter of the year.
A two-day international seminar on Mollanepes and oriental poetry in Ashgabat drew scholars, literary critics, writers, and teachers from Turkmenistan and Iran.
A new bill aimed at encouraging entrepreneurship has been drafted by experts from the business community together with the Tajik Ministry of Economic Development and Trade.
Another Tajik government boarding school has been restored after a series of earthquakes damaged the structure.
Working with the World Health Organisation, Tajikistan's Ministry of Health has conducted an evaluation of medical facilities' readiness in the face of potential emergencies.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev received Commander of U.S. Central Command General David Petraeus. The two discussed the situation in Afghanistan and ways to help the country.
In Dushanbe, a software application has been created to convert any Tajik text written in Cyrillic script quickly into Arabic script.
Last December researchers from Uzbekistan's Genetics Institute, University of California-Davis and the USDA's Agricultural Research Service launched a project to preserve the gene pool of cotton, fruit and nut plants in the Tien Shan mountain range.
Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said some 124 members of an Islamic charity linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which New Delhi has blamed for the Mumbai bombings in late November, have been placed under strict house arrest.
Exploration finds 28 tons of gold at Pokrud gold field in Tajikistan.
Beginning this year pupils in Tajikistan will study for a minimum of 11 years.
Kyrgyzstan has increased customs duties on new and used imported cars this year. The amout levied is based on the vehicle’s year of manufacture and engine capacity.
The resignation of Medet Sadyrkulov, head of the Kyrgyz president’s administration, has been accepted by President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.
In December Ashgabat staged its first-ever Polish Film Days organised by the Polish embassy and the Turkmen Ministry of Culture and Television and Radio Broadcasting.
Members of the new Majlis of Turkmenistan appointed on the basis of parliamentary elections last December met for the first time on Jan. 9.
The U.S. has proposed new runways for the Manas International Airport in Kyrgyzstan. The US$37 million project is being considered by the government.
Human rights organisations in Kyrgyzstan speak out against Article 27 of a new law on military service, which allows servicemen to assist law-enforcement agencies maintain law and order and guarantee public safety.
Tajikistan has outlawed the Salafia religious movement based on the threat a judge said it poses to the country's constitutional order, national security and the peaceful co-existence of other religious confessions.
A group of Kyrgyz parliamentarians proposed the introduction of criminal punishment for public calls to terrorist activity or public justification of terrorism. Their initiative was a reaction to the intensification of activities by extremist organisations in the country.
A festival of Iranian cinema took place in Ashgabat over ten days at the end of December. Films were screened at the Makhtumkuli State Musical-Dramatic Theatre.
Thousands of Tajiks spent a sleepless night Jan. 9-10 in their gardens, by bonfires or in their cars. They were driven from their homes by rumours that a massive earthquake with a magnitude of 9.0 on the Richter scale was going to hit the country.
Kazakhstan will pay off a US$12 million debt owed by its National Electricity Network Kazakhstanenergo to the Tajik state energy holding company Barki Tochiyu for electricity delivered between 1994 and ‘97.
In his latest commentary, UNESCO Peace Chair M.D. Nalapat calls extremism the main enemy of Islam and the biggest threat to the faith. «[Extremists] are speaking and acting on behalf of the noble faith they profess to follow. In fact, what they seek is personal profit, both political and financial».
New buildings for the state rug corporation Turkmenkhaly and the Turkmen Rug Museum will be completed in the Turkmen capital in time for national Rug Day in May.
Test laboratories have begun operating in Tajikistan to evaluate the quality of cotton fibre in accordance with international standards.
Al-Qaeda's operations chief in Pakistan and a top aide are believed to be dead in what appears to be the latest results of a campaign targeting the militant group's leadership.
In Tajikistan, a campaign has begun to vaccinate women against cervical cancer and other malignant diseases caused by human papillomavirus.
Russian “Roshydromet” specialists are creating a new, modern switching system for the Hydrometeorology Agency of Tajikistan.
Kazakhstan's president ratified an agreement with Egypt to help restore Mamluk Sultan az-Zahir Baybars Mosque in Cairo.
Almaty-INFO editor-in-chief Ramazan Yesergepov was arrested Jan. 6 and is being held in an isolation ward.
Kyrgyzstan records 160 to 200 new cases of cancer in children and adolescents each year most of whom die at home because their families can’t afford hospital treatment.
The Tajik Ministry of Foreign Affairs is concerned about the situation in Gaza and calls on the parties in the conflict to declare an immediate, unconditional ceasefire and resume talks.
At the beginning of the year, Turkmenistan revalued its currency with one new manat equal to 5,000 old. People started actively buying dollars in the run up to revaluation leading to long lines at currency exchanges before the New Year.
Pakistan National Security Adviser Mahmud Ali Durrani said evidence turned over to Pakistani authorities by the Indian government showed attackers had links to Pakistan.
A new multipurpose health center has been built in Karaganda that will serve 60,000 people.
On January 7, the Orthodox faithful in Kazakhstan celebrated the Christmas holiday. President Nazarbayev addressed his fellow citizens on the occasion.
Tajik border guards clashed with Afghan drug dealers on January 6 at the Pyandzhsky border point on the Tajik-Afghan border during a special operation.
At the end of December, UN member states reacted to a report on human rights in Uzbekistan based on a UN Universal Period Review session held Dec. 11 in Geneva.
The number of people infected with rabies in Tajikistan is rising. The Epidemiology Department of the State Health and Disease Control Service reported that 13 cases were recorded in the first 10 months of 2008, an increase of seven over the same period in 2007.
Earthquakes registering up to 7.0 on the Richter scale struck the Afghan-Tajik border region in separate incidents on December 29, 2008 and January 5, 2009. Forty-one people, most under the age of 15, perished in the mountain village of Nura.
On Dec. 27, a Tajik border guard was injured by an anti-personnel mine on the Tajik-Afghan border. The incident served as yet another reminder of the need to clear mines from the country’s borders without delay.
The complaint, lodged by the Human Rights Council of Kyrgyzstan's ombudsmen, stated that council members were stunned at harsh sentences meted out to participants in the Naukat incident.
A new state-run channel called Turkmen Ovazy went on air on New Year’s Day.
Uzbekistan has agreed to supply Kyrgyzstan with natural gas at US$240 per 1,000 cubic metres through 2009.
Tajikistan will buy about 550 million cubic metres of natural gas from neighbouring Uzbekistan this year for US$240 per 1,000 cubic metres.
On Jan. 1, electricity bills increased 25 percent for all categories of consumers except the state aluminium company Talko.
