Customers at the General Post Office (GPO) in Peshawar February 6 buy stamps commemorating the late computer prodigy Arfa Karim, who died of epilep...
On Feb. 23, the 65th anniversary of the start of deportations of Chechen and Ingush peoples during the Stalinist era, the NGO Chechen Children of Kazakhstan issued a petition to nominate Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Tajik President Rahmon and NATO Secretary-General De Hoop Scheffer discussed proposals to set up a special NATO centre in Tajikistan.
Shooting has begun on “Ryvok” (Dash), the first feature-length film about sports in Kazakhstan...
On Mar. 5, 26 young Kazakh footballers will travel to the Brazilian football academy Olé Brasil FC for two weeks of training.
On Feb. 24, a public protest demonstration in the city of Uzgen in Kyrgyzstan's Osh Region attracted around 100 local supporters of the underground religious party Hizb ut-Tahrir.
The Tashkent City Criminal Court has found Khamza Dzhumayev, the former editor of popular science magazine Irmok, and Shavkat Alimov, a reporter for the newspaper Etti Iklim, guilty of ties to the Nur religious movement that preaches Pan-Turkism and a Shariah state.
The only surviving suspect from last November's deadly terror attacks in Mumbai was formally charged Feb. 25 with attempted murder and damage to public property, a prosecutor said.
The Kyrgyz ombudsman announced on Feb. 20 that he will raise convictions related to the Nookat events in parliament with the objective of having the court rulings reviewed. Human rights activists claim the verdicts were handed down hurriedly and are excessively harsh.
Despite official disavowals from both Bishkek and Moscow of any connection between Russian aid and Kyrgyzstan's decision to close the U.S. base at Manas International Airport, a majority of political analysts, independent observers and politicians agree that they are linked.
Today, Tajikistan's armed forces are fairly battle-worthy and include land-based and mobile units, an air force and an anti-aircraft force.
Amendments to the law on the donation of blood and its components will deprive 27,000 blood donors in Kyrgyzstan of cash compensation. The general director for the republic’s blood donor centre said an increase in the number of unpaid donors will have a positive impact on the quality of the blood donated.
Tajikistan's Ministry of Energy and Industry forecasts two tons of gold will be mined and processed in the country in 2009. The increase in production will be achieved by modernising gold mining enterprises.
The Uzbek Ministry of Health has assessed its four-year National Flour Fortification Programme as very successful.
In his new book “The Exposure of the Exoneration”, written from inside an Egyptian prison, Dr Fadl has launched a fierce attack on Al-Qaeda's ideology and the personal failings of Osama bin Laden and his Egyptian deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Lake Sarez, formed by a major earthquake 98 years ago, could cause catastrophic destruction in the event of another earthquake.
Six drug-smugglers were killed in a skirmish in Tajikistan close to the border with Afghanistan. Border guards seized more than 300 kg of drugs.
Cotton growers in Tajikistan have not met their “white gold” harvest targets for years, and their debts continue to grow. Cotton farmers received US$103 million in loans last year, but only one-tenth of that was repaid.
International Crisis Group, which published a report assessing Tajikistan's socio-economic position, believes the country may be headed for bankruptcy.
The regional project Fight Against Torture in Central Asia documented 92 instances of torture and inhuman treatment by Tajik security and law enforcement officials.
Rakhmon was named the new president of the Tajik National Olympic Committee at a Feb. 16 meeting of its general assembly in Dushanbe.
Two Tajik athletes with physical disabilities won four gold medals at the World Special Olympics winter games held Feb. 3-14 in the U.S.
Two regional police offices in Chuisk region that contain detention centres were reopened on Feb. 18 following remodelling. The work was conducted under an OSCE programme to reform Kyrgyzstan’s law-enforcement system.
In winter, 600 elderly people in two Kyrgyz regions receive free lunches through the “Hot Soup” project. People are fed in cafeterias and in the homes of aid group members. Those who can't get around on their own have food delivered to their homes.
Innovative human rights activist Maksim Kuleshov has appealed to the prosecutor general to prosecute Bishkek law enforcement officers for preventing “The President's 100 Grams” peaceful demonstration he conducted in January.
Officials in the North West Frontier Province (NWPF) of Pakistan who recently signed a controversial peace deal with Taliban militants in the Swat Valley announced plans to create a new elite police force as part of a strategy to confront terrorism.
A suicide bomber blew himself up at a funeral for a slain Shiite leader Feb. 20 in north-west Pakistan, killing 30 and wounding more than 60, police and witnesses said. Three others were killed in sectarian rioting sparked by the attack.
The head of the Islamic Spiritual Authority of Kyrgyzstan, Mufti Murataly Azhy Zhumanov, has announced that his organisation has officially changed the rules on preaching. From now on preaching will only occur with the approval of the Spiritual Authority.
An Internet centre opened in Turkmenistan’s National Library was an instant hit with visitors. Prior to 2008, Turkmenistan had fewer than 1,000 Internet users.
Human Rights Watch has published a report on the situation of migrant workers in Russia that come from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and other countries.
NATO has led a growing chorus of international concern by warning that a truce between the government of Pakistan and Taliban militants in a restive region near the Afghan border risks giving the extremists a
The new law “Regulations on the Provision of Mobile Telecommunications Services” has entered into force in Uzbekistan. This is the first law governing mobile telecommunications services ever to have been passed in Uzbekistan.
The International Press Institute, which is based in Austria, released a report in February entitled, “2008 World Press Freedom Review: Focus on Asia”, which documents the extremely low level of freedom of the press in the Central Asian region.
Human rights organisations in Kazakhstan have protested the initiative of the Kazakh Minister of Internal Affairs Baurzhan Mukhamedzhanov on the mandatory drug testing of students at schools and institutes of higher education.
A new National Security Strategy has been approved in Kyrgyzstan. The document emphases the need for efforts to combat terrorism and religious extremism.
A three-day flower show organised by the consulate of the Netherlands closed in Ashgabat on Feb. 14.
Kazakhstan’s first professional boxing match in Almaty was organised by the promoter for the famous Kazakh professional boxer Marat Mazimbayev.
The Tashkent team Bunyodkor gained two Brazilian football players and a new manager.
The IMF’s mission to Tajikistan will assist the government put together a package of macroeconomic measures aimed at minimising the effects of the global crisis on the country.
In 2008, the Consumers' Union of Tajikistan (SPT) helped to return 4,700 somoni (US$1,270) to its clients as compensation for damages caused by poor quality goods and services.
The China Exim Bank will lend Tajikistan US$64 million for construction of the Chormagzak road tunnel. A loan agreement will be signed early in March and construction will start at the end of the month.
A two-year EU project aimed at preventing torture in Central Asia has improved the situation in Kazakhstan.
Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev announced that he will stand for a second term as president. He also said he was willing to meet with the opposition, even radicals.
Canadian defenceman Kevin Dallman, captain of the capital hockey team Barys, broke the record set by legendary TSKA and Soviet team player Vyacheslav Fetisov who tallied 49 points in the “goal plus pass” system in 1983–84.
A coalition airstrike killed a powerful Taliban commander who broke a promise to renounce violence after his release from prison, officials said Feb. 16.
While the International Grains Council has forecast a decline in the quantity of corn harvested by leading world producers, the Kazakh Ministry of Agriculture expects a bumper crop this year.
Fraudsters who ran a pyramid scheme have been arrested in Dushanbe. The con artists gained people’s trust, promised them quick returns and then pocketed the large sums invested in the scheme.
Kazakhstan’s first wheelchair factory, which will be staffed by disabled people, has opened in Astana.
As Taliban militants gain a stronger hold in the northwest region of Pakistan, they are imposing their view that music, singing and other arts are un-Islamic. Several entertainers have already been kidnapped or killed, while others have fled, quit or watched their work opportunities dwindle.
A group of smugglers tried to ship rare publications including a Koran manuscript out of Tajikistan. Even experts were unable to say how much the confiscated valuables would be worth on the black market.
A work in three volumes entitled Kazakhskaya Zhurnalistika (Kazakh Journalism) was presented at the Kazakh National University Faculty of Journalism on Feb. 11. The lengthy work examines in considerable detail contemporary issues relating to journalism in Kazakhstan.
Activists from the Russovet nationalist organisations staged an anti-Tajik protest outside the Tajik Embassy in Moscow under the banner, “Rakhmon, take back your citizens and your heroin”.
The EU will provide Tajikistan with 34 million euro to help deal with the effects of the global financial crisis. The decision was announced in Brussels on Feb. 10 at a meeting between EU president José Manuel Barroso and Tajik president Emomali Rahmon.
U.S. engineers are constructing an automobile engine factory not far from Tashkent under the Uzbek-American enterprise “GM Powertrain Uzbekistan” that will manufacture 360,000 engines a year.
Pakistan acknowledged for the first time that the Mumbai terrorist attacks were launched from its shores and at least partly plotted on its soil, saying Feb. 12 that it had arrested most of the chief suspects including one described as
British energy giant BP is considering hydrocarbon exploration and production at fields on Turkmenistan’s Caspian shelf.
The press service of the Kyrgyz human rights ombudsman’s department has released a statement, issued by the ombudsman Tursunbek Akun, in which he criticises the law-enforcement agencies for harassing the political opposition.
On Feb. 11 the Constitutional Council of Kazakhstan declared the proposed amendments to the Law on Religions unconstitutional. The amendments had been adopted by parliament in November and outlawed all religious activity not approved by the authorities.
Kazakhstan’s foreign ministry has officially said the country has allowed the transit of civilian cargo through its territory to support the U.S. military contingent in Afghanistan.
Uzbek footballer Jafar Irismetov has landed a spot in the International Federation of Football History and Statistics rankings of the world's highest-scoring strikers based on records of players’ performances in national championships over the past 120 years.
Tajikistan President Rakhmon signed a decree to improve government accountability and to strengthen the role of the media in the country's social, political and economic life.
At the beginning of February, Kazakhstani designer Azat Bayserkeyev presented his board game “KazShakh” based on classical chess but with four players.
Since Feb. 10, the supply of electric power has been tightened in the capital of Tajikistan and is available for only 11 hours in a 24 hour period.
After a sharp rise of the U.S. dollar against the Tajik somoni on February 2, the national currency exchange rate continues to fall.
On January 30, the Tajikistan flag was raised in Antarctica by Professor Abdulhamid Kayumov, who was the first Tajik to travel there. He arrived as part of an international expedition and delivered the flag to the Russian Mirny station there.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's party scored a sweeping victory over rival Shi'ite Muslim groups in provincial elections as voters rewarded him for security gains and rejected other Shi'ite parties' overt religious leanings, according to results.
The Kazakh IT and Telecommunications Agency will launch Kaztube, a new video portal for Kazakh Internet users to upload video material.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's party scored a sweeping victory over rival Shi'ite Muslim groups in provincial elections as voters rewarded him for security gains and rejected other Shi'ite parties' overt religious leanings, according to results.
On Feb. 4 the president of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, Grigory Marchenko, approved a 25 percent devaluation of the tenge, a step designed to stimulate exports in the wake of a sharp fall in living standards.
Uzbekistan’s Anti-Monopoly Committee has accused the “.uz” domain administrator of creating a monopoly, since current rules for accrediting domain name registrars limit their number.
According to Kyrgyzstan’s Consumer Rights Society, the Alliance for Transparent Budget and the Diabetics Association of Kyrgyzstan, 700,000 insulin syringes paid for by the Kyrgyz government in 2008 were swapped for inferior syringes which made it impossible to gauge insulin dosages accurately.
Consumers and NGOs are alarmed by the crisis brewing on Kyrgyzstan's pharmaceuticals market. Government experts forecast a 15 percent hike in prices for medication this year. Even worse, the amount of counterfeit pharmaceuticals in the country has reached epidemic proportions.
The Kazakh president has signed amendments to the law on mass media to simplify some administrative procedures, but an OSCE representative said media liberalisation should be continued.
This year Kazakhstan may become the largest producer of uranium in the world if production reaches 11.9 tonnes this year.
The Abu Dhabi Fund allocated US$15 million to Tajikistan for construction of the Kulyab-Kalai-Khumb highway.
On February 2 in Tajikistan, a Kyrgyzstan citizen was sentenced to 11 years in prison for the promotion of an extremist ideology, the recruitment of new members and publicly calling to change Tajikistan's constitutional regime.
Ten top Tajik students received Mendeleyev Scholarships established by the Russian Institute of Eurasian Studies Development Foundation.
An interview Barack Obama gave to Al-Arabia satellite television drew mixed reaction among analysts in Central Asia.
Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe was the site of a recent roundtable discussion on
“Khlam” (Trash), a play by innovative Russian playwright Mikhail Durnenkov, has premiered at the Ilhom Theatre in Tashkent.
Tajik President Rakhmon's participation in top-level Moscow meetings was in doubt until the final day. Rakhmon also cancelled a talk with Dmitri Medvedev planned for Feb. 2.
In 2010, Tajikistan will conduct its next population census. Plans to conduct it already have been developed.
On Feb. 2 Uzbek football side Bunyodkor returned home from its training camp in the UAE. While abroad the team played three friendlies, winning two and drawing the third.
Kazakhstan's amateur boxing championship is underway in Kostanay with 188 athletes from 15 regions of the country competing in the tournament. A key feature of the competition is that bouts are only three rounds once again.
Tuti Yusupova of the Turtkul region of the Karakalpakstan Autonomous Republic in Uzbekistan may be declared the world's oldest person.
A seminar was held in Mary for tuberculotherapists.
Kyrgyzstan Ombudsman Tursunbek Akun criticised Kyrgyzstan Muslim Clerical Directorate deputy Mufti Yusur Lom who favours the use of force within families.
On Feb. 3, Iran announced it sent its first domestically made satellite into orbit, a major step for an ambitious space programme that has other world powers worried because the same technology can also deliver warheads.
According to forecasts from Tajikistan’s Ministry of Agriculture this year’s locust invasion will be no less destructive than in the past.
Gunmen seized a UN worker as he rode to work, shooting and killing his driver in the process. His vehicle was found rammed against a wall, punctured by at least one bullet hole.
The government of Kazakhstan has designated unemployment as a priority problem to be addressed this year and is taking measures to fight it.
Tajikistan is issuing new ten-year government premium bonds in 10 and 20 somoni denominations which will yield redemption premiums ranging from 20 to 1,500 somoni.
Kazakh Minister of Culture and Information Mukhtar Kul-Mukhammed announced plans to create a weekly English-language newspaper called Weekly News, and a magazine called Road to Europe.
The Tajik Khudzhanda Historical Museum is preparing to display items from its collection that have never been exhibited to the public before.
Deputies of Tajikistan's lower house of parliament amended legislation to ban casino operations in the country.
German Bernd Stork has been named new head coach of the Kazakh national football team.
Kazakh authorities conducted a forced acquisition of capital in BTA Bank, and acquired a controlling stake in Alyans Bank, both of which are among the country's five largest.
The World Bank is to help Tajikistan implement a plan to overcome the effects of the global financial crisis and move forward with energy projects involving other countries in the region.
The new biometric passports now being issued to citizens of Kazakhstan can include an entry for nationality.
Tajikistan will build more than 30 small hydroelectric plants this year that will cost around US$5 million to put into operation.
Artists at the Lukman studio have created a new short film aimed at preventing drug abuse among young people in Turkmenistan.
