Customers at the General Post Office (GPO) in Peshawar February 6 buy stamps commemorating the late computer prodigy Arfa Karim, who died of epilep...
Turkmenistan held its first National Women's Football Championship March 21 to 25 in Ashgabat's Nisa-Chandybil stadium organised by the Football Federation, the State Committee for Tourism and Sport, and the Turkmen Women's Union.
Farmers in southern Tajikistan have been hit by a devastating invasion of the ravenous Moroccan locust. The insects are destroying maize and wheat crops, which could cause a grain shortage and result in higher prices for basic food items.
The Kazakh government has signed a contract with Korean corporations Korea Electric Power and Samsung to build the Balkhash thermo-electric power stations.
On March 30, a group of gunmen, some in police uniforms, attacked a police academy and held it for hours, seizing hostages, throwing grenades and killing at least 11 people before being overpowered by Pakistani commandos.
While farming in the foothills village of Tudakavsh in southern Tajikistan local residents dug up the skeleton of a young man from the Bronze era.
On March 20, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's press office announced that the country's leadership is dissatisfied with the official Religious Council of Muslims in the Republic (RCMR) because of its
The countries of Central and East Asia can ensure security and surmount the consequences of the global financial crisis by working together, participants in an international conference “Security in the Middle East During Global Crisis” concluded.
On March 25, 18-year old Farkhat Abdraimov escaped from Juvenile Penal Colony #14 where he was serving a sentence for theft. This happened just hours after he was captured following his successful jailbreak on March 23 from the same facility on March 23.
The name of the Uzbek citizen has not been released, but given that he belonged to an underground fundamentalist movement, it is likely he was a member of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan terrorist group.
The Union of Turkmenistan Industrialists and Businessmen held an exhibition and discussion forum in Ashgabat organised with the country's Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Social Entrepreneurship Corporations (SECs) are a new economic concept that entered the lives of Kazakhs during the global financial crisis.
An apparent suicide bombing in Pakistan destroyed a mosque near the Afghan border today, killing at least 50 people and wounding more than 100, officials and witnesses said. Scores of people were missing in the bloodstained rubble.
The premier of the play “Madness: Year 93” directed by Barzu Abdurazokov has been banned in Dushanbe. The Ministry of Culture claims the play has a revolutionary mood.
U.S. President Barack Obama announced a new Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy that will require significantly more U.S. funding and more military and civilian personnel to reverse what he called an
On Mar. 23, Kyrgyzstan’s grand alliance of opposition parties announced the intention to field a single candidate for the presidential elections on Jul. 23.
In the Tajik village of Rokhati in the Rudaki region, 104 residents have been hospitalised with typhoid fever. The first symptoms of the illness were recorded at the beginning of March, and by mid-month the number of victims stricken by the fever had reached triple digits.
On March 26, the first recruits of the Afghan Public Protection Force (APPF) graduated to a new community-level force NATO hopes will boost local security against the Taliban and do for Afghanistan what Sunni militias did in Iraq.
The analytical organisation Rapid Reaction Group Uzbekistan (RRG) contends that the country’s recently adopted rules on foreign currency transactions will lead to greater government control over the the foreign exchange market. Other experts, however, counter that the rules protect the domestic market from increased imports.
The Kyrgyz Borders Agency confirmed that there were two recent incidents on Kyrgyzstan’s borders with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
A suicide bomber struck a restaurant in volatile north-west Pakistan March 26, killing at least 11 people including pro-government fighters opposed to the country's top Taliban commander, intelligence officials said.
In all Central Asian republics, the spring equinox on March 22 marked the New Year and was celebrated as a national holiday across the region, a tradition that harks back to ancient times.
On March 21, a treaty declaring Central Asia a nuclear-free zone entered into effect. Parties to the treaty have pledged to prohibit the production, acquisition and deployment of nuclear weapons and their components, or other nuclear explosive devices, on their territory without prohibiting their development of peaceful nuclear energy.
In Indian Kashmir, eight soldiers and 17 Islamic militants were killed in a five-day gun battle with security forces. The Islamic militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) has threatened more violence in the disputed region.
The Hyatt Regency Dushanbe, the first five-star hotel in Tajikistan, has opened in the capital. The government hopes it will help accelerate the development of tourism in the country.
The gene bank will provide long term storage of seed materials and preserve their full germination power.
Kazakhstan is considering the possibility of exporting its national drink to Japan according to the personal blog of Minister of Industry and Trade Vladimir Shkolnik..
A roadside bomb killed 10 civilians in eastern Afghanistan while another wounded three Australian troops on March 25, highlighting a tactic increasingly favoured by Taliban militants.
Tajikistan recently launched its “investment opportunities” website in Dushanbe.
The Kazakh government plans to begin building its section of a Europe-China transit corridor this year and complete the project in 2013.
Construction has begun on a stretch of Tajikistan's Vakhdat-Yavan railway that will ultimately link Dushanbe with the Afghan border.
Parliament voted to celebrate “Navruz” from March 21 to 24 every year to revive and preserve national traditions.
At the end of a trip to Kyrgyzstan, an International Monetary Fund mission assessed the nation’s economic vulnerability in the context of the global financial crisis.
According to the World Health Organization, Kazakhstan is among the 27 countries with the highest incidence of tuberculosis. The country, however, has recently noted some positive trends in the fight against this dangerous disease.
The trial of the lone gunman captured in last November’s terror attacks in Mumbai has begun in India. India blames a Pakistan-based terror group for the attack that killed approximately 170 people. The suspect told a court on March 23 that he is from Pakistan and asked for legal counsel.
A jury system will be established in Kyrgyzstan in 2010. Jurors will return verdicts on charges brought under six articles for which maximum sentences can be imposed.
The Japanese government has granted US$117,000 to the Agency of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea and the Uzbek Institute of Archaeology.
A group of Tajik civil society organisations has sent the president and parliament a proposal to amend the law on elections.
Lance Armstrong of Astana Team was taken to hospital March 23 with a possible broken collarbone after falling during a pileup in the first stage of a race.
Several investigations into the fate of the wealth transferred abroad by Turkmenistan's former president who died in 2006 have thus far proven fruitless.
Tajikistan has called upon the international community to assist Central Asian countries in resolving their water problems.
Kyrgyz deputies are proposing restrictions on family celebrations and other events that put a heavy strain on household budgets.
A second round of selections has been made in Turkmenistan for a small grants program through the UN-funded programme entitled, “Conservation and Sustainable Use of Globally Significant Biological Diversity in Khazar Nature Reserve on the Caspian Sea Coast”.
During a visit to South Kazakhstan Region, the Kazakh vice-premier announced measures to support cotton growers who are suffering from a lack of water.
A National Law Centre will be created in Tajikistan ostensibly to improve the quality of legislation and the effectiveness of the law-making process.
Fulfilling a campaign promise and breaking new diplomatic ground at the same time, President Barack Obama has appealed to both Iran’s leaders and its people for
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Funds allocated by the EU for the reform of Kyrgyzstan’s prison system will be used to train prison officers and build a high-security penal colony for prisoners serving life sentences.
On Mar. 20, Kyrgyz MPs voted to set July 23 as the date for the presidential election
A high voltage power line from Puli-Khumri to a Sangtuda GES-1 hydroelectric plant substation in Tajikistan is under construction in Afghanistan.
UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief Asma Jahangir evaluated religious freedom in Tajikistan and Turkmenistan on Mar. 12 in a presentation at the 10th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Twenty-one madrasas, or Islamic religious schools, have been closed in Kyrgyzstan’s Chuy Province. Authorities say the decision was taken due to violations of health and structural regulations.
The human rights organisation Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society called for a special commission to defend independent media and journalists.
Turkmenistan President Berdymukhamedov established a new annual competition for the best horse in the country.
General Electric’s new Evolution diesel locomotive designed specifically for the Kazakhstan national railway system has been presented in Almaty. The American diesel locomotives will now be assembled in Astana.
Government figures show that only 60,000 of the 715,000 children in Kyrgyzstan under the age of seven attend pre-schools.
Independent Tajik Television (SMT), the only independent television station in Dushanbe, suspended broadcasting when its landlord, the state-owned Sharki Ozod complex, ordered the studio’s power be disconnected because of unpaid electrical bills.
The Kazakhstan government is considering increasing customs duties on used imported vehicles, which it hopes will stimulate increased domestic car production.
Kazakhstan's first all-season food storage facility has been built in Almaty, part of a project to create a “food belt” around the southern city.
On March 17, Tajikistan unveiled its Sughd and Pyanj economic free zones.
At a meeting with the capital's business elite, Dushanbe Mayor Makhmadsayid Ubaidullayev stated that business owners must learn to assert their rights in cases of illegal and groundless audits by state agency representatives.
The management of open joint stock company Orienbank asked the Tajik Finance Ministry March 12 for extensions on the repayment of loans provided in 2008 to finance cotton farms.
The money will be used to clear 718,000 square metres of mines in the Rushansky district of Gorno-Badakhshansky autonomous region.
Medtebek Sadyrkulov, former presidential administration head, died Mar. 13 in a car crash that occurred under suspicious circumstances. Sergey Slepchenko, former chief of the disbanded International Institute for Strategic Studies, and Sadyrkulov’s chauffeur Kubat Sulajmanov were also killed.
Kyrgyz NGOs are bombarding parliament with faxes, telephone calls and emails to oppose proposed amendments to the law governing their activities.
Uzbek human rights activist Mutabar Tadzhibayeva was presented the Women of Courage award in Washington, D.C. on March 11 by First Lady Michelle Obama and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The government of Kazakhstan has approved its 2009-2011 strategic space plan setting out the priorities for Kazkosmos, the national space agency.
Kyrgyz traders in Kazakhstan get a break - Central Asia News Афганистан Казахстан Кыргызстан Узбекистан Таджикистан Туркменистан-Спорт Бизнес и Развлечения
Human trafficking crimes in Uzbekistan increased 150 percent in 2008.
The Parastu-2009 theatre festival scheduled for March 23 – 31 in Dushanbe has been cancelled. The Ministry of Culture is investing all its effort and funds in the international pop music competition “Five Stars: Intervision”.
Pakistan’s chief justice has been reinstated after a two-year struggle. For those assembled in the country’s capital to celebrate, anything seemed possible.
Kyrgyz women’s organisations are calling for amendments to be made to the “Law on Courts of Aksakals”.
The Silk Road 2009 international off-road rally through three countries will be held Sept. 5 – 13.
According to the UN's International Narcotics Control Board annual report, drug addiction in Central Asia is continuing its steady rise.
Kazakhstan's National Bank endorses a draft bill to limit currency exchange operations to banks only.
Cars made by GM Uzbekistan went on general sale in Tashkent at the beginning of March.
According to statistics from the Kyrgyz Borders Agency, 430 violations of the country’s borders occurred in 2008.
Direct flights between Dushanbe and Tashkent will be resumed following an agreement reached during negotiations between the heads of Tajik and Uzbek national airlines.
It emerged, at the beginning of March, that former governor of Samarkand Province Azamhon Bahromov had been sentenced a month earlier to 15 years’ imprisonment. He was found guilty of extortion, blackmail, bribe-taking, embezzling vast sums of government money and setting up large criminal rackets suspected of laundering money to aid international terrorism.
Two agents of the special Tajik Drug Control Agency were wounded when the drug dealers they attempted to arrest in Dushanbe threw grenades at them.
Former Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Alikbek Dzhekshenkulov, now an opposition leader, has been arrested. He is under suspicion of being involved in a murder because the weapon used belongs to him. The opposition calls the arrest political terrorism.
The U.S. Embassy in Tajikistan has issued its annul State Department report on human rights for 2008. The authors conclude that Tajikistan is an authoritative state with President Emomali Rakhmon and his supporters dominating its politics.
Best University Instructor grants of US$17,000 have been awarded to 200 Kazakh university professors who can use the funds to study aboard or continue their research in Kazakhstan.
On March 13 and 14, an international conference,
After 14 years, People's Artist of Turkmenistan Gurt Nazarov returned to his homeland and performed his first solo concert on Feb. 28.
Tajikistan government offices are cutting expenditures on office supplies, transportation, telephone service and business trips.
Dushanbe officials have issued an international tender to select an investor to develop the Bolshoi Koni Mansur silver field in northern Tajikistan.
The World Bank (WB) has confirmed it is ready to work with Tajikistan's government to build the Rogun hydroelectric dam.
The new political movement “25” is named for the article of the Kyrgyz constitution that guarantees the right of public assembly. The movement unites young human rights activists.
Kazakhstan continues to celebrate International Women's Day. On March 7, a forum was held in Astana to celebrate the achievements of the country's women with the 365 delegates in attendance representing success in many walks of life.
In February, Tashkent marked the beginning of the Days of African-American Culture.
Tajikistan's lower house of parliament has adopted an amendment to the education law that bans the use of mobile phones in schools and institutions of higher learning.
Kyrgyz parliament is demanding stricter rules for the adoption of children by foreign citizens. Parliamentarians believe that international adoption should be a last resort and involve only children with physical disabilities.
The Astana Futures men’s tennis tournament that drew players from 20 countries ended with Kazakhstan’s Aleksei Kedryuk winning.
The Kazakh president made his annual address to the nation titled “Through Crisis toward Renewal and Growth”. It focused on preparing for the challenges presented by global economic processes.
A total of 268 complaints were made over the last three years regarding forced marriage. In rural areas, up to 80 percent of marriages occur following the abduction of the bride-to-be.
British scientists have published an article in the journal “Science” revealing their findings that horses were first domesticated 5,500 years ago in northern Kazakhstan.
The president of Tajikistan has designated International Women’s Day as Mother’s Day.
In 2008, more than 30 cells of religious-extremist organisations were discovered in Kyrgyzstan and activity on 85 extremist and 6 terrorist Internet gateways was shut down.
An exhibit
Chinese company ТВЕА is building a number of power generators in Tajikistan for a total cost of US$340 million.
