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-thirds of Tajik boys surveyed recently see no reason to continue their education past middle school, wanting instead to work as migrant labourers to help their struggling families.
NATO and Afghan officials said July 29 that a new Taliban code of military conduct instructing fighters to limit suicide attacks and avoid killing civilians is a sham that does not reflect the true nature of the insurgents,.
On July 24, Pakistan and Italy concluded a US$100 million agreement to convert part of their loans into a debt swap that can be used to fund social sector development projects.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was left dangerously isolated as factional infighting further divided the country’s regime on July 27.
Tajikistan's Nur Foundation has announced US$60,000 in scholarship money for disabled students to attend the School for Lifelong Professional Education at the University of Central Asia.
A surge in prices has hit food staples in Kyrgyzstan. Flour, bread, sugar and vegetable oil prices have all jumped 25 percent, while rising prices at the pump have resulted in higher food shipment costs.
A group claiming to be the Indonesian arm of the Al-Qaeda terrorist network purportedly claimed responsibility for a pair of deadly bombs that exploded within minutes of each other at two luxury hotels in Jakarta on July 17.
Kazakhstani authorities are taking elaborate measures to limit the spread of the H1N1 flu in the country. So far, all those infected are in the capital, but emergency operations centres have been set up in other major cities to prevent the outbreak of an epidemic.
The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) has invited bids from Pakistani and foreign companies for the sale of new memberships in August.
The OSCE Office in Tajikistan and the nation's Chief Directorate for Border Guard Troops have agreed on the implementation of a training programme aimed at improving border security administration.
The Uzbek government intends to expedite construction of combined cycle gas turbine units at Talimarjan thermoelectric power station, which will enable it to increase deliveries of electricity to neighbouring Afghanistan. Thanks to Uzbek energy, the Afghan capital of Kabul enjoyed round-the-clock electrical power in May for the first time in many years.
Information technology (IT) laboratories will be set up in more than 4,000 schools across Punjab by November. Construction has almost been completed, and national and international companies have promised to donate the equipment and resources needed to make them operational.
A wave of Taliban-linked violence across Afghanistan over the weekend killed 22 people, including insurgents, a foreign soldier and two Afghan troops, authorities said July 26.
The Kyrgyzstan Central Election Committee officially declared the results of the July 23 presidential election, stating that incumbent head of state Kurmanbek Bakiyev received 76.12 percent of the vote and that opponent Almazbek Atambayev receieved only 8.41 percent.
Major sectors of the Pakistani economy are monopolised, which adversely affects the interest of consumers, the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) contended on July 24.
Pakistani “Beri” honey contains potent antibacterial substances effective against salmonella typhus, the bacterium responsible for typhoid fever, Lahore University of Health Sciences researchers said on July 20. That is just the beginning, they said.
The problems with waste disposal in Punjab exemplify the need for policies to protect Pakistan’s population, especially children, from chronic diseases caused by exposure to human waste, in particular.
Bishkek's Pervomayskiy District Court issued its verdict in a case involving demonstrators calling for democratic reform in Iran.
In the shadow of the Arc de Triomphe on July 26, Team Astana’s Alberto Contador held up two fingers on each hand to signify his second Tour de France win in what played out to be a near-perfect ride for the young Spanish champion.
On July 25 and 26, two explosions ripped through the capital of Tajikistan. Remains of improvised explosive devices were found at both sites.
Tajik customs officials confiscated coins dating back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC on the Tajik-Afghan border.
Bloody clashes on July 22 between Pakistani security forces and militants in Swat, Dir and Buner districts of insurgency-prone Malakand Agency left another 27 militants dead and many others wounded in Operation Rah-e-Rast.
Tajik Minister of Internal Affairs Abdurahim Kahharov announced July 22 that officers arrested members of a terrorist group that planned attacks.
Police arrested an influential pro-Taliban cleric on July 26 who brokered a failed peace deal in northern Pakistan's troubled Swat valley. His arrest indicated that the government will no longer negotiate with militants.
The pan-Russian social movement “Tajik Migrant Workers” has condemned a bill that will restrict the use of Russian in Tajikistan.
The Punjab Ministry of Education and the U.S. Agency for International Development will launch a five-year, US$75 million Pre-Service Teachers Education Project (Pre-STEP) to improve Pakistani teachers’ skills and qualifications.
On July 20, the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the World Health Organisation, launched a three-day national anti-polio drive and administered anti-polio drops to 33.9 million children under the age of five across the country.
Tajikistan’s Justice Ministry has filed four lawsuits so far this year against international organisations that promote religious beliefs in Tajikistan.
Altyn Asyr Lake materialised in the middle of the Karakum Desert, one of the world’s largest. The first stage of a project to create a man-made lake in Turkmenistan was completed earlier this month when water began to flow into the desert’s Karashor depression.
Kazakhstan’s head Rabbi Yeshaya Kogen thanked soccer authorities for agreeing to reschedule a match between Kazakhstan’s Aktobe and Israel’s Makkabi Haifa from July 29 to July 28, because the later date fell on the start of Tisha B’av, the national Jewish mourning period.
There is a genuine risk Islamist terrorists may get their hands on Pakistan's nuclear weapons or nuclear material for a dirty bomb, according to a British security expert.
The directors of the Public Health Department at the Centre for Disease Control and the Veterinary Service in South Kazakhstan region have acknowledged that doctors have been infected with the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever in the city of Turkestan.
On July 23, Kazakh doctors confirmed the H1N1 virus in three children who returned from studying in London.
Two presidential elections candidates in Kyrgyzstan, Almazbek Atambayev and Zhenishbek Nazaraliyev, called for the cessation of stopping voting on election day, July 23 and called for new, fair, elections.
MUMBAI, India — The trial of the lone surviving gunman in the Mumbai attacks will continue despite his surprise admission of guilt a judge ruled July 23, ensuring that the young Pakistani will be prosecuted for all 86 charges, including murder and conspiracy to wage war against India.
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) will allow 18 companies to resume trading of deliverable futures contracts on the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) Aug. 1.
Pakistan and Tajikistan concluded a free trade agreement, agreed to set up a joint business council and initiated work on a fast-track basis to establish a 1000-MW three-way electricity transmission line from Tajikistan to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
A police officer who beat journalist Almat Tashiyev has been detained and several officers of the Nookat District Internal Affairs Department have been dismissed, the Kyrgyz Ministry of Internal Affairs press office announced.
Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs Press Secretary Ilyas Omarov announced that a militant killed in July on the border between Chechnya and Ingushetia who had a Kazakh passport was not a citizen of the Republic.
The Global Environment Facility will help the Tajik government eliminate industrial waste dumped in the country during the Soviet era.
A review by the Kazakhstan General Procurator's Office discovered large-scale embezzlement in state construction programmes and inappropriate expenditures of funds allocated by the government.
The National Language Authority launched an Urdu computing and processing software package developed by its Centre of Excellence for Urdu Informatics that will help users of Urdu operating systems.
International Security Assistance Forces bombed about 300 tonnes of poppy seeds in a dusty field in southern Afghanistan July 21 in a dramatic show of force designed to sever the Taliban's connection to heroin.
On July 20, Pakistan’s navy took command of an international maritime task force to guard the Gulf of Oman, Arabian Sea, Red Sea and Indian Ocean against piracy.
The Tajik-Pakistani Inter-governmental Committee for Trade and Economic and Scientific-Technical Cooperation held its third meeting in Islamabad July 20 and 21 to discuss joint energy projects.
In a sermon at Tehran University, former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said Iran was in a state of crisis. Thousands took advantage of the speech to renew opposition to the result of the presidential election.
On July 21, two Kazakh students arrested on suspicion of counterfeiting money in the U.S. city of Chatham, Massachusetts, were released on bail.
Suspected Taliban militants armed with bombs rifles and rocket-propelled grenades launched near-simultaneous assaults July 21 on Afghan and NATO facilities in two eastern cities, killing six Afghan police and intelligence officers.
Uzbekistan will build the first plant in the CIS to produce synthetic fuel. An agreement for the joint venture was signed July 14 by the state holding company Uzbekneftegaz, Malaysia’s Petronas and South African company Sasol Group.
Opera, banned by former President Niyazov, is being resurrected in Turkmenistan. The premiere of “Leyli and Majnun” was performed on the eve of the birthday of the nation's sitting president, who brought opera back from disfavour.
Turkmen weightlifter Umurbek Bazarbayev took second place at the international tournament in Kazakhstan, named in honour of 2008 Olympic champion and winner of the 2006 Asian Games Ilya Ilyin.
The third International Forum on Human Rights, held in Chopon-Ata, brought together ombudsmen from across Europe and Asia.
On July 19, two armed men transporting explosives were arrested in Khorog, the administrative centre of Tajikistan’s Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region.
Citing current conditions in Pakistan as not conducive to local elections, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani announced July 8 that government administrators will be appointed in lieu of elected nazims across the country beginning Aug. 1.
Defence Housing Authority in Karachi will launch a 4,710 hectare real estate project that will offer 45,000 residential and commercial plots to the public.
Cyber crime cases are increasing in Pakistan, and the National Response Centre for Cyber Crimes is receiving a growing number of complaints.
A chicken-rearing project has been launched in southern Kazakhstan aimed at both lowering the market price of chicken and providing people with a source of income.
A July 19 rally in Almaty's Republican Palace to show support for ethnic Uighers in China's Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region drew an estimated 8,000 in turnout.
Pakistani warplanes and troops killed at least 12 militants and destroyed Taliban training centres in the north-west in recent operations, officials said July 18.
A new masterplan for the Tajik capital city will be proposed for government approval next year. The Dushanbe budget will allocate US$415,000 for its development.
Fresh from his meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Egypt, Pakistan Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani praised his Indian counterpart for his “political sagacity” and “statesmanship” on July 18.
The Khatlon province prosecutor’s office has brought four criminal cases against supporters of the Tablighi Jamaat movement, which is banned from operating in the country.
Approximately 2 million illegal seedlings were destroyed in Tajikistan during the first phase of Operation Poppy 2009, an annual campaign aimed at eradicating drug crops.
On July 16, Tajikistan's National Bank pledged no further devaluation of the country's currency, the somoni. A day earlier, Kazakhstan's National Bank Chairman Grigoriy Marchenko also announced that
Kyrgyzstan, Russia conduct joint training exercise on Chinese border - Central Asia News Afghanistan Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Uzbekistan Tajikistan Turkmenistan-Sports Business and Entertainment
On July 16, a group of armed militants ambushed a National Guard post in the Nurabad district. In the ensuing fire fight, five Tajik soldiers were wounded and six militants were killed.
HomeNet Pakistan, an NGO dedicated to ensuring fair labour practices for home-based workers, organised a consultative session to discuss access to decent work, well-paying employment and social welfare benefits.
Security forces charged at crowds of protesters gathered near Tehran University on July 17 after a prayer sermon delivered by opposition supporter Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
Indonesian authorities believe two suicide bombers checked into the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta and carried out coordinated bombings on July 17, killing themselves and at least six victims and wounding more than 50 others.
Gunmen killed a UN employee and a guard during a failed kidnap attempt at a refugee camp in northwestern Pakistan on July 16. The attack took place at the Kacha Garhi camp near Peshawar. Local police Chief Ghayoor Afridi said the assailants tried to abduct the UN official and opened fire when he resisted.
Lahore Traffic Police have launched a radio station to inform citizens about traffic rules, security matters and immediate traffic conditions. The station is a first-kind-of-its-kind experiment in Pakistan, and is on the air 24/7, said Muhammad Usman Khattak, Deputy Inspector General, Traffic Police, Lahore.
Amendments to Turkmen laws aimed at combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism came into effect on July 3. Experts and civil society are concerned that they may restrict activities of people who have no link whatsoever with terrorism.
India and Pakistan agreed to increase communication and information-sharing in an effort to prevent terrorist attacks and said dialogue was the only way forward in the wake of violence such as last November's siege in Mumbai.
The first 40 families from two villages that were literally wiped off the face of the earth by a natural disaster that struck Khuroson District in Tajikistan this spring moved into new homes.
An outbreak of the dangerous Congo-Crimean haemorrhagic fever in Turkestan, South Kazakhstan Province, has killed five people. Dozens of healthcare professionals from the city have been placed under observation.
The U.S. extended condolences to families of the 168 people feared dead in the July 15 crash of a Caspian Airlines plane in north-western Iran. While the U.S. has not had diplomatic relations with Iran over the past 30 years, the Obama administration considered it appropriate to reach out to the Iranian people with this gesture.
The European Commission has banned flights into the EU operated by all Kazakh airlines with the exception of Air Astana, the national flag carrier. All of Kyrgyzstan’s airlines have been blacklisted.
The Sindh Forest Department and the Federal Environment Ministry set a world record by planting 541,176 mangroves in less than 15 hours on a barren island.
On July 10, a memorial was erected for victims in the former Tajik city of Khayit who were wiped off the face of the earth 60 years ago by an extremely powerful earthquake
Turkmenistan will increase natural gas exports to Iran to 14 billion cubic metres per year. By the end of the year, a gas pipeline will be built to the Iran border for this purpose.
The independent research and analytical centre Religion, Law and Politics has announced that it is working on a new concept for Kyrgyz national Islam.
The Border Service of Kazakhstan’s National Security Committee reported on July 13 that it had detained 12 Chinese citizens on the border who tried to illegally enter the country.
Uzbek authorities arrested 10 people suspected of participating in terrorist acts in Andijan and Khanbad in May which resulted in two deaths and over a dozen injuries.
The 41 candidates now running for the office know they cannot fulfill the sweet promises they are making now to people with hopes of winning the presidential election. They certainly make the competition among them interesting. Each of the candidates is also accusing others of corruption, embezzlement, treachery and holding dual citizenship. It is very interesting indeed.
Tajik religious groups and organisations are required to re-register with the authorities by the end of this year.
Kyrgyz journalist Almaz Tashiyev died after being beaten by police officers on July 4. This is the sixth time over the past year that a journalist has been beaten in Tajikistan.
Kazakhstani authorities are investigating the citizenship of an insurgent killed July 11 on the border of Chechnya and Ingushetia who had a Kazakh passport.
At least 13 people were killed and more than 70 wounded when explosives stored in a madrasa exploded in a village near Mian Channu, about 250km west of the provincial capital Lahore, on July 13.
Tajikistan's current population stands at more than 7.5 million; by the beginning of 2010, that figure may reach 8 million.
Tajik émigrés in Moscow have started a charitable foundation to assist orphans, abandoned children and single mothers.
Three designs by Turkmen non-governmental organisations won the 2009 Central Asia Idea Fair.
Pro-government tribesmen killed 23 militants in clashes in north-west Pakistan in the latest fighting between tribal militias and Taliban insurgents, a government official said July 14.
On July 13, Mirzo Ziyoev, a former Emergency Situations Minister and field commander during the Tajik civil war, was killed in a special operation to destroy a militant group that attacked the Interior Affairs and local government buildings in the city of Tavildara.
A labour code approved by the country's president in April has entered into effect in Turkmenistan.
Shalimar Garden remains on UNESCO’s list of endangered historic sites despite a US$614,000 restoration from the Punjab government this year.
On July 13, Pakistan began sending home the first of about 2 million people displaced months ago by the army's assault on Taliban militants in the Swat valley.
Making Central Asia a mine-free zone again was discussed at an international conference in Dushanbe.
U.S. company Platineum Partners has begun construction of the large cement factory in Uzbekistan.
Several armed men fired on a police post in south-eastern Tajikistan, 20km from the Afghanistan border.
Approximately 1,470 athletes from 43 countries took part in the first Asian Youth Games. Ninety sets of medals were distributed across 10 events.
