A UN-sponsored meeting of 19 Asian and European countries has pledged to prioritize infrastructure projects worth $43 billion to revitalize the ancient Silk Road joining the two continents.
The UN has urged the international community to come up with $25 million to help feed 260,000 Tajiks. Meanwhile, the effects of the most severe weather in living memory are compounded by an acute energy shortage.
For the region's impoverished countries with gold deposits, the commodity's all-time highs should bring welcome economic benefits. But, for the moment, they are not rushing to cash in.
Authorities say Shamsuddin Shamsuddinov, a leading member of Central Asia's only legal Islamic party, died in prison of cancer. But his family has questioned that explanation.
Students and staff at one of Tajikistan's leading Islamic universities are being forced to shave their beards, don ties, and abandon "foreign" styles that include Islamic-style head scarves. Like previous curbs on personal and religious rights, the move came out of the blue.
The UN nuclear agency is still waiting for Bishkek to reply to a request for more information on a recent seizure of radioactive material. Experts say it appears unlikely smuggling was involved, but the case is a wakeup call to the threat of nuclear proliferation from former Soviet areas.
Heavy snow. Deadly avalanches. Impassable roads. And temperatures below -20 Celsius. Tajikistan is suffering through a fierce winter, made even worse by crippling energy shortages and high prices for food and fuel. The dire situation is leaving already beleaguered Tajiks feeling less-than-warm thoughts about the authorities.
Amid spikes in unemployment and energy prices, the government in recent months has moved to curb civil liberties. Its latest target, however, is an eye-catcher: witchcraft.
Central Asia is rich in history, oil, and gas -- and troubled by security risks, organized crime, narcotics trafficking, and extremism. In response to those threats, the United Nations this week launched a center for diplomacy in Ashgabat intended to help the region tackle its challenges before they spiral out of control.
Central Asia has become a testing ground for a more hard-nosed EU foreign policy, which -- if successful -- could be here to stay for the long term, says our Brussels correpondent.
November 14, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- A man was killed in an explosion early today near a government building in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, in an incident the authorities are treating as a terror attack, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reported.
Antonio Guterres (file) (epa) November 11, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres has arrived in Kyrgyzstan on his first visit to Central Asia since he started as the head of the UN's refugee agency in 2005.
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