EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou at a news conference about bird flu, 13 January (epa) As health officials from over 90 countries prepare to meet in Beijing next week, the EU earmarks money to limit the impact of bird flu in Europe, Asia, and the developing world.
RFE/RL looks at what the countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus are doing to prevent avian flu crossing their borders.
Prisoners rioting in Kyrgyzstan in October 2005 (AFP) On 6 January, the International Center for Prison Studies, a London-based NGO, released a report on the world's prison population. According to the center, some 9 million people are imprisoned worldwide, with Belarus, Russia, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine having the largest per capita prison populations in RFE/RL's broadcast region. Muhammad Tahir, a correspondent with RFE/RL's Turkmen Service, spoke with center research associate Anton Sheleupanov about the difficulty of getting information about prison conditions in Central Asia.
RFE/RL's Turkmen Service spoke with the head of Reporters Without Borders' post-Soviet section about press-freedom issues in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
6 January 2006 -- The European Union is to introduce new laws to combat the illegal trade in caviar within a matter of months.
President Niyazov last visited Moscow in May 2005 (file photo) (AFP) 5 January 2006 -- Turkmenistan President Saparmurat Niyazov will travel to Moscow this month for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Every Muslim is supposed to go on the hajj at least once in a lifetime, if he or she is financially and physically able to do so. But many pilgrims in Central Asia face interference from the state.
Economic freedom made impressive gains throughout North America and Europe, according to an annual survey conducted by "The Wall Street Journal" and the Heritage Foundation, an influential right-wing U.S. think tank.
The economies presided over by Iranian President Khatami and Turkmen President Niyazov are both considered "repressed" (file photo) (RFE/RL) 4 January 2006 -- An influential right-wing U.S. thinktank has again rated Hong Kong and Singapore the world's freest economies.
Throughout the current crisis, Kyiv has suggested it could turn to Turkmenistan to make up any losses of Russian gas supplies. That puts Ashgabat in a difficult position.
Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin (file photo) (RFE/RL) 3 January 2006 -- Moldova's president says Turkmenistan has offered to start negotiations about delivering gas to Moldova following Russia's decision to cut supplies to Moldova's neighbor Ukraine.
As Russia's Gazprom cut off gas deliveries to Ukraine by lowering pressure in the main pipeline to Europe, it announced that all the gas to be exported from Turkmenistan in the first quarter of 2006 belongs to it.
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