On this week's Majlis podcast, RFE/RL media-relations manager Muhammad Tahir moderates a discussion about gender violence in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, and why officials in those two countries seem unable to effectively combat it.
Kyrgyzstan gets most of its domestic electricity from hydropower plants. Low water at the country’s largest hydropower plant has led to a reduction in power that is causing concern in neighboring countries.
Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have broken ground for a giant trade and economic-cooperation hub, the largest of its kind in Central Asia, along the border of the two neighbors.
Since Uzbekistan's first president died in 2016, the authorities have been working to change the image of the country as a chronic rights abuser. There have been some signs of progress but starting in late February, things began to fall apart.
Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev has criticized regional governors for what he calls a "lack of leadership" and a "failure" to coordinate efforts to support small- and medium-sized businesses in recent years.
Amnesty International says some measures to tackle the coronavirus pandemic have aggravated existing patterns of abuses and inequalities in Europe and Central Asia.
Uzbekistan's Erk (Freedom) Party, which was banned in the 1990s and its leader forced out of the country and his associates jailed, says it plans to try to field a candidate for president in the election later this year.
Uzbekistan's president has been making unannounced trips to regions across the country, saying he wants to see the realities of people's lives instead of neighborhoods spruced up just for his visits. That has some provincial governors scrambling to carry out repairs in long-neglected communities.
The head of Kyrgyzstan’s security service returned from talks with Uzbekistan last week claiming their border demarcation issues have been “resolved 100 percent.” But this week, the same official has been telling residents of some disputed areas that it's not a done deal.
Health authorities in Uzbekistan kicked off a mass vaccination campaign against COVID-19 on April 1 with the first residents of Tashkent and regional capitals getting their shots.
Six months ahead of a planned presidential election and with physical attacks on government critics mounting, Uzbekistan has criminalized "insult and slander" of the president in digital and online form.
Well-known Uzbek singer Jahongir Otajonov says he was threatened with bodily harm after announcing plans to run for president of the Central Asian nation. Security-camera footage in Otajonov's Istanbul office showed three men warning him that there was a contract out for his beating.
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