Antoine Blua is a senior correspondent for RFE/RL.
In its annual report, the United Nations' World Meteorological Organization (WMO), says global warming is set to continue and bring with it an increase in extreme weather. The document comes as environmental ministers from 80 countries are debating climate change in Buenos Aires.
Kazakhstan's sunny skies and flat, wind-swept steppes make the country a promising land for solar and wind-based energy. In order to develop its solar potential, Kazakhstan last year launched its first solar energy project, in the southeastern Almaty region. Some 1,500 residents stand to benefit from the solar program, which was initially funded by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Canadian International Development Agency. Recently, the vast Central Asian republic launched its first large-scale project aimed at developing wind-based energy.
How did a 15-year-old Tajik boy get arrested earlier this year in Pakistan's South Waziristan region, which borders Afghanistan? The boy says he was kidnapped. But the Pakistani military says the youth might also have been part of a network of foreign Islamic militants operating in the wild tribal areas of northwestern Pakistan.
The Grand Duchy of Tuscany is noted for being the first sovereign state to abolish the death penalty, in 1786. Today, more than 130 countries have stopped executing prisoners in practice, and of those, around 80 have abolished capital punishment completely. Even in Central Asia, a region not known for its attention to human rights, the death penalty has been on the decline. As the world marks Human Rights Day today, RFE/RL looks at progress being made to rid Central Asia of what Amnesty International calls the "ultimate, irreversible denial of human rights."
Exiled Uzbek opposition leader Mohammed Salih The people of Central Asia are keeping a close eye on Ukraine. Over the next three months, all of the Central Asian republics except Kazakhstan are scheduled to hold legislative elections. The polls are likely to raise concerns once again over the region's lack of democracy. But as RFE/RL reports, Central Asians are also wondering whether their upcoming elections might somehow be inspired by the dramatic developments in Ukraine.
Over the past two years, HIV/AIDS infections have increased by 40 percent in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. According to a new United Nations report released in conjunction with World AIDS Day on 1 December, around 1.4 million people in that region live with AIDS or the virus that causes it. Worst affected are Russia, Ukraine, and the Baltic states. But in the first of a four-part series on AIDS in Central Asia, RFE/RL examines the early stages of what could become a regional HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Partial official results from Romania's presidential and parliamentary elections yesterday are giving the ruling ex-communists a small lead over opposition centrists. The leadership will lead the Balkan country as it seeks to gain European Union membership in 2007 by implementing economic and judicial reforms.
Each year several hundred children -- both boys and girls -- are kidnapped in Afghanistan. The children are often sold as brides into forced marriages or as slaves to be worked hard and, sometimes, sexually exploited. Ill treatment does not always end with the children's release from their abductors. RFE/RL looks at Rahima's story.
Since China's annexation of the Xinjiang-Uighur autonomous region in 1950, Beijing has pursued policies that have put considerable pressure on the local environment. This western region, which borders Central Asia, is home to China's main nuclear testing site. Pollution does not respect political boundaries, which is why the impact of the 42 reported tests at Lop Nor worries Central Asians, as does the planned construction of oil and gas pipelines linking Xinjiang to Central Asia. But the most immediate concern is water. China's "go west" policy aimed at further developing its northwestern province requires ever-growing amounts of water. In the third part of a series on China's mounting influence in Central Asia, RFE/RL correspondent Antoine Blua looks at the long-term implications for Kazakhstan of China's increasing use of trans-boundary rivers.
French President Jacques Chirac began a two-day visit to Britain today to mark the 100th anniversary of the pact that ended centuries of hostility between the two countries. However, the issue of Iraq is still hanging over relations between the European powers. On the eve of his visit, Chirac, who fiercely opposed the Iraq war, suggested that the United States and Britain had made the world a more dangerous place with the invasion.
The United Nations estimates that more than 1 million children around the world enter the global sex trade every year. The children are tricked or lured away from their families and are often taken abroad. In some cases, they are forced to service more than 10 customers per night, and are also used to feed the exploding popularity of child pornography over the Internet.
China's economy is booming, witnessed by its skyrocketing energy needs. Oil imports have doubled over the past five years and surged nearly 40 percent during the first eight months of 2004 alone. In an effort to secure future energy reserves, state oil trader Zhuhai Zhenrong agreed earlier this year to buy $20 billion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Iran over the next 25 years. More recently, Beijing signed a much bigger accord with Tehran under which China will buy Iranian oil and gas and help develop the country's giant Yadavaran oil field.
The director-general of the UN nuclear monitoring agency reacted today with cautious optimism to news Iran and leading countries of the European Union have reached a tentative deal on Tehran's controversial nuclear program. Iran said yesterday it has reached a preliminary deal that could see Tehran avert UN Security Council sanctions over its nuclear program.
Enclaves are usually small areas of land that belong to one country but actually lie within the borders of another nation. As living in an enclave generally involves many inconveniences, some countries have favored their elimination. For instance, Lithuania gave its Pagiriai enclave to Belarus in the mid-1990s after Minsk agreed to compensate Vilnius with territory adjacent to the Lithuanian border. Many other enclaves still exist, however, partcularly in South and Central Asia. RFE/RL takes a look at the difficulties residents of an Indian and a Kyrgyz enclave are facing in their everyday life.
Kyrgyz organizations are increasingly joining forces to achieve progress in the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Earlier this year, the Kyrgyz Football Federation began an HIV/AIDS and drug-abuse prevention campaign among thousands of young soccer players. RFE/RL reports on another unique campaign against HIV/AIDS in the republic, this time involving local Muslim clergy.
Zharmakhan Tuyakbai, the speaker of Kazakhstan's Mazhilis, or lower house of parliament, has harshly criticized recent parliamentary elections in the country. Tuyakbai, who is also the deputy chairman of the ruling Otan (Fatherland) party, described them as a "farce" in a newspaper article. What are the motives behind such blunt language? Otan ended up with more than half of the seats, while Tuyakbai is considered to be a loyal follower of President Nursultan Nazarbaev.
Working with refugees is one of the many areas NGOs focus on in the region In free societies, individuals and groups often pursue their interests -- and safeguard them -- in ways that are independent of the state. Collectively, their private actions belong to what is termed "civil society" -- and are the foundation of any democracy. Yet while vital to helping repressed peoples achieve greater political freedom, civil society is not born overnight. It takes time -- and hard work -- to develop. And that's where nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are playing a key role in Central Asia and Afghanistan as they seek to overcome decades of authoritarianism and war. This is the first of a two-part series on NGOs in Central Asia. To see Part 2, click here --> /featuresarticle/2004/09/4ad7f4c1-8aad-481a-a6b3-d7d3201dc023.html .
The U.S. Energy Department says 11 kilograms of enriched uranium fuel, including the highly enriched kind that could be used for nuclear weapons, have been safely returned to Russia from a lab in Uzbekistan. The one-day secret mission was conducted last week by the United States, Uzbekistan, and Russia and is part of a broad effort to secure high-risk nuclear materials and equipment around the world.
Iran was the first country to recognize Tajikistan's independence in the early 1990s. Since then, expectations were that the two countries -- which share a common language -- would develop close ties. That has not happened -- and Iranian President Hojatoleslam Mohammad Khatami is now visiting Tajikistan to try to change the situation.
Reports of an enormous explosion in North Korea last week have sparked concern that the country may have carried out a nuclear test. The first reports came from media in South Korea, which has been locked in a military stalemate with the North since the end of the Korean War in the 1950s. North Korea played down the significance of the blast today, saying it was a planned explosion carried out in connection with demolition work.
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