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"The BBC yesterday said it would close its World Service operation in the central Asian state of Uzbekistan, citing harassment by local officials." From Guardian Unlimited, Nick Paton Walsh, October 27, 2005

"The BBC is suspending its newsgathering operations in the Central Asian state of Uzbekistan due to security concerns. All local staff are being withdrawn and the office in the capital Tashkent will close for at least six months pending a decision on its long term future." From BBC News, October 26, 2005

"In Tajikistan, the government is trying to stop the spread of Islamic radicalism by forbidding those under 16 years of age from visiting mosques, unless they have written permission from their parents." From StrategyPage, October 29, 2005.

Javeline, D. (1999). Response effects in polite cultures: A test of acquiescence in Kazakhstan. Public Opinion Quarterly 63: 1-28. This article had an interesting discussion of the cultural predisposition to agree to attitudinal statements in survey research. This effect has been found in various Asian cultures. This article examines the problem in Kazakhstan with a controlled experiment testing responses to positive statements, negative statements, and balanced statements (that offered two positional choices). The author found that agreement to positive and negative versions of a statement were not equally flipped (e.g., it was not true that if X% agreed with the positive statement that X% disagreed with the negative statement). This suggested that positive or negative statements were not reliable because of this bias. The balanced statements had less difference in the responses from positive or negative than the positive/negative had with each other. The author also discovered differences in acquiescence between Russians and Kazakhs. Although differences were detected between ethnicities without consideration of question format, when question format was put into the analysis, the differences between ethnicity were strengthened on 4 measures and weakened on 2.

"Transparency International's 'Corruption Perceptions Index 2005,' released on the organization's website (http://www.transparency.org) on 18 October, ranked Turkmenistan one of the most corrupt countries in the world. With a score of 1.8 (where 10 is 'highly clean' and 0 is 'highly corrupt'), Turkmenistan shared 155th place with Haiti and Myanmar. The only countries rated as more corrupt were Bangladesh and Chad, sharing 158th place with identical scores of 1.7. Other Central Asian countries fared better than Turkmenistan but still found themselves in the lower realms of the survey, which evaluates 'perceptions of the degree of corruption as seen by business people and country analysts.' Tajikistan placed 144th with a score of 2.1; Uzbekistan 137th at 2.2; and Kyrgyzstan 130th at 2.3. The survey scored Kazakhstan the least corrupt country in Central Asia, in 107th place with a score of 2.6. By way of comparison, Russia placed 126th with a score of 2.4, on par with Albania, Niger, and Sierra Leone." From RFE/RL Newsline, October 19, 2005.

"TASHKENT, Oct 18 Asia Pulse - Galla Bank issued 50,000 plastic cards as of 1 October 2005. The bank entered the plastic cards market seven months ago. The bank plans to issue another 10,000 plastic cards up to the end of the year and to increase number of issued cards to 60,000. The bank implemented some 400 salary projects. The volume of transactions with plastic cards made up 536.1 million soums. Currently, the bank has 115 terminals in its network and it is expected that this figure will reach 500 by the end of this year." From UzReport.com, via Yahoo! News Australia and New Zealand, October 18, 2005.

"Saparmurat Niyazov's new book, 'Mahribanlarim' ('My Dear All'), was launched in Ashgabat on 15 October, the official Turkmenistan.ru site reported. Turkmen government official, intellectuals, teachers, and students participated in the ceremony, the agency reported. The new book reportedly consists of Niyazov's poetry and prose; the leitmotiv is the eternal connection between generations. According to Turkmenistan.ru, Niyazov praises the beauties of his homeland and its history, notions of courage, dignity, and love. 'Mahribanlarim' is Niyazov's fifth book published within the past several years." From RFE/RL Newsline, October 17, 2005.

"Malaysian companies PerNEC and UzMaPhone have signed an agreement with Uzbektelecom, national communication operator of Uzbekistan, to roll out some 9,000 coin-operated telephones in the country. Uzbektelecom and PerNEC have partnered with an authorized charter of $5 million, of which 60% share of the Malaysian side. The venture will set up wireless coin-box telephone network with 4,000 paystations based on CDMA-450 in the first phase. The paystations will be located along highways and regions difficult to access. Uzbektelecom's venture with UzMaPhone will have a charter capital of $4.3 million. It is expected that the venture will install 5,000 paystations in Tashkent city and Tashkent region." From Telecom Asia Daily, October 14, 2005.

"Germanos of Greece may decide to part with its interest in Daewoo Unitel, the second largest GSM-operator in Uzbekistan with about 150,000 subscribers (according to ACM-Consulting). Insiders say that Germanos already has several offers from other companies. According to the Greek newspaper Kerdos, they are China Telecom and some Russian company." Translated by Ferghana.ru, from Vedomosti, October 13, 2005

"Internews Network, a leading international media development organization, has lost its bid to continue working in Uzbekistan, the Central Asian nation where it has operated for ten years to support independent media. After ten minutes of deliberation, the Tashkent City Court on Tuesday denied Internews Network's appeal of a court order last month to shut down the US-based organization's Uzbekistan office." From Internews.com, October 12, 2005

Throughout Uzbekistan, in many disciplines, information and communication technologies are up to date. Electronic publications such as dictionaries will be coming to the State and Society Construction Academy, the Science Academy, the Alisher Navoiy Language and Literature Institue, the Uzbekistan National Library, the Central Bank, the Tashkent State Pedagogical University, and the Uzbekistan National University. Scientists and translators will benefit. The dictionary has 120,000 words for Uzbek-Russian, Uzbek-English, English-Uzbek, English-Russian, Russian-Uzbek, and Russian-English. From UzA (Uzbekistan National News Agency), "Elektron lug`atlar: qulay va ommabop," October 11, 2005

"Tajik Energy Ministry spokesman Nozir Yodgorov announced on 4 October new measures rationing electricity supplies, ITAR-TASS and Asia-Plus reported. The measures are to be introduced in all regions except the capital Dushanbe and seek to curb the country's rising electricity consumption. The rationing, to be effective immediately and lasting through April 2006, will result in the supply of daily electrical power being reduced to 10 hours -- five hours of electricity in the morning and five in the evening. In addition to curbing rising consumption, the move also stems from a decline in the water level in the country's reservoirs powering the main hydroelectric power plants." From RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 9, No. 188, Part I, 5 October 2005

"The US has got an image problem when it comes to the internet. It is seen as arrogant and determined to remain the sheriff of the world wide web, regardless of whatever the rest of the world may think. It has even lost the support of the European Union. It stands alone as the divisive battle over who runs the internet heads for a showdown at a key UN summit in Tunisia next month.The stakes are high, with the European Commissioner responsible for the net, Viviane Reding, warning of a potential web meltdown. 'The US is absolutely isolated and that is dangerous," she said during a briefing with journalists in London. Imagine the Brazilians or the Chinese doing their own internet. That would be the end of the story. I am very much afraid of a fragmented internet if there is no agreement.'" From BBC News Online, October 11, 2005

"Singaporean firm Ilkone Asia aims to sell 150,000 units of mobile phones with Islamic applications in Malaysia. The Islamic application available in the recently-released phone includes verses from the Quran in English, the azan and prayer time, among others. Uzbektelecom, the national communication operator of Uzbekistan, signs joint ventures with Malaysian firms PerNEC and UzMaPhone. The company said that both ventures would focus on development of coin-box telephone network in Uzbekistan. Kazakhstan's State IT and Communications Agency wants a third GSM operator in the country in the near future. The agency also said government has freed up frequencies for interested players." From Telecom Asia Daily, October 10, 2005

TURKMEN PRESIDENT MEETS WITH RUSSIAN TELECOM EXECUTIVE. RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 9, No. 188, Part I, 5 October 2005 TurkmenPresident Saparmurat Niyazov welcomed on 4 October a senior executiveof a leading Russian telecommunications firm to Ashgabat to discuss apossible investment in Turkmenistan, according to Turkmen TV. Niyazovand senior Turkmen officials met with MTS President Valerii Sidorovand reviewed the company's planed investment in the Turkmencellular-phone and telecommunications sectors. The investment, to befinanced by Russia's Rosbank, aims to expand Turkmenistan's cellularmarket from its current level of 50,000 subscribers, to between250,000-300,000 mobile-phone users. RG