Uzbekistan

The State Department says U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will visit Tajikistan (tah-JEEK'-ih-stahn) and Uzbekistan (ooz-behk-ih-STAHN') this weekend as she wraps up a Central Asian tour focused on securing and stabilizing Afghanistan. After meetings in Pakistan on Friday, Clinton will travel to the Tajik capital of Dushanbe and then move on Saturday to the Uzbek capital of Tashkent (TAHSH'-kehnt), the department said. She returns to Washington on Sunday. Clinton is making the visits to press for Afghanistan's full integration into the region as part of efforts to bring an...

Fifth-seeded Bernard Tomic of Australia and seventh-seeded Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan won Tuesday to reach the second round of the Open de Nice. Tomic beat Lukas Lacko of Slovakia 6-2, 6-3, breaking serve twice in each set. He next plays Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan, who eased past big-serving Sam Querrey 6-2, 7-5. Istomin advanced with a 7-6 (3), 1-6, 6-1 victory over Alejandro Falla of Colombia. That sets up a match with Russia's Nikolay Davydenko, who defeated Matthew Ebden of Australia 6-3, 6-3. Xavier Malisse of Belgium beat Lu Yen-Hsun of Taiwan 7-5, 6-4; Grigor Dimitrov of...

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan -- A domestic airliner crashed yesterday on approach to the airport in Uzbekistan's capital, the Interior Ministry said. At least 36 people, including the top UN official for Uzbekistan, were aboard, and no survivors were reported. The plane was an Uzbekistan Airways Yakovlev-40 en route from Termez, in the country's far south along the Afghanistan border, said an Interior Ministry duty officer who declined to give his name. He gave no further details. An Uzbekistan Airways official in Moscow, Eduard Mirzoyan, was quoted by the news agency Interfax as saying 36 people were...

Fifth-seeded Bernard Tomic beat Lukas Lacko 6-2, 6-3 Tuesday to reach the second round of the Open de Nice. The Australian broke Lacko's serve twice in each set to set up a second-round match against Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan, who eased past big-serving American Sam Querrey 6-2, 7-5. Seventh-seeded Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan also advanced to the second round with a 7-6 (3), 1-6, 6-1 win over Alejandro Falla of Colombia, and will play Nikolay Davydenko after the Russian defeated Matthew Ebden of Australia 6-3, 6-3. Also, Xavier Malisse of Belgium beat Lu Yen-Hsun of...

WASHINGTON - The United States is considering resuming military cooperation with authoritarian Uzbekistan as a part of backup planning for the potential loss of a nearby air hub for troops and supplies in the widening Afghanistan war, US officials said yesterday. Defense officials say they are examining options for supply routes through a semicircle of nations from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf that could be used in place of the strategic air base in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan.

Uzbekistan's government plans to sell off almost 500 state assets over the next two years in an ongoing drive to expand the private sector in this former Soviet nation. Media in Uzbekistan cited Uzbek state property committee deputy chairman Saifitdlin Gafarov as saying Tuesday that assets in the oil, gas, energy, metals, agriculture, electronics and pharmaceuticals industries sectors will be made available for purchase. Privately owned news portal UzReport.com cited government officials as saying one aim was to attract foreign investors...

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan -- Uzbekistan's upper house of parliament yesterday backed the government's decision to evict US troops from their base in the Central Asian nation, dealing a blow to US interests in the region. The unanimous vote by 93 Senate members present at the session reflects the souring of relations with the United States since Washington criticized a bloody government crackdown on unrest in eastern Uzbekistan. President Islam Karimov's government said July 29 that the United States had six months to vacate the Karshi-Khanabad Air Base in the country's...

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan -- Uzbekistan signaled yesterday that it was reconsidering the future of a US air base used for operations in neighboring Afghanistan, throwing into doubt the American military presence in this former Soviet republic. The move, which comes amid a cooling in relations between Washington and the authoritarian Uzbek leader Islam Karimov, marks a victory for regional giants Russia and China in their apparent efforts to push the United States out of former Soviet Central Asia.

Authorities in Uzbekistan are, apparently, unwilling to give love a chance. The Russian news agency RIA-Novosti cited several local media in the Central Asian nation reporting Tuesday that Uzbekistan has canceled concerts and other events for Valentine's Day. Instead, residents in the capital of Tashkent can enjoy readings of poems by Mughal emperor Babur, who died in the 16th century. The unofficial ban on romance-related festivities echoes long-standing antagonism in Uzbekistan toward the holiday.

BRUSSELS -- Uzbekistan has told NATO allies they can no longer use its territory or airspace to support peacekeeping missions in neighboring Afghanistan -- an apparent retaliatory move against a West critical of the former Soviet republic's human rights record, alliance officials said yesterday. Uzbekistan's shift away from once-warm relations with the West has been matched by closer ties with Russia, ever wary of Western influence in its former Soviet satellites. The two countries this month signed a far-reaching treaty opening the way for a Russian...

Uzbekistan's government plans to sell off almost 500 state assets over the next two years in an ongoing drive to expand the private sector in this former Soviet nation. Media in Uzbekistan cited Uzbek state property committee deputy chairman Saifitdlin Gafarov as saying Tuesday that assets in the oil, gas, energy, metals, agriculture, electronics and pharmaceuticals industries sectors will be made available for purchase. Privately owned news portal UzReport.com cited government officials as saying one aim was to attract foreign investors to help boost Uzbekistan's technological...

Uzbekistan says it will cease natural gas deliveries to its energy-starved neighbor Tajikistan starting next month. Uzbekistan, which is Tajikistan's only external source of gas, routinely suspends deliveries amid complaints of nonpayment. Uzbekneftegaz said in a statement Sunday the suspension was in line with a three-month contract signed at the start of the year. Energy officials in Tajikistan had complained about plans to halt deliveries. Relations between the two former Soviet Central Asian states have been strained ever since they both gained...

Andy Roddick reached his second quarterfinal of the year with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championship on Thursday. The other time the fourth-seeded Roddick reached a quarterfinal this season was in San Jose two weeks ago. He lost that match to Istomin 6-2, 6-4 in their only other career meeting. Roddick is currently ranked No. 30, which is the lowest ranking he's had since he ranked No. 30 on August 13, 2001.

Authorities in Uzbekistan are, apparently, unwilling to give love a chance. The Russian news agency RIA-Novosti cited several local media in the Central Asian nation reporting Tuesday that Uzbekistan has canceled concerts and other events for Valentine's Day. Instead, residents in the capital of Tashkent can enjoy readings of poems by Mughal emperor Babur, who died in the 16th century. The unofficial ban on romance-related festivities echoes long-standing antagonism in Uzbekistan toward the holiday.

The State Department says U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will visit Tajikistan (tah-JEEK'-ih-stahn) and Uzbekistan (ooz-behk-ih-STAHN') this weekend as she wraps up a Central Asian tour focused on securing and stabilizing Afghanistan. After meetings in Pakistan on Friday, Clinton will travel to the Tajik capital of Dushanbe and then move on Saturday to the Uzbek capital of Tashkent (TAHSH'-kehnt), the department said. She returns to Washington on Sunday. Clinton is making the visits to press for Afghanistan's full integration into the region as part of...

Syria was thrown out of the qualifying tournament for the 2014 World Cup on Friday after fielding an ineligible player. FIFA reinstated Tajikistan in its place. Despite previously representing Sweden, striker George Mourad played in last month's qualifier against Tajikistan. He scored in the first leg, which Syria won 6-1 on aggregate. Tajikistan will take Syria's place in Group C of Asia qualifying along with Japan, Uzbekistan and North Korea. Mourad played for Sweden in qualifying for the 2003 Under-21 European Championship and exhibitions for the country's senior...

Uzbekistan says it will cease natural gas deliveries to its energy-starved neighbor Tajikistan starting next month. Uzbekistan, which is Tajikistan's only external source of gas, routinely suspends deliveries amid complaints of nonpayment. Uzbekneftegaz said in a statement Sunday the suspension was in line with a three-month contract signed at the start of the year. Energy officials in Tajikistan had complained about plans to halt deliveries. Relations between the two former Soviet Central Asian states have been strained ever since they both gained independence in 1991.

ASTANA, Kazakhstan -- A regional alliance led by China and Russia called yesterday for the United States and its coalition allies in Afghanistan to set a date for withdrawing from several states in Central Asia, reflecting growing unease at America's military presence in the region. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which groups Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, urged a deadline be set for withdrawal of the foreign forces from its member states in light of what it said was a decline in active fighting in Afghanistan.

The National Retail Federation trade group spent $690,000 in the first quarter lobbying federal officials on a variety of issues, from clothing import tariffs to techniques used in raising sheep in Australia and cotton in Uzbekistan to U.S. health care laws. That was below the $840,000 it spent in the fourth quarter of 2010 and the $740,000 it spent in the first quarter of 2010. The trade group, whose members include J.C. Penney, Best Buy Co. and Macy’s Inc., also lobbied the federal government on legislation involving debit card fees and ethanol regulations, according to a report...

The documentary “The Art of the Steal’’ drew some attention recently for highlighting a controversial push to relocate the Barnes Foundation’s privately held Impressionist collection from the Philadelphia suburbs to an ostensibly more accessible downtown location. You wonder how the players in that little saga might have felt about the curating efforts of Igor Savitsky, an art aficionado in the remote Soviet republic of Uzbekistan who, during the 1960s and ’70s, obsessively gathered more than 40,000 pieces in a self-created museum.