BISHKEK (TCA) — Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says it is appalled by Kyrgyzstan journalist Zulpukar Sapanov’s four-year jail sentence for allegedly “inciting hatred between religious faiths” in a book about pre-Islamic beliefs in Kyrgyzstan and calls for his conviction to be overturned on appeal.

Continue reading

BISHKEK (TCA) — The Publisher’s note: Central Asia is an important geopolitical area between Europe, Russia and China. It is in Central Asia that world powers have confronted each other for centuries; it is here that China needs to succeed with its new Silk Road Belt for direct access to the Western markets; and it is here that a large wealth of raw materials has its origin. Every week thousands of news appears all over the world in printed and online media and it is quite understandable that many of them may escape the attention of busy readers. At The Times of Central Asia, we strongly believe that more information can better contribute to peaceful development and better knowledge of the region, and for this reason we are presenting this Weekly Digest of Central Asia which compiles what other media have reported during the past week.

Continue reading

TEHRAN (TCA) — China will provide a credit line of $10 billion to Iran for its infrastructure projects, Iran’s PressTV news agency reported on September 15.

Continue reading

ASTANA (TCA) — As Islamist extremism and terrorism is becoming a serious challenge in Kazakhstan, threatening with cyberattacks, the government is implementing a costly information security project aimed at thwarting the threat. We are republishing this article by Farkhad Sharip, originally published by The Jamestown Foundation’s Eurasia Daily Monitor and entitled Encroaching Extremism in West Kazakhstan: A Challenge for ‘Cyber Shield’:

Continue reading

KABUL (TCA) — Afghanistan plans to increase fruit exports to Russia in the near future by delivering up to 70 tons of fruits to Moscow per day, First Vice-Chairman of Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) Al-Khaj Khan Jan Alokozai told Russia’s Sputnik news agency.

Continue reading