Author: Ilyas Karimov

It is as old and venerable as Rome, the eternal city, and Athens, the city of wisdom, yet Samarkand, the pearl of the Muslim world, draws only a fraction of the attention that those two capitals do. Indeed, while most people know that Rome is in Italy and Athens is in Greece, few would have even heard of Samarkand, let alone know that it is in Uzbekistan. That very anonymity, largely a result of being all but ignored by the world’s travelers, may be what is helping fuel a surge of Chinese tourists to the countries of Central Asia, where…

The head of Britain’s domestic intelligence agency warned the country’s leading research universities on Thursday that foreign states are targeting their institutions and imperiling national security. “We know that our universities are being actively targeted by hostile actors and need to guard against the threat posed to frontier research in the most sensitive sectors,” said the deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden, who also attended the briefing. The threat requires “further measures,” said the deputy PM, who announced that the government was launching a consultation with the sector so it could “do more to support our universities and put the right…

Speaker of the Parliament of Kyrgyzstan Nurlanbek Shakiyev met with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Palestine to Kyrgyzstan Javad Awad. The press service of the Parliament reported. Relations between the two countries were discussed during the meeting. Nurlanbek Shakiev noted that Kyrgyzstan is following with concern the sad events in the Gaza Strip in Palestine. «On behalf of the Parliament, I express my deepest condolences to the families and all Palestinians who have lost their loved ones as a result of the conflict. We hope that this tragedy in human history will end as soon as possible,» he said. The speaker recalled that the VIII Islamic Summit was recently held in Riyadh to discuss the situation in Palestine. «President Sadyr Japarov took part…

The People’s Bank of Kazakhstan plans to sell its subsidiary in Kyrgyzstan. The transaction will be closed after receiving permission from the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic. The People’s Bank of Kazakhstan (Halyk Bank, part of the Halyk Group) plans to sell 100 percent of the shares of its subsidiary bank in Kyrgyzstan to the Kazakh Visor Group, a statement posted on the London Stock Exchange website says. «The People’s Bank of Kazakhstan announces that it has reached an agreement with a consortium of buyers included in the Visor International DMCC investment group to sell 100 percent of the shares of Halyk Bank Kyrgyzstan,» the statement says. It is expected that the transaction will be closed after receiving permission from the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic.…

The issue of cooperation in the field of halal industry was discussed in Bishkek by the Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Kyrgyzstan Edil Baisalov with a delegation from Pakistan, Azernews reports, citing 24.kg News Agency. The fourth meeting of the Kyrgyz-Pakistani Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation was held in the capital of Kyrgyzstan. Edil Baisalov noted that the Kyrgyz Republic attaches great importance to Kyrgyz-Pakistani friendship and the development of cooperation in both trade, economic and social-humanitarian spheres. He focused on certain aspects of interaction between the two countries, in particular the development of cooperation…

London, Dublin (1/11 – 66) Hamas is sheltered in a sea of civilians. Ostensibly a Palestinian political and military organization established in 1987, Hamas “governs” on the basis of having won a majority in the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections – defeating Fatah, another Islamist terror combine – before forming a government in the Gaza Strip, described as “…the world’s largest open-air prison” for its Palestinian inhabitants. So why don’t the Palestinians, having been robbed of their ancient lands, simply up and move somewhere else? It is telling that none of the Islamic nations surrounding Israel care to admit any more…

President Sadyr Japarov signed the law ratifying the agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers of Kyrgyzstan and the government of China on the mutual creation of cultural centers, signed in Xi’an on May 18, the presidential press service reported. The law was adopted by the Parliament on October 18, 2023. The law aims to carry out domestic procedures for ratifying the agreement. The agreement provides for the creation of a Kyrgyz cultural center in China and a Chinese cultural center in Kyrgyzstan. The interaction of cultural centers will be the most effective tool for popularizing national culture, since bilateral exchange…

Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to make his first trip abroad since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for him. The presidency of Kyrgyzstan announced on October 5 that he is expected in the Central Asian country next week. Putin has not set foot outside Russia since The Hague-based court issued the warrant in March over the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia amid the Russia-Ukraine war. “By the invitation of the President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov on October 12 the President of the Russian Federation will pay an official visit to our country,” Kyrgyz…

Israel has not only been the victim of a vicious and despicable terrorist attack. It is also the victim of a brazenly cynical move to disrupt the international stage and subvert tranquility in the Middle East. The Israeli-Palestinian powder keg conveniently served to add yet another full scale crisis putting even further pressure on a global order already strained to breaking point. Although no concrete evidence exists of any involvement in the attacks, Russia stands to gain the most from this extra flash point on the world map, as violence and war in the Middle East distracts from Putin’s unjustified…

IT companies of Kyrgyzstan and the United States have agreed to establish cooperation, Azernews reports, citing Kabar. 15 domestic specialists visited the headquarters of Reliable Controls Corporation, Pluralsight and SecurityMetrics in Utah. They got acquainted with the activities of these organizations, the report said. At a meeting at Reliable Controls Corporation, the company management spoke about their work with mining companies in the United States. Kyrgyz companies presented information on their activities and discussed specific proposals on promising areas of cooperation, the Foreign Ministry noted. Protecting payment card information for small and midsize businesses in the US and around the world, was…