Construction will hopefully start this year on two railways linking China's westernmost Xinjiang with the central Asian nations of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, sources with the regional government of Xinjiang said.

A crippling shortage of energy, combined with severe weather conditions, have left many people living in cold, dark homes in Tajikistan and other parts of Central Asia. Coupled with increasing prices for food and gasoline, it's creating a miserable winter for many.

Tajikistan and Kazakhstan have signed a number of agreements on investment and trade during Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev's visit to Dushanbe.

In the majority of Central Asia's prisons and colonies, inmate access to even basic medical care is severely limited. Rights activists and former convicts say sick prisoners often get only one-half or even one-quarter of a pain-relief tablet, regardless of what illness they have.

Health officials in Kyrgyzstan confirmed earlier reports Monday that 11 people, including nine children, had contracted HIV after being given contaminated blood during transfusions in the south of the Central Asian state.

The International community still remains skeptical as to Uzbekistan, the country located in Central Asia as the most significant state in the region, as to its prospects as an emerging civil society and still seems clouded with doubts whereas a journalist of "Uzbekistan Today" who made a presentation of the country of over 26 million people, within an international conference on exploring liberty seems to have done a good job clearing these doubts clouding the western eyes.

India and Uzbekistan are key partners in jointly fighting International terrorism and religious extremism. The two countries share common view in a wide range of global issues concerning education, stabilization of peace in the region and raising human literacy. Uzbekistan Today's Bobur Kommilov interviews Indian Consul in Uzbekistan.

The wide range of economic reformations being carried out by the state in Uzbekistan continuously evokes the interest and cause heated debates among the large business corporations and financial institutions all over the globe.

The issue of transport routes between Central Asia and Iran was the focus of talks between Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov and Iranian leaders in Tehran on June 15-16.

EU foreign ministers have given their approval to the bloc's first-ever strategy for cooperation with Central Asia at their meeting in Luxembourg. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier described it best when he said Central Asia has been "like a blind spot in the EU's field of vision."

On the threshold of schoo-lchildren's summer holidays a performance of the "Tomosha" Children's Folklore Theater "Hello, Summer Holidays!" took place in the summer hall of the "Turkiston" palace. A bright theatrical show and songs performed by young artists made indelible impressions of audience. Aside with participants of the theater, graduates of the "Tomosha" Theater were on the stage.

The event was attended by around fifty representatives of the Anglican, Catholic, Russian Orthodox, Jewish Community and various Muslim organizations. Academic institutions that participated in the even included the Cambridge and London Universities, King's College, as well as officials of Britain, media and diplomatic corps in London.