The border was not closed, but simply operating under "temporary quarantine measures," Uzbekistan's official Jahon news agency reported.

On Monday a Kazakh foreign ministry spokesman said that Uzbekistan had unilaterally closed their shared border and that Astana had received no information on the motives for the decision.

The Uzbek news agency said, however,

The agency, in its October crop and food security assessment report, noted that the wheat crop is at a record high of 829,000 tonnes, one quarter more than last year, and yields of potatoes and other staple crops have substantially increased this season.

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (November 16, 2009) - On November 18-19, representatives of governments, donors, international and non-governmental organizations will gather in Bishkek to discuss past achievements and future challenges in disaster risk reduction. It is the second regional conference organized initiated by the European Commission Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO) and the Kyrgyz Republic Ministry

Tajikistan's Interior Ministry has announced that four suspected members of the banned Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) were killed and one alleged militant arrested in a security operation in a religiously conservative region of northern Tajikistan.

The incident in Isfara, in the restive Ferghana Valley that straddles the nearby borders of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, highlights security concerns over the IMU's activities in the region.

Tajik Interior Ministry spokesman Mahmadullo Asadulloev told RFE/RL on October 19 that one security officer was wounded

IDA Credit: US$65.544 million equivalent

Terms: Maturity = 35 years; Grace Period = 10 years

Project ID: P110538

Project Description: The Ferghana Valley Water Resources Management Project for Uzbekistan is to improve agricultural production in areas affected by water-logging, and to reduce damage to housing and infrastructure from rising ground water levels and salinity in the project districts. There are three components to the project.

When we started the campaign, it was common to hear that mine clearance would take centuries, that victim assistance was too broad an issue to be tackled effectively, that stockpile destruction would cost too much. A decade of Mine Ban Treaty implementation proved this was wrong. A mine-free world in our life time is a Mission Possible. But we are still far from it. The Cartagena Summit is the time for states to clearly show their determination to live up to their commitments to survivors and their families, to communities still living in the fields of death.

As of 29 August 2009, 5,031 laboratory-confirmed cases x xof Pandemic (H1N1) were reported to WHO by 21 out of 22 Member States of WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region. A total of 524 of these reported cases were locally transmitted, and there have been 21 deaths in: Egypt (1), Iraq (1), Islamic Republic of Iran (1), Kuwait (4), Lebanon (1), Oman (6), Palestine (1), Saudi Arabia (4), Qatar (1) and Yemen (1). Algeria has also reported 33 cases with no deaths. For more information please

After nearly two decades, in much of Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CEE/CIS) transition remains open-ended, and there is a considerable body of evidence suggesting that children have been - and continue to be - vulnerable in this process. However, the nature of the risks and deprivations experienced by children is changing, and the gaps between the least and most disadvantaged growing. Almost a decade of economic growth has brought about improvements in almost all average indicators of child well-being, but it has also made