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Uzbekistan is accelerating the development of specialised industrial zones as part of its strategy to attract international capital and strengthen its role as a regional logistics hub, officials said on Monday.

One of the flagship projects is Yangi Avlod, an industrial zone established a year ago, which has already drawn investors from China and the UAE. Global logistics operator DP World is also developing a multimodal transport hub in the country, aimed at improving supply chains across Central Asia.

The Yangi Avlod zone offers investors tax exemptions, customs benefits and long-term land leases, alongside fully developed infrastructure including...

A recent report reveals that U.S. military equipment left behind after the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan is now fuelling armed movements in neighbouring Pakistan. According to Afghan and watchdog sources, billions of dollars’ worth of weapons and gear abandoned by U.S. and allied forces have either been lost, sold or smuggled into illicit markets, leaving their final destinations unaccounted for.

Taliban officials recently admitted that at least half of the stockpile in Afghanistan cannot be traced, raising concerns about the spread of these arms. Investigations suggest that militant groups such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), al-Qaida affiliates and...

Industrial enterprises in Uzbekistan paid a total of $6.31 bn in taxes between January and October 2025, the State Tax Committee reports. During this period, 60,525 manufacturing companies made tax payments, with just 20 of them accounting for $1.31 bn of the total.

Uzbekneftegaz led the list of taxpayers, contributing $248 mln, followed by Uzbat with $198.6 mln and UzAuto Motors with $132.4 mln.

The largest share of budget revenues came from value added tax at $405.3 mln, excise duties at $330.7 mln and corporate profit tax at $182 mln.

Income generated by Yandex Go partner parks and their drivers in Uzbekistan exceeded 6.6 trln soums ($545.5 mln) between January and November 2025, the company said. This marks a 38% increase compared with the same period last year.

Over the year, the average hourly income earned by drivers from trips rose by 21%. As of November, the average monthly income of a Yandex Go driver nationwide stood at around 10.2 mln soums ($843).

Yandex Go, previously known as Yandex Taxi, began operating in Uzbekistan in early April 2018, initially launching its service in Tashkent before expanding to other cities across...

Schools in Delhi and nearby areas have shifted to online learning and construction work has been suspended as the Indian capital battles dangerously polluted air. A thick toxic haze covered the city on Monday morning, reducing visibility and disrupting flights and train services.

The air quality index in Delhi surged to levels more than 30 times higher than those recommended by the World Health Organization. Such exposure, driven largely by fine PM2.5 particles, poses serious health risks, particularly to children and older people.

Why air quality has worsened

Air pollution is a persistent winter problem in Delhi and its...

Jose Antonio Kast won Chile’s presidential election on Sunday with 58% of the vote, defeating leftist candidate Jeannette Jara, who received 42% and promptly conceded. The victory marks the country’s most pronounced shift to the right since the end of the military dictatorship in 1990.

A veteran right-wing hardliner, Kast has spent decades advocating border walls, military deployment in high-crime areas, and the deportation of undocumented migrants. In a victory speech at the Republican Party headquarters in Santiago’s Las Condes district, he promised “real change,” emphasising security as the foundation of freedom and democracy.

Family history fuels controversy

Kast’s...

Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigner and media tycoon Jimmy Lai has been convicted of colluding with foreign forces under the city’s national security law (NSL), officials confirmed.

Lai, 78, who has been detained since December 2020, pleaded not guilty. He now faces a potential life sentence and is expected to be sentenced early next year. The court found that Lai used his defunct Apple Daily newspaper to lobby foreign governments to impose sanctions on Hong Kong and China.

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee welcomed the verdict, stating Lai’s actions had «damaged the country’s interests and the welfare of Hong...

Actor-director and political activist Rob Reiner and his wife Michele were found dead in their Los Angeles home on December 14, with police treating the case as an apparent homicide, city officials said.

While authorities initially withheld the identities of the deceased, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Governor Gavin Newsom confirmed that Reiner, 78, and Michele, 68, had died. Mayor Bass described the couple’s deaths as «a devastating loss» and praised Reiner’s impact on American culture, social advocacy and creative work.

Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton of the Los Angeles Police Department said patrol officers discovered the bodies...

In December 2025, KazTransOil (KTO) plans to increase oil deliveries to Kyrgyzstan and restart transit shipments to Uzbekistan, the company announced.

Oil supplies to Kyrgyzstan resumed in November 2025, marking the first deliveries along this route since 2017. By the end of the year, up to 30,000 tonnes of oil are expected to be delivered to the country.

At the same time, KTO will resume oil transit to Uzbekistan, with volumes reaching up to 35,000 tonnes. Combined deliveries to both countries are projected to reach 65,000 tonnes by the end of 2025, with around 55,000 tonnes scheduled for December alone.

Uzbekistan’s Health Minister Asilbek Khudayarov has approved an order clarifying how the country’s electronic prescription system will be rolled out in stages, with officials stressing that foreign citizens will be able to use the system on the same terms as locals.

The Health Ministry said the document was prepared after consultations with doctors, pharmacists and experts, as well as feedback from system users. Media reports had previously noted that the launch of e-prescriptions in Tashkent and 15 pilot districts came as a surprise for many residents and was accompanied by technical issues.

Officials said the transition would now...

Russian-born tennis player Polina Kudermetova will represent Uzbekistan at international competitions, according to her profile on the website of the International Tennis Federation.

The ITF profile of the 22-year-old Moscow native now lists Uzbekistan as her country, with the national flag updated accordingly. Kudermetova is currently ranked 104th in the Women’s Tennis Association standings.

Her career-high ranking is 54th, which she reached in April 2025. Kudermetova has yet to win a WTA title. Her elder sister, Veronika Kudermetova, is ranked 30th in the WTA rankings.

Kursiv also reports that another Russian tennis player Kamilla Rakhimova has officially joined Uzbekistan’s national...

An Uzbek national, Muhammadaziz Umurzakov, was killed in a shooting at Brown University in the United States, Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed.

The ministry expressed condolences to the victim’s family and said Uzbek diplomatic missions in the US are in constant contact with relatives while cooperating with American authorities.

The shooting took place on Sunday, December 14, at an engineering building on the Brown University campus, where an examination was under way at the time. According to the BBC, two people were killed and nine others were wounded in the attack.

US authorities later announced the...

Cristiano Ronaldo 5may soon add a Hollywood blockbuster to his long list of achievements after Vin Diesel confirmed that a role has been written for the Portuguese star in the next Fast & Furious film.

Diesel shared a photo with Ronaldo on social media and hinted at a future collaboration, saying the filmmakers had created a part specifically for him. The post has fuelled speculation that the Al-Nassr forward could feature in the upcoming instalment of the long-running action franchise.

The next film is expected to be Fast & Furious 11, reportedly titled Fast Forever, and is being billed...

The long-running debate over football’s greatest player has found a clear answer for many fans in India, where Lionel Messi is being celebrated on an unprecedented scale. Fresh from guiding Inter Miami to a historic MLS Cup triumph, the Argentine star arrived in the country for a three-day «GOAT Tour».

Messi will be joined by Inter Miami team-mates Luis Suarez and Rodrigo de Paul, with the centrepiece of the visit being the unveiling of a towering 70ft statue in Kolkata on Saturday. The structure was built over 27 days by a team of 45 people and ranks among the...

The European Union has agreed to indefinitely freeze Russian central bank assets held in Europe, clearing a major obstacle to using the funds to support Ukraine in its defence against Russia. The move comes as EU states seek to secure Ukraine’s finances, viewing Russia’s invasion as a threat to European security.

Indefinite Freeze and Planned Loan to Ukraine

EU governments agreed to keep 210 bn euros ($246 bn) of Russian sovereign assets frozen indefinitely rather than reviewing the freeze every six months. This avoids the risk of Hungary or Slovakia, with closer ties to Moscow, refusing to extend...

Uzbekistan’s first ambassador to Nepal, Sardor Rustambaev, based in New Delhi, has presented his credentials to Nepalese President Ramchandra Paudel, the Dunyo reports.

During the meeting, the two sides discussed prospects for cooperation in trade and the economy as well as hydropower tourism and education. They also exchanged views on engagement at international platforms, including cooperation on climate change and environmental issues affecting mountain regions.

Diplomatic relations between Uzbekistan and Nepal were established in 2018.

Rustambaev previously served as Uzbekistan’s ambassador to France and Portugal and has worked within the foreign ministry system since 2000.

While the motorsport world descended on Tashkent for the FIA Awards ceremony, Ferrari star Charles Leclerc stole the show hours before the red carpet even began, with social media lighting up as fans tracked his impromptu tour of the Uzbek capital.

Charles arrived late in the evening on December 11 and after the reception at the airport and a dinner banquet checked into JW Mariott hotel in Tashkent City. On the next day his photos with fans at a local gym started circulating across social media.

Turns out, in the morning on December 12 he started off his...

The Ministry of Health of Uzbekistan has published a list of 1,846 medicines that pharmacies are permitted to sell without a doctor’s prescription. Patients can now independently check which medicines are available for purchase without restrictions.

What’s in the list?

The list covers widely used non-prescription medicines, including painkillers, cold remedies, antiseptics and vitamin complexes.

Painkillers and fever reducers

Colds, ARVI and flu

Cough and throat

Allergy medicines

Antiseptics and wound treatment

The World Bank has approved a $250 mln loan to Uzbekistan to expand access to student loans under the new EduImkon programme.

EduImkon, which runs from 2026 to 2028, is financed by the World Bank and overseen by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The initiative aims to remove barriers in the student finance system by modernising the educational loan framework and creating a single online platform for applications and processing. It will also make student loans easier to obtain for women and low-income families.

The programme includes plans to align higher and vocational education with labour market needs...

Uzbekistan plans to designate 2027 as the Year of Preventive Diplomacy, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced at the Peace and Trust Forum in Ashgabat.

He said the initiative would include a series of international conferences, forums and delegation exchanges, organised together with UN institutions such as the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy in Ashgabat.

Mirziyoyev also voiced Tashkent’s support for Turkmenistan’s proposal to recognise 2025 as the International Year of Peace and Trust. He stressed that the concept is particularly important for countries that prioritise negotiation and dialogue when managing disputes.

Concluding his address, the president proposed holding an...

French marine archaeologists have uncovered a 120-metre stone wall off the coast of Brittany, dating to around 5,000 BC. It is the largest underwater structure ever discovered in France and may be linked to myths of a sunken city, BBC reports.

The wall lies nine metres underwater near the Ile de Sein. When built, it would have stood on the shoreline. It measures roughly 20 metres wide and two metres high, with rows of granite monoliths rising from its top. Researchers think it was either a fish-trap or an early sea defence.

The structure, weighing about 3,300 tonnes, points...

The 2025 FIA Awards ceremony took place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on December 12. From Formula One to karting, endurance racing and rally raid, champions across every discipline were recognised for their achievements over a fiercely competitive season.

FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem, who was just re-elected for his second term, welcomed guests to the and praised a year defined by close battles, rising talent and record participation across global competitions.

World Rally

Sebastien Ogier hailed the 2025 campaign as his «strongest» in the World Rally Championship and is «super proud» to match Sebastien Loeb’s record of nine...

On December 11, Saida Mirziyoyeva, First Assistant to the President of Uzbekistan, met Pope Leo XIV during a session of the Sheikh Zayed Award for Human Fraternity jury.

The discussion focused on key priorities of the award, which aims to strengthen intercultural and interfaith understanding globally.

Mirziyoyeva highlighted that in Uzbekistan, followers of different religions, including Catholics, live in an atmosphere of harmony and tolerance — values that the award seeks to promote internationally.

Both sides confirmed their commitment to collaborate on projects designed to build trust and advance humanitarian principles around the world.

Max Verstappen will miss the 2025 FIA Awards and Gala in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, after falling ill. The Red Bull Racing driver had been scheduled to receive the trophy for finishing second in the drivers’ championship.

The Dutchman has attended the gala for the past four years to collect his World Drivers’ Championship trophies. This season, however, he fell short of the title despite a strong comeback.

Verstappen did secure victory in the season finale at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. But with Lando Norris finishing third in that race, Verstappen ended the season two points behind the British...