China, US Meet amid Tensions over Trade, Military

BEIJING – Senior U.S. and Chinese officials met Monday to steady relations upset by disputes over currency, trade and military affairs despite calls for a tougher line on Chinese economic policies that some say are contributing to American unemployment. With congressional elections in two months, President Barack Obama is under pressure to kick-start the economy and many lawmakers say he should start by addressing China’s lopsided trade surplus and currency policies. Meanwhile, China’s nationalistic state media have criticized U.S.-South Korea military exercises in the Yellow Sea and U.S. government statements on South China Sea territorial disputes, saying they represent threats to China’s security. Chinese officials tried to set a positive tone, emphasizing the need for cooperative relations, at the start of their meetings with National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers and Deputy National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon. “Continuing to develop a positive and comprehensive China-U.S. relationship contributes to our two countries’ major interests in peace, security and development,” Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said. Summers later told Vice Premier Wang Qishan that Obama “has emphasized for us the importance he attaches to a very strong relationship between the United Sates and China.” Among the issues on the agenda, summers said, is setting up a visit to Washington by Chinese President Hu Jintao. The brighter talk is meant to signal a willingness to cooperate after several months of public discord, analysts said. Shi Yinhong, an expert on the U.S. at Renmin University in Beijing, said relations are troubled but the worst is over and both sides are headed toward reconciliation. “The key point of the talks is not to make significant agreements, but to improve understanding of each other’s stance. If tensions can be reduced to some degree and confidence increased, that is an achievement,” he said. Tensions between the world’s superpower and a fast-rising China that is now the No. 2 economy were kept largely restrained last year as their governments worked to reinvigorate the world economy and address other global issues. But their failure to strike a deal over climate change at a summit in Copenhagen followed by U.S. arms sales to Chinese rival Taiwan and an Obama meeting with Chinese nemesis the Dalai Lama soured relations. The downward spiral continued during the summer. After much U.S. pressure, China announced in June a change to its currency policy, untying the yuan from its peg to the U.S. dollar that critics said kept the yuan undervalued and hence made Chinese exports inexpensive. But, despite promises of a more flexible exchange rate, the yuan has risen a mere 0.6 percent, disappointing Washington and renewing attention on China’s trade surplus with the U.S., which widened in July to an 18-month high of $28.7 billion.Summers, a top economic official, was expected to prod China to move faster. In recent days, Senator Charles Schumer and other congressional critics have said they would renew a push for legislation that would punish China for its currency policy by adding punitive duties to imports of Chinese goods. (AP)

VIENNA – Iran’s total production of low-enriched uranium has risen by around 15 percent since May to reach 2.8 tones, a U.N. nuclear watchdog report said, showing Tehran is pushing ahead with disputed work despite tougher sanctions. The confidential report, obtained by Reuters on Monday, said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) remained concerned about possible activity in the Islamic Republic to develop a nuclear payload for a missile. The IAEA also voiced concern about what it called Iran’s “repeated objection” to the agency’s choice of inspectors working in the country, after Tehran barred two U.N. nuclear inspectors from entering in June. “The agency rejects the basis upon which Iran has sought to justify its objection,” the report said, also referring to earlier cases where Iran raised such objections. “It is also concerned that the repeated objection to the designation of experienced inspectors hampers the inspection process and detracts from the agency’s ability to implement safeguards in Iran,” it added. Western powers are likely to see the report’s findings as backing up their suspicions that Tehran is seeking to build nuclear bombs and underlining the need for the country to enter serious negotiations to curb its nuclear program. (Reuters)

MOSCOW - Russia has signed a long-term agreement with Israel on military cooperation, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said on Monday. “We have just signed a long-term agreement on military cooperation between the two defense ministries. We have discussed a number of issues of military technical cooperation,” said Serdyukov after meeting with his Israeli counterpart Ehud Barak. The agreement laid out the framework for general directions of bilateral military cooperation, Itar-Tass news agency cited a ministry spokesman as saying. “It will create a legal basis for further agreements on cooperation in specific areas and for contracts in the area of military technical cooperation,” said the spokesman. Russia has bought 12 Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles, and some 50 servicemen are being trained to operate them, said Serdyukov. The minister said the two countries were cooperating on a range of issues in different areas, especially in the fight against terrorism and non-proliferation. (Xinhua)

BERLIN – Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday touted her government's decision to put off shutdown of the country's nuclear power plants by an average 12 years as "revolution of the energy supply" in Europe's largest economy. But the agreement drew sharp criticism from opposition parties and environmental groups, who said it increased the risk of a plant accident and undermined the push for more renewable energy. The agreement — which still needs parliamentary approval — is the latest sign of a renewed appetite for nuclear energy in Europe despite controversy over the subject since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Merkel's government has cast the deal as a way to keep energy cheap until more renewable energy is available. Existing coal-fired plants raise concerns about emissions of the greenhouse gases believed to cause global warming, while renewables such as wind remain more expensive than coal or nuclear and for the moment provide only a small part of the country's needs. The government's finances, hard hit by the recession and financial crisis, also will benefit from keeping the nuclear plants running longer, through a new levy on utility companies, which is part of its wider package of austerity measures and new taxes aimed at saving euro80 billion ($100 billion) through 2014. The deal struck late Sunday by Merkel, several ministers and key leaders of her center-right coalition government following months of wrangling overturns a decision by a previous government in 2000 to shut down all of Germany's nuclear plants by 2021. The deal — struck when the environmentalist Greens were part of the governing coalition — was popular among many still wary of atomic energy since the 1986 explosion and fire at the Soviet-built nuclear power plant in Ukraine that spread a radioactive cloud over Europe. Opposition parties immediately vowed to try to block the extension in the courts, claiming that the government caved to utility industry pressure. Greenpeace suggested that Germany did not need the extension and that it could end up setting back the country's drive to expand its renewable energy supply. "Only several large corporations would benefit form it with massively increased profits," spokesman Jan Beranek said. "The rest of society would badly lose." The deal was controversial even within Merkel's government, with disagreements among top ministers over how long the extensions should be. Merkel on Monday told reporters in Berlin the decision puts Germany on track to secure the "most efficient and environmental friendly energy supply worldwide". The agreement foresees that the country's 17 existing nuclear power plants will remain online for 12 more years on average beyond 2021, with plants built before 1980 getting an extra eight years and more recent ones 14 additional years, the government said. No new plants will be built. In return for the expected additional profits, utility companies will have to pay an annual fuel tax expected to bring in euro2.3 billion ($3 billion) annually starting next year, and will have to contribute to a special fund to boost renewable energies. The government did not specify how much the fund for renewable energies was meant to raise from the four nuclear power utilities — E.ON AG, RWE AG, EnBW AG and Germany's subsidiary of Sweden's Vattenfall Europe. The Federation of German Industries said the agreement would keep utility bills low and help secure the country's competitiveness as a place to do business, managing director Werner Schnappauf said. But the main opposition parties, the Social Democrats and the Greens cited safety risks and the need to switch to renewable energies. Opposition leader Sigmar Gabriel said the agreement marked "a black day for Germany's energy policy," German news agency dapd quoted the Social Democrat as saying. The party's deputy leader Andrea Nahles said: "They are selling safety for money." The opposition has said it would ask the country's constitutional court to decide on whether the deal needs parliamentary approval from both houses and parliament. Merkel says the measure only has to be approved by the Bundestag lower house, where her government holds a majority. But the opposition says the upper house representing the federal states — where Merkel recently lost her majority — has to approve the measure as well. Investors cheered the shift in Germany's energy policy and sent the two listed utility companies higher to lead the country's blue chip index Dax's afternoon trading, with E.ON and RWE both rising by 2 percent, to euro22.93 and euro54.29 respectively. The nuclear agreement underscores a shift in energy politics in Europe. Swedish lawmakers in June narrowly approved replacing aging nuclear plants with new ones and Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi has made constructing reactors one of his government's goals. Swedes voted in a 1980 referendum to gradually phase out the use of nuclear power, and Italians rejected nuclear power in a 1987 referendum following the Chernobyl disaster. Berlusconi's quest on Sunday got new support with a study led by the chief economist of the Paris-based International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, which recommended the country build nuclear reactors. (AP)

BEIRUT – Lebanon's prime minister said he was wrong to accuse Syria of involvement in the 2005 assassination of his father, a major turnaround for a politician who has long blamed Damascus for the Beirut truck bombing that killed Rafik Hariri and 22 others. In an interview published Monday, Saad Hariri said the accusation was politically motivated. "This was a political accusation, and this political accusation has ended," he told the Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq al-Awsat. Hariri's office in Beirut had no comment on the report. Hariri's comments come at a time when he and his Western-backed political bloc are struggling to maintain momentum as Syria's allies in Lebanon — the Shiite militant group Hezbollah — gain influence. Since December, the prime minister has made five trips to Syria and both sides have urged reconciliation. Syria continues to wield influence in Lebanon through its backing of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, which has a large role in Lebanon's fragile national unity government. In just a few years, Hezbollah has gained so much political strength it now has a virtual veto power over government decisions. The late Hariri, a billionaire businessman credited with rebuilding Lebanon after its 15-year civil war ended in 1990, had been trying to limit Syria's domination of Lebanon in the months before his assassination. The death of Hariri, a former prime minister, sparked massive anti-Syrian protests in Lebanon, dubbed the Cedar Revolution, which led to Syria's withdrawal of its army after nearly 30 years of military and political domination of its tiny neighbor. Damascus has consistently denied any involvement in the assassination. The Cedar Revolution gave rise to the U.S.- and Saudi-backed coalition known as March 14, named for a day of massive anti-Syrian protests in 2005. Nabil Bou Monsef of Beirut's leading An-Nahar daily said Hariri's comments are a clear sign that relations between Hariri and Syria are "advancing in a major way." "Hariri is turning a major page by ending the accusation against Syria," he said, adding that it remains to be seen how the March 14 alliance will respond. The Hariri assassination also deepened a rift between Syria and Saudi Arabia, which each backed rival sides in the ensuing power struggle that nearly tore Lebanon apart: Syria backing a Hezbollah-led coalition, and Saudi Arabia and the United States supporting Saad Hariri's Sunni-led coalition. In the months after the death of his father, Hariri accused Damascus of direct responsibility for a series of bombings that killed Hariri and several anti-Syrian officials and journalists in 2005. "The Syrian army withdrew, but they left behind their intelligence agents, and they are killing us," Hariri said at the time. A Netherlands-based U.N. tribunal has been set up to try those responsible for Hariri's killing. The first U.N. investigator into the killing, Germany's Detlev Mehlis, said the assassination plot's complexity suggested a role by the Syrian intelligence services and its pro-Syria Lebanese counterpart. But the two chief investigators who followed Mehlis have worked quietly and have not named any individuals or countries as suspects. In July, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah announced that he expected the tribunal to indict members of his movement. But he dismissed the allegations and said the tribunal has no credibility. Many people fear indictments of Hezbollah members could spark clashes between Lebanon's Sunnis and Shiites, or that Hezbollah's nemesis Israel could be pulled into a conflict, causing wider turmoil. Later in July, the leaders of Syria and Saudi Arabia made an unprecedented show of cooperation by traveling together to Lebanon in hopes of preventing any violence if Hezbollah members are indicted. It was Syrian President Bashar Assad's first visit to Lebanon since Hariri's assassination in 2005. In Monday's interview, Hariri said it was important to allow the tribunal to do its work. In a rare reference to "false witnesses" accused of misleading the investigation, Hariri said: "There are people who misled the investigation and caused harm to Lebanon and Syria ... Those witnesses damaged relations between the two countries and politicized the accusation." Hezbollah and its allies have been demanding that several witnesses be put on trial for telling international investigators that Syria and Hezbollah were involved in the 2005 killing. Some of those witnesses have since recanted their allegations. (AP)

JERUSALEM – Israel's hard-line foreign minister said Monday that his party will try to block any extension of Israel's settlement slowdown, a move that could derail the recently launched Mideast peace negotiations. Avigdor Lieberman said the Israeli government must keep its promise to voters that the 10-month slowdown, declared last November under U.S. pressure in order to draw the Palestinians to the negotiating table, will end as scheduled at the end of the month. The Sept. 26 deadline is a challenge for the fragile talks launched in Washington last week. The Palestinians say they will quit the talks if settlement construction accelerates, but not ending the slowdown could potentially bring down the Israeli government. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to say how he will handle the deadline. "A promise is a promise," Lieberman told Israel Radio. "We will not agree to any extension." "I promise that if there's a proposal that we don't accept it will not pass," he added. Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu party is a key member of Israel's governing coalition, which is led by Netanyahu's Likud party. It holds 15 seats in parliament, making it the second-largest member of the coalition and giving it the ability to rob the government of its parliamentary majority if it pulls out. Other coalition partners, and members of Netanyahu's own party, also favor resuming construction. In a sign that compromise was possible, however, Lieberman told the daily Yediot Ahronot that he would not quit the coalition even if he does not get his way. "We will not leave or bring down the government. We will fight from the inside for what we believe," he told the paper. At the summit marking the relaunch of peace talks in Washington last week, Netanyahu used unusually warm language about the Palestinian leadership and the chances for peace. But the Israeli foreign minister has been vocal in his pessimism. Speaking to diplomats in Jerusalem on Monday, Lieberman said the stated goal of the talks — a peace agreement within one year — was unrealistic. The Israeli government says construction in settlements continued during previous rounds of peace talks, and that building does not compromise a future deal. Lieberman's party ran on a platform that questioned the loyalty of Israel's one-fifth Arab minority, and Lieberman, known for blunt and often unpredictable language, is perhaps Israel's most polarizing politician. A resident of a West Bank settlement himself, he has absented himself from active involvement in the peace talks, which are being conducted by Netanyahu's office. Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom, a prominent member of Netanyahu's party said extending the slowdown would pose a "huge danger" to the coalition. "Within the coalition, there is a huge majority against it," Shalom told reporters late Sunday. He said the issue could only be resolved through negotiations. Netanyahu is seeking a way to get through the Sept. 26 deadline without dismantling his coalition, alienating the Palestinians or angering the U.S. administration, which is backing the talks and has invested time and political capital in their success. Netanyahu is slated to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for a second round of talks next week in Egypt and Jerusalem. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is also scheduled to attend. About 300,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements, among the territory's some 2.5 million Palestinians. In addition, almost 200,000 Israelis live in east Jerusalem, the section of the holy city claimed by the Palestinians. The Palestinians and the international community say the settlements are obstacles to peace because they eat up land the Palestinians want for a future state. The slowdown has cut the construction in the settlements, though the extent of the drop is the subject of disagreement. According to official government statistics released last week, a total of only five new building projects were begun in settlements in the first half of 2010, compared to 673 in the first half of 2009. Israeli advocacy groups tracking settlement construction dispute those numbers. The group Peace Now says building has begun on around 450 new housing units since the slowdown went into effect last November, around 300 of them in violation of the terms of the freeze. Peace now says those numbers mark a drop of about 50 percent in new projects. Settlement expert Dror Etkes said government statistics show the number of units under construction overall in the first quarter of this year was 2,517, a drop of only 15 percent compared to the last quarter of 2009. Groups critical of settlement building say if the slowdown is revoked now it will have had nearly no effect on settlement construction in the long term. (AP)

DOHA - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ruled out an attack by Israel against his country over its nuclear activities, saying that the Jewish country is “decaying.” “The Zionist entity is on its way to decay. It is in a very difficult situation, and hopes to revive itself through useless dialogue,” the Iranian leader was quoted as telling a press conference in Qatar by the Gulf state’s official news agency. Ahmadinejad arrived earlier Sunday in Doha for talks with Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. “This entity cannot do anything, whether in Gaza or South Lebanon, in its favor, or against Iran,” QNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. The Iranian leader went further saying that any Israeli military action against his country will lead “to wiping (Israel) from the political geography,” the report said. Moving to the United States, Ahmadinejad that there is no signal that Washington is to have a conflict with Iran. “There will be no war against Iran. All the talk in this regard is only psychological war, and we believe that there are rational men in the United States that who do not support taking such a step,” he added. All threats coming from Israel and the United States are “wishes are unrealizable in reality,” he added. “Iran is fully ready and is able to hit back crucially against any aggression,” Ahmadinejad said. Qatar is a close ally of the United States which repeatedly expressed deep concerns about Iran’s nuclear drive and did not rule out military action against the Persian country. Western countries and Israel are suspicious that Iran is pursuing a military objective in its nuclear program. Iran denies the allegations, saying it has the right to peaceful nuclear technology as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. (Xinhua)

TEHRAN - Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast criticized on Monday the recent remarks made by Palestinian presidency spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeineh against Iran, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. “He (Rdeineh) should pay more attention to the words he uses in his remarks,” Mehmanparast told Fars. The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on Saturday slammed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over his remarks about the re-launching of direct peace talks with Israel through the U.S. mediation. During a massive rally on Friday to mark the Quds (Jerusalem) Day in Tehran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas doesn’t represent his people when he agreed to go for direct peace talks with Israel. Ahmadinejad “doesn’t have the right to question the legitimacy of President Abbas,” Rdeineh said in a statement published by the Palestinian Wafa news agency. Mehmanparast said that the Palestinian officials should not be trapped by the plots and conspiracies of the Zionist regime and their advocates, and pursue the rights of the oppressed Palestinian people, including Palestinian refugees’ right of return to their homeland, according to Fars. (Xinhua)

IRKUTSK, Russia - China and Russia held a symposium here Monday to discuss ways of boosting border trade and regional cooperation. Head of China’s National Administration of Energy Zhang Guobao and Russian Regional Development Minister Viktor Basargin co-chaired the symposium. Basargin said the outline of regional cooperation between Northeast China and the Russian Far East Area and Eastern Siberia, approved in 2009, has provided new historic opportunities for bilateral regional cooperation. It included 205 projects of cooperation between Russian and Chinese border areas. Thanks to collective efforts from China and Russia, Zhang said, a number of strategic cooperative projects have undergone positive development, including the construction of China-Russia oil pipelines, steady advancement of bilateral electricity trade and the emerging coal trade. As both China and Russia are currently in a crucial stage of social and economic development, Northeast China and Russia’s Far East area share a great cooperative potential and interests, Zhang said, adding the two regions bear strong economic complementarily in different sectors such as resources, scientific technologies and industries. Chinese officials who addressed the meeting also pledged continued endeavor to promote bilateral trade cooperation, in particular at the regional level. The symposium mainly focused on 12 cooperative projects between China and Russia, such as a railway bridge over the Heilongjiang River (Amur River), a recreational zone on the Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island in the Khabarovsk Region, a wood-working plant in the Sakhalin Region, and a thermal power plant in the Amur Region. (Xinhua)

DUSHANBE - A brother of jailed former presidential-guard commander Ghaffor Mirzoyev has been recaptured in Fayzobod district, some 50 kilometers east of Dushanbe, the source at one of power-wielding structures of Tajikistan told Asia-Plus today. We will recall that Abdurasoul Mirzoyev was sentenced to 30 years in prison in July this year. The sentence followed his conviction on the charges of terrorism, illegal possession of weapons and coup attempt. Abdurasoul Mirzoyev is the brother of General Ghaffor Mirzoev, who also headed the Tajik Drug Control Agency. Ghaffor Mirzoev was arrested in August 2004 and sentenced in 2006 to life imprisonment on charges of planning an uprising against the government, murder, and other serious crimes. The government also confiscated nearly all of the businesses and property belonging to Ghaffor and Abdurasoul Mirzoyev. At request of Tajik authorities, Abdurasoul Mirzoyev was extradited to Tajikistan in January this year from the United Arab Emirates, where he had lived since before Ghaffor Mirzoev's arrest in 2004. As it had been reported earlier, Abdurasoul Mirzoyev was among those 25 prisoners that escaped from the pretrial detention facility of State Committee for National Committee (GKNB) in Dushanbe on August 23. 25 convicts serving long jail terms escaped from the GKNB-run pretrial detention facility in the early hours of morning of August 23, killing five prison guards. Dressing in camouflage, the escapees reportedly fled toward the Rasht Valley in eastern Tajikistan. The majority of the fugitives were among 46 people convicted by the Supreme Court on August 19 week of terrorism, drug trafficking, and seeking the forcible overthrow of the government. The prisoners reportedly took advantage of the negligence of the jail warden. Tajik law enforcement authorities also said on September 2 that they had recaptured one escapee in Vahdat district. His is Ibrohim Nasriddinov also known as Qori Ibrohim. Makarov pistol and F-1 hand grenade were confiscated from him. (Asia-Plus)

NAIROBI - Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki met here Friday with chen Zhili, vice chairwoman of the Standing Committee of National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature with both promising to make efforts to enhance bilateral ties. During the meeting, Chen expressed appreciation to President Kibaki and the Kenya government for the pivotal role they played in brokering peace in Sudan and the horn of Africa. Chen assured President Kibaki that China would provide the necessary support for peace and stability in the horn of Africa. “Kenya, as a neighbor and the guarantor to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) on Sudan, requires the support and not condemnation from the international community in her efforts to broker peace in Sudan,” Chen said. The Chinese official also congratulated President Kibaki and other coalition government partners for the passage and promulgation of the country’s new constitution. She thanked Kenya’s support for the One-China policy. The two also exchanged views on enhancing Kenya-China cooperation under the China-Africa Cooperation Forum (FOCAC). President Kibaki hailed the cordial bilateral and trade relations between the two countries which have continued to flourish through exchange visits at all levels. The Kenyan president particularly expressed gratitude to China for its immense contribution to the African country’s infrastructure development over the past years. Kibaki noted with appreciation that China is today one of the leading bilateral donors to Kenya’s infrastructure development with a cumulative official development assistance reaching 36.7 billion Shillings. China and Kenya have signed agreements and MOUs in various fields including technical and cultural cooperation, trade, education, health, energy, agriculture and cooperative development. (Xinhua)

KHUJAND - Two civilians were also injured in a September 3 blast in Khuujand; they are currently at city hospital # 1 in Khujand, a statement released by press service of the Sughd police directorate says. Two police officers were killed and 26 other were injured as suicide bomber drove a vehicle packed with explosives into the office of the Sughd regional body empowered to combat organized crime at around 8:00 am of September 3. Senior Lieutenant Ayubjon Mahkamov, 34, died in hospital as a result of injuries from the blast. The second police killed in the blast was also identified. He proved to be the 22-year-old trainee Alijon Mayoqubov from Khujand. The suicide bomber who also was killed in the blast has not yet been identified. Earlier, law enforcement authorities said that there had been two suicide bombers in the explosive-packed car. The blast destroyed parts of the building of the Sughd anti organized crime division and shattered windows in surrounding buildings. An operation team led by the Sughd police chief Rauf Yusupov has been set up to investigate the blast. A special commission led by the Security Council Secretary Amirqul Azimov has been set up to investigate the Khujand attack, and Azimov himself was sent to Khujand on September 3 to oversee the probe. An official statement released by the Ministry of Interior (MoI) on September 3 says the suicide bomber drove the explosive packed car with high speed into the gated compound of the anti- organized crime division – as the gate was closing after two police cars entered the complex – and the car exploded. According to Tajik law enforcement authorities, the terrorist act was aimed at impeding investigation into murder of Homidjon Karimov, who was closely connected with criminal circles. Five persons have been arrested on suspicion of having been involved in killing of Homidjon Karimov, and their supporters tried to arrange a crush-out for them or to impede the investigation, the statement said. Tajik law enforcement authorities noted that it could not be ruled out that persons involved in the blast had ties to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). We will recall that former bazaar director Homidjon Karimov was shot to death on August 30. According to unofficial sources, Homidjon Karimov, who was serving the remainder of his sentence in the open-prison settlement, visited his uncle in the Surkh Jamoat on August 30 for iftor (the evening meal when Muslims break their fast during the Islamic month of Ramadan). When Karimov was leaving his uncle’s house, a car came up to the house and unidentified gunmen shot Karimov to death from assault rifle Kalashnikov and Makarov pistol. Law enforcement authorities say Homidjon Karimov was member of one of criminal groupings that brutally beaten a local resident in May 2006. Five confederates of Karimov were sentenced to prison terms of between 9 and 13 years that time, while Karimov himself managed to flee. He was later detained and sentenced to nine years in prison. (Asia-Plus)