By empty (1/20/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The British embassy in Tajikistan has expressed concern over the suspension of BBC FM broadcasts in Tajikistan even as Tajikistan\'s Foreign Ministry insisted the shutdown was not rooted in politics, RFE/RL\'s Tajik Service reported on 19 January. The embassy said in a statement, \"On 10 January, after the BBC was unable to complete the process of extending its registration in the 20 days stipulated by Tajik law, the broadcast of its programs was ended,\" RFE/RL\'s Tajik Service reported. The BBC called the 20-day deadline to register with the Justice Ministry, a new requirement for foreign media outlets mandated by recently passed legislation, \"unrealistic,\" Reuters reported.

By empty (1/20/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The Kyrgyz presidential press service has refuted media reports claiming that a group of protesters have taken First Deputy Prime Minister Medetbek Kerimkulov and the governmental executive office\'s deputy chief Urmat Karmyshev hostage in Dzhalal-Abad in the south of the country on Thursday. \"These reports are not true,\" the president\'s spokesman Dosoly Esenaliyev told Interfax. \"Several dozen people gathered outside the city administration headquarters in Dzhalal-Abad demanding an explanation for the replacement of the governor.

By empty (1/19/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Salohiddin Nasriddinov, the Tajik deputy minister of foreign affairs, told reporters on 19 January that two Tajik citizens held at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will soon return to Tajikistan.