| August 7-August 14, 1999 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Solar eclipse in Uzbekistan
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|  he Solar eclipse became the biggest event of this year. In Uzbekistan the Moon covered 75% of the Sun. In Tashkent 65% of the eclipse was observed. I think most people expected "end of the world" after the eclipse. But nothing awful happened except for the fact that many people in the eclipse areas partially lost their vision after staring at the Sun without special glasses, because during the eclipse the sun's ultraviolet rays were several times stronger than usual. Unlike businessmen in the West, our local businessmen missed their chance to make money by trading the protective glasses before the eclipse. But our people turned out to be very creative. They used films, plain window glasses burned in the fire or computer diskettes to watch the event that they may not be able to see any other time in their life unless God grants them long life till the year 2081. At Uzbekistan's Committee for Science and Technology, Uzbek scientists exchanged the results of their observation of the eclipse with their colleagues from around the world through the Internet. In Tashkent the eclipse started at 3:57 p.m. and ended at six o'clock in the evening.
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Results of national song contest
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|  hahlo Rustamova from Ferghana won the first prize of the national annual song contest "Uzbekistan is my motherland". The contest has been held for several years and its main purpose is to praise the country, its people and the Motherland through songs. The song contest was first held on local levels and 40 winners in provinces and towns gathered in Tashkent to compete for the first national prize. Yesterday for her song called "Be Aware" (Ogoh boling) Shahlo Rustamova won the first prize. This is a very important activity that shapes new stars among young singers. The contest was dedicated to the eighth anniversary of Uzbekistan's Independence. Another song contest which has an international status is "Sharq Taronalari" - "The Melodies of the East" which is scheduled to open on August 26 in Samarkand for the second time. Last year the Grand Prize was given to a female singer from Azerbaijan.
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US team visits Uzbek chemical arms base
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|  team from the U.S. Defense
Department was in Uzbekistan Tuesday to study the environmental damage to
an area near a former Soviet facility where a lethal chemical weapon was
produced and tested.
"The Americans want to help us decommission this plant, which is a remnant of
the Soviet Union," an Uzbek Foreign Ministry official said.
"They will study the ecological situation around the (Nukus) plant and will
discuss what steps to take next ... and what investment is needed."
The Soviet Union carried out many tests with nuclear, chemical and biological
weapons in Central Asia during the Cold War, and the United States has
assisted the impoverished region in carrying out clearing up operations since
independence.
A joint Uzbek-U.S. commission held in Tashkent in May agreed to work
together to decommission chemical weapons facilities and prevent technology
used for their production from spreading.
Western press reports have suggested the Nukus plant near the Aral Sea was
used to produce and test small volumes of a highly lethal chemical weapon.
The United States pledged to give the Central Asian state around $6 million to
decommission the Nukus factory.
A source at an Uzbek scientific institute who asked not to be named told
Reuters that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, most of the weapons-related
equipment at Nukus was transported to Russia.
The Vozrozhdeniye Island in the Aral Sea was also used for Soviet biological
weapons testing in the 1950s and 1960s.
The island has expanded significantly in recent decades as the Aral Sea has
receded due to excessive irrigation in the huge Soviet-era campaign to produce
more cotton in the region.
Officials fear materials may still be buried on the island and that they may spread
if it eventually becomes part of the mainland.
An Uzbek official said 19 U.S. experts arrived from neighboring Kazakhstan
Monday to study the area surrounding a chemical plant in Nukus in west
Uzbekistan. The U.S. team is expected to be in Uzbekistan for a week.
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US bank gives credit guarantees for Uzbek plant construction
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| he Export-Import bank of the USA
has granted credit guarantees worth 54 million dollars for the construction in
Uzbekistan of a plant for the production of car batteries, said a bank statement
released on Tuesday.
The project will bring together five US companies. The plant will be built by an
Uzbekistan-USA joint enterprise.
Two years after the construction works begin, the plant is expected to launch the
production. The annual output will make about one million car batteries.
The plant will first of all satisfy the demands of Uzbekistan's car and agricultural
sectors. Batteries are also expected to be exported to Turkey and republics of
the former USSR.
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Command-post exercises begin in Uzbekistan
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|  ommand-post exercises of Uzbekistan's Armed forces begin in a number of areas of
the country, including the capital of the republic, on Monday, for the second time over the past two months.
An officer at the press centre of the Defence Ministry has told Itar-Tass that the purpose of the four-day exercises is to drill
techniques to refine the troop control system, enhance the efficiency of units in the light of reform and structural renewal of the
Armed Forces, ways of cooperation between the Defence Ministry and other ministries and departments to ensure reliable
protection and security of the country and of critical strategic facilities and communication lines.
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