Uzbekistan proposed critical minerals as a key priority for cooperation between Central Asia and the United States, Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov said in his remarks today at the meeting of the Central Asian Foreign Ministers and the U.S. Secretary of State in Samarkand.

Google Pay, the payment service that lets users pay with Google Wallet on Android phones, has been launched in Uzbekistan.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio answered journalists’ questions about the war in Ukraine in Samarkand on Oct. 19. He said no one will win the war.

Uzbekistan and the United States will expand cooperation in space, infrastructure and critical minerals. "Met with Uzbekistan Foreign Minister Saidov and discussed deepening U.S.-Uzbek strategic partnership including our cooperation in infrastructure, space, critical minerals and through the C5+1 diplomatic platform", Marco Rubio said on X after the talks with the Uzbek Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov. 

Dry and relatively warm weather will persist across Uzbekistan through the working week, with temperatures in line with seasonal norms, weather agency Uzhydromet said.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who arrived in Samarkand a day earlier, visited the historic Registan Square on Monday and said the United States wants to be a reliable partner for Central Asia.

An information session on social support measures and opportunities to improve energy efficiency took place in Tashkent as part of the World Bank’s Innovative Carbon Resource Application for Energy Transition Project for Uzbekistan (iCRAFT) for energy sector reform.

Uzbekistan’s permanent population stood at 39,535,225 as of Oct. 1, 2026, the National Statistics Committee said. The committee noted that the figure takes census results into account.

Air quality in Tashkent has reached the “red,” or unhealthy, level. As of 9 a.m. today on Oct. 19, a monitoring station in the capital recorded an AQI of 153.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev reviewed construction progress on a bridge over the Karadarya River during a visit to Samarkand province, the president’s press office said.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio landed in Samarkand with his wife on Sunday evening, on his first visit to Central Asia, ahead of a day of diplomatic and business meetings on Monday.

Three young men have been identified over the smashing of a facial recognition surveillance camera in the entrance hallway of a multi-story building in the Chilanzar district of Tashkent city, the Tashkent Police Department's press service said.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev met the CEOs of three leading Chinese companies, CAMCE, China Energy and Sinoma Energy, on the sidelines of a meeting of the Council of Foreign Investors in the Fuel and Energy Sector.

A fistfight broke out among schoolgirls at School No. 11 in the Altynkul district of Andijan province, the Zor TV channel reported on its “Bu Kun” program.

The State Security Service said it has uncovered hidden warehouses in the city of Namangan storing uncertified medicines valued at 5.2 billion soums.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev hosted Sergio Gor, the U.S. President’s Special Envoy for South and Central Asian Affairs, to discuss developing the strategic partnership between Uzbekistan and the United States.

A total of 140 million seedlings are due to be planted nationwide this autumn under the Yashil Makon (Green Space) national project, with planting starting in stages from November 1 to November 20, Ismatulla Dustmurodov, adviser on information policy to the director of the Agency for Forest and Green Area Expansion and Combating Desertification, announced the plan at a press briefing.

Average monthly electricity and natural gas use per household customer in Uzbekistan fell between 2023 and 2025 after tariffs were raised, a deputy minister of economy and finance said on October 14.

Uzbekistan plans to build a second and third nuclear power plants, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev today at an open dialogue with investors in the fuel and energy sector.

Tashkent’s city administration plans to build dedicated bus lanes down the center of streets, on the bus rapid transit (BRT) model, on four more sections totaling 17.9 km, it said.