UMS, the state-owned mobile operator, will be providing mobile services for the government, and will create and develop a data processing center for the provision of e-government services, the Director General of UMS Sobir Aripov told Uzbekistan 24.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev visited the new building of the State Security Service on Tuesday, where he chaired the meeting of the State Security Service (SSS), Uzbekistan 24 reported.

The vice-president of the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) Mehmet Süreyya Er has been appointed as the new Turkish Ambassador to Uzbekistan, replacing Ahmet Başar Şen, who had in charge of the Turkish diplomatic mission since the end of 2016, Hürriyet Daily News reported.

Flydubai will operate regular flights between Tashkent and Dubai. About it reports the Uzbek Aviation Authority. According to the agency, Flydubai has been approved as a regular carrier on the Dubai-Tashkent route instead of the previously designated Emirates Airline.

Former State Advisor to the President, chief of the Customs Committee Muidjon Tokhiriy has been arrested, the Prosecutor General's Office said.

Silk Visa for Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan could be launched in February 2019, First Deputy Chairman of the State Tourism Committee Ulugbek Kasimhodzhaev said at a press conference on Thursday.

Uzbekistan is planning to introduce visa-free regime for the nationals of another 22 countries. The draft resolution is being discussed in the Cabinet of Ministers, the First deputy chief of the Tourism Committee Ulugbek Kasimhodjaev announced at a press conference on Thursday.

Badriddin Obidov, who earlier served as the Uzbek Ambassador to Latvia, has been appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade in charge of Uzbekistan’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Ministry of Foreign Trade said.

There is no predesignated list of persons registered for extremism in Uzbekistan. There are no such lists, Deputy Prosecutor General Erkin Yuldashev said at the International Press Club meeting Tuesday, answering the question of how many people in Uzbekistan are still on the so-called black list.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, by his Dec. 18 decree, approved the concept and program of measures aimed at preventing non-communicable diseases, supporting healthy lifestyles and increasing the level of physical activity of the public for 2019-2022.

The Uzbek Embassy to the United States at a round table in Toronto signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Canada Eurasia Russia Business Association (CERBA), the Uzbek Foreign Ministry said.

The Cabinet of Ministers issued a decree on December 15 easing the rules for goods transit through the territory of Uzbekistan. The decree decreases to 5 days the timeframe during which transit vehicles must leave the country from the date of entering.

The Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov arrived in the Kyrgyz Republic to attend the second meeting of the Council of Heads of Border Provinces of Uzbekistan and the Kyrgyz Republic.

On December 14, upon arrival from the Kashkadarya province, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev hosted at the Tashkent airport the visiting Director General of the International Labor Organization Guy Ryder.

Powers of MPs will be expanded in Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyayev announced at the extraordinary session of the Kashkadarya province deputies council during his visit to Kashkadarya province.

The First Deputy Foreign Minister Ilhom Nematov yesterday met with the Director General of the International Labor Organization (ILO) Guy Ryder, the Foreign Ministry said.

Today, Shavkat Mirziyoyev departed for the Kashkadarya province to get acquainted with the progress of the instructions given earlier, the presidential press service said.

President of Uzbekistan signed a decree on December 12 establishing the State Committee for Industrial Safety of Uzbekistan ​​ in place of the State Authority for Supervision of subsoil geological exploration, safe performance of works in the industry, mining and offsector under the Cabinet of Ministers.

The house of the mayor of Tashkent’s Chilanzar district, Sarvar Makhametov was burgled on December 5, with the Yunusabad district police department initiating a criminal case under Large Scale Theft of 500 times the minimum wage (MW=200,000 soums, or US$ 25) or Over of the Criminal Code, the Prosecutor General’s Office said.

The U.S. State Department placed Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan, as Countries of Particular Concern under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 for having engaged in or tolerated ”systematic, ongoing, [and] egregious violations of religious freedom”.