DUSHANBE, 31 Mar 2005 (IRIN) - Mirzo Saidov (not his real name), a 32-year-old labour migrant from Tajikistan, worked on a construction site in Moscow like many of his fellow countrymen and used to earn good money by Tajik standards.Full report

ALMATY, 30 Mar 2005 (IRIN) - Despite efforts to raise the level of HIV/AIDS awareness in Kazakhstan, young people remain inhibited about speaking openly about the issue and how it may impact their lives. Full report

KAIRAKKUM, 2 Mar 2005 (IRIN) - Latofat (not her real name) lives in the northern Tajik city of Kairakkum, some 370 km north of the capital, Dushanbe. The 21-year-old woman is one of more than 100 people who are known to have contracted HIV in northern Tajikistan in the past three years.Full report

ACHHAM, 8 Feb 2005 (IRIN) - Babita Biswakarma has already been through enough trauma for anyone to suffer in a lifetime. She is just seven years old. First she lost both her parents to AIDS. Then she went through over a year of mental cruelty at the hands of villagers who rejected her, calling her the 'AIDS girl'. Full report

KATHMANDU, 1 Feb 2005 (IRIN) - Radha fled from her village in Rautahat, 200 km south of Kathmandu, to escape forced military recruitment by Maoist rebels. Carrying her small suitcase and less than US $20, she arrived in the capital, Kathmandu, hoping for security and even perhaps a decent job. Full report

MAKWANPUR, 24 Jan 2005 (IRIN) - With deep sunk eyes and parched lips, 30-year old Maya Rumba stares feebly from her broken bed. "Help me," is all she has the strength to utter. Her skeletal body weakened by severe malnourishment, Rumba is living all alone with full blown AIDS in her small hut at Sai Foot, a remote village in Makwanpur district in eastern Nepal, 128 km south of the capital city Kathmandu.Full report

ANKARA, 24 Jan 2005 (IRIN) - Little has changed in Kyrgyzstan's political life over the past year. A local analyst told IRIN that it was like a temporary calm ahead of major events, including both parliamentary and presidential elections, scheduled for 2005. Full report

ANKARA, 20 Jan 2005 (IRIN) - A lack of democratic reforms and continued human rights abuses dominated the year in Uzbekistan, Central Asia's most populous state. Observers noted that very little progress, if any, had been made in introducing political and economic reforms in the former Soviet republic. In April, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) significantly reduced the level of public-sector loans to the country, a year after calling for political and economic reforms. Full report

ANKARA, 18 Jan 2005 (IRIN) - There was some progress in Afghanistan in 2004, the highlight being the presidential election on 9 October but a vicious circle of extreme poverty, warlordism, opium production and insecurity continued in most parts of the country. The poll passed off largely peacefully and marked an important milestone in the country's transition from decades of war and internal conflict to a stable, democratic country where human rights are respected.Full report

ANKARA, 18 Jan 2005 (IRIN) - There has been little change over the past year in the one-party hermit state of Turkmenistan, where authoritarian President Saparmurad Niyazov continues to dominate everyday life. Full report

NEPAL: Focus on the plight of rural people living with HIV/AIDS

KAZAKHSTAN: Interview with UN Resident Coordinator, Yuriko Shoji

AFGHANISTAN: Interview with Mr Mirwais Yasini, head of the Counter Narcotics Directorate (CND)

PAKISTAN: Focus on runaway children

KYRGYZSTAN: Interview with UNDP Resident Representative