MOSCOW, Jan 28 (Reuters) – Russian-Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov has won a legal complaint against German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung over an article it published about him, court documents obtained by Reuters show.
In a ruling dated January 23, a Hamburg court prohibited FAZ from disseminating several statements, including allegations about Usmanov’s links to top Russian officials, from an April 2023 article titled “On the Kremlin’s instructions”.
Usmanov has a net worth of $18.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, and is subject to European Union and U.S. sanctions and a travel ban that were imposed after the start of the war in Ukraine.
He has launched multiple lawsuits in Europe with the ultimate goal of having the sanctions lifted. In some, his lawyers contested statements in the media that were used as the grounds for sanctions.
Usmanov’s lawyer, Joachim Steinhofel, said in remarks about the Hamburg court’s decision that the statements banned from further dissemination “repeated essential parts of the reasoning behind the sanctions against Mr Usmanov.”
“This (the court decision) allows for the legally substantiated assessment that the EU sanctions’ reasoning is nothing more than an accumulation of defamatory, groundless, and thus illegal allegations,” he added.
Last month, Germany agreed with Usmanov to close an investigation into alleged foreign trade law violations, provided that he pay 10 million euros ($11.98 million). In 2024, German prosecutors dropped a money laundering investigation against him.
(Reporting by Gleb Bryanski, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
Respondents to an annual Michigan college survey of overused and misused words and phrases say ” 6-7 ” is “cooked” and should come to a massive full-stop heading into the new year.
Those are among the top 10 words on the 50th annual “Banished Words List,” released Thursday by Lake Superior State University. The tongue-in-cheek roundup of overused slang started in 1976 as a New Year’s Eve party idea, and is affectionately called the list of “Queen’s English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness.”
Around 1,400 submissions came from all 50 states and a number of countries outside the U.S., including Uzbekistan, Brazil and Japan, according to Lake Superior State.
Also in the top 10 are “demure,” “incentivize,” “perfect,” “gift/gifted,” “my bad” and “reach out.” “My bad” and “reach out” also made the list decades ago — in 1998 and 1994, respectively.
“The list definitely represents the fad and vernacular trends of the younger generation,” said David Travis, Lake Superior State University president. “Social media allows a greater opportunity to misunderstand or misuse words. We’re using terms that are shared through texting, primarily, or through posting with no body language or tone context. It’s very easy to misunderstand these words.”
But what does “6-7” actually mean? It exploded over the summer, especially among Gen Z, and is considered by many to be nonsensical in meaning — an inside joke driven by social media.
“Don’t worry, because we’re all still trying to figure out exactly what it means,” the dictionary’s editors wrote.
Each number can be spoken aloud as “six, seven.” They even can be combined as the number 67; at college basketball games, some fans explode when a team reaches that point total.
The placement of “6-7” at the top of the banished list puts it in good company. In 2019, the centuries-old Latin phrase “quid pro quo” was the top requested phrase to ban from popular use. In 2017, ” fake news ” got the most votes.
Alana Bobbitt, a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, is unapologetic about using “6-7.”
“I find joy in it,” Bobbitt said. “It’s a little bit silly, and even though I don’t understand what it means, it’s fun to use.”
Jalen Brezzell says a small group of his friends use “6-7” and that it comes up a couple of times each week. But he won’t utter it.
“Never. I don’t really get the joke,” said Brezzell, a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. “I don’t see what’s funny about it.”
But banning it, even in jest, might be a bit of a stretch, he said, adding that he does use other words and phrases on the list.
“I’ve always used the word ‘cooked,’” Brezzell said. “I just think it got popular on the internet over this past year. It’s saying, like, ‘give it up, it’s over.’”
Some of the phrases do have longevity, Travis said.
“I don’t think they’ll ever go away, like ‘at the end of the day,’” he said. “I used ‘my bad’ today. I feel comfortable using it. I started using it when I was young. A lot of us older people are still using it.”
Travis said that while some terms on the list “will stick around in perpetuity,” others will be fleeting.
“I think ‘6-7,’ next year, will be gone,” he said.
MOSCOW, Dec 30 (Reuters) – A probe by German prosecutors into alleged foreign trade law violations by EU-sanctioned Russian-Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov is closed, his lawyers in Germany said in a statement on Tuesday.
The investigation looked into an alleged payment of 1.5 million euros ($1.8 million) for security at two homes in the Bavarian lakeside community of Rottach-Egern between April and September 2022.
Prosecutors also claimed that Usmanov failed to declare jewellery, paintings and wines to Germany’s export control office, BAFA, in accordance with European Union sanctions rules. Usmanov has denied any wrongdoing.
Usmanov, who has a net worth of $18.8 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, is subject to EU and U.S. sanctions and a travel ban, which were imposed after the start of the war in Ukraine.
Usmanov’s lawyers said he had no links to the companies involved in the alleged payments nor did he own or control the properties in question, adding that the EU sanctions were not directly applicable to the probe. Prosecutors were expected to release a statement on the matter later on Tuesday.
His lawyers said it was agreed to close the case to save time and resources. They added that their statement had been coordinated with the prosecutors.
They said Usmanov had agreed to pay 10 million euros split between the German state budget and German charity groups as part of an arrangement to close the probe. They said that the payment was neither a fine nor a form of punishment.
In November 2024, German prosecutors dropped a money laundering investigation against Usmanov on similar terms.
(Reporting by Gleb Bryanski; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States and Uzbekistan have reached a trade and economic deal, President Donald Trump said on Thursday, stating that Uzbekistan plans to purchase and invest $35 billion in the next three years and more than $100 billion in the next 10 years in some U.S. sectors.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
Five years ago, around 650 million people lived in poverty across the globe. Today, that number has climbed to more than 800 million. In other words, one out of every ten people on Earth still struggles to meet their basic needs. These stark realities place urgent responsibilities on governments, international organisations, and the global community.
Amid this global challenge, Uzbekistan has made the fight against poverty a state priority. As part of its efforts, the country hosted the 3rd International Forum “From Poverty to Prosperity” in Namangan, bringing together nearly 200 international experts, policymakers, and representatives of leading financial institutions.
3rd International Forum “From Poverty to Prosperity” in Namangan, Uzbekistan – president.uz
From poverty to prosperity: A model for the future
Opening the forum, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev outlined Uzbekistan’s ambitious direction.
“We are working to create an Uzbekistan model for poverty reduction by studying successful experiences from around the world. We are ready to set new, higher goals: by 2030, in line with international standards, we have every opportunity to completely eliminate absolute poverty in Uzbekistan — and we will definitely achieve it!” he said.
This vision earned praise from some international partners. Liu Junwen, director general of the International Poverty Reduction Center in China, told Euronews: “When I heard President Mirziyoyev’s introduction, I thought: This is a perfect policy system for reducing poverty.”
A nationwide programme: From poverty to prosperity
To translate this vision into reality, Uzbekistan launched a new nationwide programme called “From Poverty to Prosperity”. Covering seven priority areas — from building sustainable income sources to strengthening social protection — the programme’s main focus is not on short-term jobs, but on permanent employment that secures stable income for citizens.
By 2030 we have every opportunity to completely eliminate absolute poverty in Uzbekistan
Obid Khakimov, director of the Center for Economic Research and Reform, explained the uniqueness of this approach.
“We started new poverty reduction policy in 2020 and this programme was efficient because Uzbekistan has unique experience”, he told Euronews. He added: “The uniqueness is that the country started working at the mahalla (local) level. There are about 10,000 mahallas, and in all of them the government assigns a special person with knowledge and experience who is responsible for poverty reduction. In 2021, when we first measured poverty in Uzbekistan according to the national poverty line, it was 17%. Now it is below 7%.”
This grassroots model has proven transformative. Families receive individual attention, while resources are directed to raise household income. Each year, between €2.3 and €2.8 billion is invested in improving mahallas, modernising living conditions, and expanding local business infrastructure.
Related
Uzbekistan lifted 7.5 million people out of poverty
The results speak for themselves. According to the World Bank, Uzbekistan’s poverty rate dropped from 32% in 2016 to just 8.9% in 2024 — lifting 7.5 million people out of poverty.
Obert Pimhidzai, lead economist at the World Bank, shared his view on these figures. “What sets Uzbekistan’s experience apart is the speed of progress, even after COVID. Between 2021 and 2024, when poverty stagnated or even increased in many countries, Uzbekistan achieved remarkable and sustained reductions,” he told Euronews.
With nearly €30bn invested this year alone, the country created 300,000 new jobs and expanded programmes for women and youth. From free medicines and social payments to vocational training and business loans, the state is opening opportunities at every level.
3rd International Forum “From Poverty to Prosperity” in Namangan – president.uz
Regional impact: Uzbekistan drives Central Asia’s fight against poverty
Beyond its national progress, Uzbekistan is also shaping the region’s development.
As Pimhidzai told Euronews: “Uzbekistan, being one of the largest countries in Central Asia, is critical in the fight against poverty. Its progress accounts for about 20% of the overall reduction in the region. Going forward, much of Central Asia’s success will depend on Uzbekistan’s continued progress.”
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International lessons: Inclusive and green growth
Experts emphasised that Uzbekistan’s reforms link growth with inclusivity and sustainability.
Sangheon Lee, assistant director general for jobs and social protection at the International Labour Organization (ILO), drew a comparison with China’s success.
“The Chinese experience is quite similar in many ways — combining strong economic goals with inclusive policies and targeted measures at both national and local levels. Uzbekistan is following a similar path, especially in advancing the green transition,” he noted.
The fight against poverty delivers its greatest results when economic growth is matched with fairness — when nations invest in education, give people the skills they need, and make opportunities accessible to all groups in society.
Nilfar Nazarova used to work as an accountant in her native Uzbekistan but for the past four summers she has been cleaning hotel rooms in the Bulgarian Black Sea resort of Albena.
“The first year, there were very few Uzbeks. Today, around 100 of us come every season, attracted by the stable and regular salaries,” Nazarova, who is in her forties and from the city of Bukhara, told AFP.
“We feel welcomed like family.”
While workers from Central Asia and further afield have been arriving for years in Central and Eastern Europe, many locals of working age have been seeking their fortunes elsewhere since the fall of Communism.
Bulgaria’s population has shrunk by almost a third since 1990 and the country’s tourism sector — which accounts for almost seven percent of the economy — now relies on foreign workers.
Tens of thousands of positions in the sector remained unfilled at the start of the season, the hotel owners association said.
And a recent survey of companies found that eight out of 10 employers were facing labour shortages, most saying they were willing to hire workers from countries outside the European Union.
– Demographic impact –
About 20,000 Uzbeks, including seasonal workers, ply their trade in the Balkan nation, according to former government official Philip Gounev.
“At this rate, they could become a significant minority within five or six years,” said Gounev, a former deputy interior minister who now runs a migrant labour employment agency.
That would potentially change the demographic makeup of Bulgaria, the EU’s poorest country, he said.
Demand had surged in recent years, he added.
In Albena, popular with visitors from across the continent, workers from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Indonesia and other countries have taken up jobs in hotels, kitchens and bars.
The resort, which was once the pride of the Communist regime and hosted Cuba’s Fidel Castro, has escaped the real estate frenzy that has transformed much of Bulgaria’s Black Sea coastline.
“The work is hard but the people are kind,” Uzbek student Gulraykhan Muxanbetovna said as she bustled around the crowded restaurant of a four-star hotel overlooking the Black Sea.
The 20-year-old’s Instagram posts about her life in Albena have garnered her a loyal following of thousands on the social media platform.
“It’s interesting for people in my country. They want to come too,” she said.
– ‘Matter of survival’ –
Resort manager Krasimira Stoyanova said workers from abroad received food, accommodation and “a salary several times higher than what they would earn in Uzbekistan”.
“That’s what motivates them… There, they earn $100 to $150 a month. Here, salaries start at $600 and can reach $800 or more,” she said.
Many Uzbeks also speak Russian, an advantage in Bulgaria, which has historically had close ties with Moscow.
The government recognises the importance of attracting migrant workers and has made it easier for them to get visas, Gounev said — even if bureaucracy can still be “cumbersome” and corruption can put off some people.
“It’s a matter of survival for Bulgarian businesses,” he said.
And not only for businesses.
Bulgaria has one of the world’s fastest shrinking populations.
Most Bulgarians who leave the country do not return and nearly a quarter of the population is now over 65 years old.
A Wisconsin man who faked his own drowning while kayaking and left his wife and three children to meet a woman in the country of Georgia was convicted Tuesday of obstructing an officer and sentenced to 89 days in jail, which was the amount of time he successfully misled law enforcement about his whereabouts.
The sentence given to Ryan Borgwardt was nearly twice as long as what was recommended under a plea deal reached with prosecutors.
Borgwardt, 45, initially pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor that stemmed from his elaborate escape from the country last August. But under the plea deal unveiled Tuesday, Borgwardt changed his plea to no contest and agreed to pay $30,000 in restitution to law enforcement to cover what was spent trying to locate him. A no contest plea isn’t an admission of guilt but is treated as such for the purposes of sentencing.
“I deeply regret the actions I did that night and all the pain I caused my family, friends,” Borgwardt said in court before being sentenced.
Prosecutors asked Green Lake County Circuit Judge Mark Slate to sentence Borgwardt to just 45 days in jail. But the judge nearly doubled it to 89 days. That is the number of days from when he was declared missing until the sheriff’s department made contact with him overseas, the judge said.
“He obstructed law enforcement for a total of 89 days,” Slate said.
The longer sentence can serve as a deterrent to anyone else who may be considering faking their death and misleading law enforcement, the judge said.
Borgwardt was reported missing on Aug. 12, 2024, after telling his wife the night before that he was kayaking on Green Lake, about 100 miles northwest of Milwaukee.
Authorities who responded to the report found Borgwardt’s car and trailer parked on the bank of the lake, and a capsized kayak that apparently belonged to him in an area where the water was about 220 feet deep.
His disappearance was first investigated as a possible drowning. But after failing to find his body following a 58-day search, the investigation broadened.
The investigation took a turn after officials were notified that Canadian authorities had checked Borgwardt’s name on Aug. 13, according to the sheriff’s office.
Green Lake Chief Deputy Matt Vandelkolk told CBS News in November that the fact that Borgrwardt’s name was checked by law enforcement in Canada after he seemingly went missing “caught our attention,” because it meant “he had contact with Canadian law enforcement in some way, shape or form.”
Subsequent clues, including that he obtained a new passport three months before he disappeared, led investigators to speculate that Borgwardt had faked his death to meet up with a woman from Uzbekistan he had been communicating with.
A forensic analysis of a laptop that Borgwardt’s wife had given to investigators also raised suspicions that he had engineered the disappearance in order to flee to some place in Europe.
Investigators made contact with Borgwardt in November and convinced him to return to the U.S. in December. He turned himself in and was charged with obstructing the search for his body. His wife of 22 years divorced him four months later.
According to the criminal complaint, Borgwardt traveled 50 miles from his family’s home in Watertown to Green Lake on Aug. 11, 2024. During the night, he overturned his kayak on the lake, paddled back to shore in an inflatable raft that he brought with him — dumping his identification in the lake along the way — and rode an electric bicycle 70 miles to Madison. From there he caught a bus to Toronto, flew to Paris and then to “a country in Asia,” before he landed in the European country of Georgia, according to the criminal complaint.
He told investigators that a woman picked him up and they spent several days in a hotel before he took up residency in Georgia, according to the complaint.
“His entire plan to fake his death to devastate his family in order to serve his own selfish desires hinged on him dying in the lake and selling his death to the world,” Green Lake County District Attorney Gerise LaSpisa said ahead of sentencing.
She noted that he took out a life insurance policy, applied for a replacement passport and reversed his vasectomy before faking his death to meet a woman he met online just months earlier.
“The defendant did not count on the determination and dedication of our law enforcement,” LaSpisa said.
Borgwardt’s attorney, Erik Johnson, said Borgwardt “deeply regrets” his actions, and that he returned to the country “to make amends.” He noted that Borgwardt paid the $30,000 in restitution last week.
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron travels on Wednesday to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, where he hopes to secure uranium for his country’s nuclear plants.
The trip comes as geopolitical tensions grow with the EU’s current major suppliers, Niger and Russia.
Macron’s visit to the two countries aims to expand French influence in an area which has strong ties with Russia and is now also growing closer to China, an Elysée official said.
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are respectively France’s largest and third-largest suppliers of uranium, which is burned to fuel nuclear plants.
Last summer a military junta took over Niger, which supplies 15 percent of France’s uranium needs, sparking questions as to whether the African country can continue to be a reliable source. Uncertainty has also surrounded imports of Russian uranium since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Niger raises questions, Russia could raise questions in the long term [if] the EU imposes sanctions on the nuclear sector. Macron’s visit to Central Asia helps to anticipate those concerns,” said Phuc-Vinh Nguyen, an energy expert at the Jacques Delors Institute think tank in Paris.
Russia’s nuclear sector has not been targeted by EU sanctions so far, but member countries continue to turn away from Moscow. The quantity of uranium the EU imported from Russia fell by 16 percent last year from 2021, while the amount from Kazakhstan rose by over 14 percent.
Earlier this year, Yerzhan Mukanov, CEO of the country’s state-run nuclear firm Kazatomprom, told POLITICO he was seeing increasing interest from Europe, and that Kazakhstan “intends to become a significant contributor to the European nuclear market.”
French nuclear firm Orano is active in Kazakhstan, where it has been operating uranium mines since the 1990s, and more recently in Uzbekistan. Orano President Claude Imauven is accompanying Macron on his trip along with 14 other French executives, including Luc Remont, head of French energy giant EDF.
An Elysée official said that new contracts and business partnerships will be announced during the trip, including in the energy sector.
EDF has also positioned itself to become a supplier of nuclear reactors for Kazakhstan’s first nuclear plant.
The visit comes as Brussels competes with China for influence in the region via investment programs focused on infrastructure.
Both Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are benefitting from Chinese investment under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, with their presidents attending a high-level meeting on the subject in Beijing in October. The EU is trying to gain influence in the two countries by involvingthem in cooperation and investment projects under its “Global Gateway” initiative, the bloc’s response to Belt and Road.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday delivered a morose speech in Moscow’s Red Square that lasted barely 10 minutes, during which he doubled down on his justification for the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“A real war has once again been unleashed on our motherland,” he said in the speech during annual celebrations marking Russia’s World War II victory. “Western elites talk about their exceptionalism, dividing people and provoking bloody conflicts, sowing hatred, Russophobia and aggressive nationalism, destroying traditional family values.”
For nearly eight decades, Moscow’s annual Victory Day parade has been not just a memorial to the 27 million Soviet citizens who died fighting Nazi Germany in World War II, but also a carefully curated show of Russia’s strength.
This year, however, May 9 celebrations across the country were canceled or cut short, and the usual procession of uniformed troops and heavy weaponry in the capital appeared a shadow of what it was before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In previous years, a host of foreign dignitaries have traveled to Moscow for the festivities. But this time, only the leaders of seven other former Soviet republics made the journey — representing Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Belarus and Armenia.
While the increasingly isolated Putin pledged that his troops would ultimately succeed in Ukraine, the military hardware on show suggested its armed forces are scraping the barrel for equipment.
Instead of a long line of advanced battle tanks rumbling through the streets toward the Kremlin as in previous years, the procession was led by one single, Soviet-era T-34 tank — the kind used in action against the Nazis on the Eastern Front.
Aside from a few dozen armored personnel carriers, heavy tactical vehicles used by Chechen forces and long-range anti-aircraft systems, the bulk of Russia’s once-feared arsenal was nowhere to be seen — likely in action in eastern Ukraine. Or lying wrecked on the battlefield.
“There was lots of hardware that looks tank-adjacent, but isn’t officially a tank,” one Moscow resident watching the parade told POLITICO on condition of anonymity, given strict laws targeting anyone accused of discrediting the armed forces.
Across the border, a barrage of Russian rockets rained down on Kyiv overnight, with air defenses repelling an estimated 15 missiles. Ukraine commemorated the end of World War II the day before, on May 8, aligning with Western Europe for the first time.
Meanwhile, the part of Russia’s celebrations organizers say honors those who fell in the fight against fascism almost 80 years ago — the march of the so-called Immortal Regiment, where Russians hold pictures of their loved ones who died — was canceled.
In a country where hundreds of thousands of young men are fighting Putin’s bloody war, talk of casualties is becoming more sensitive day to day.
A man walks past the office enterance of Marion Biotech, a pharmaceutical company in Noida on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, December 29, 2022.
AFP/Getty
New Delhi — The World Health Organization has issued an alert warning against the use of two Indian cough syrups blamed for the deaths of at least 20 children in Uzbekistan. The WHO said the products, manufactured by India’s Marion Biotech, were “substandard” and that the firm had failed to provide guarantees about their “safety and quality.”
The alert issued on Wednesday came after Uzbekistan authorities said last month that at least 20 children died after consuming a syrup made by the company under the brand name Doc-1 Max.
India’s health ministry subsequently suspended production at the company and Uzbekistan banned the import and sale of Doc-1 Max.
The WHO alert said an analysis of the syrup samples by the quality control laboratories of Uzbekistan found “unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and /or ethylene glycol as contaminants.”
Diethylene glycol and ethylene are toxic to humans when consumed and can prove fatal.
“Both of these products may have marketing authorizations in other countries in the region. They may also have been distributed, through informal markets, to other countries or regions,” WHO said.
The products were “unsafe and their use, especially in children, may result in serious injury or death,” it said.
Marion Biotech officials could not be reached immediately for comment.
It is the second Indian drugmaker to face a probe by regulators since October, when the WHO linked another firm’s medicines to a spate of child deaths in Gambia.
The Indian maker of a cough syrup linked to at least 18 deaths in Uzbekistan has halted production after an investigation by drug regulators, India’s health minister said Friday.
Uzbekistan’s health ministry said the cough syrup, Doc-1, manufactured by the Indian pharmaceutical company Marion Biotech, had contained ethylene glycol, a toxic solution.
The Uzbek ministry said seven employees have been dismissed due to negligence and that all relevant documents have been given to law enforcement for an investigation. The ministry also said the cough syrup was incorrectly used by parents.
On Friday, Indian heath minister Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted that all Marion Boitech’s manufacturing activities at their headquarters in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh had been stopped as of Thursday evening “while further investigation is ongoing,” following an inspection by India’s drug regulatory agency.
Marion Biotech could not be immediately reached for comment.
Hasan Harris, Marion Biotech’s legal head, told Indian news agency ANI: “We await the reports, the factory was inspected. We’ve halted production of all medicines.” As of Friday, the company’s website was not operational.
In a statement Tuesday, Uzbekistan said the Doc-1 Max syrup was incorrectly used by parents as an anti-cold remedy on their own or on the recommendation of pharmacy sellers and this resulted in respiratory distress in children who consumed the medication.
The Uzbek health ministry said in its statement that the deceased children had taken 2.5-5ml of the drug at home for 2-7 days, which exceeds the standard dose of the drug for children, prior to being admitted to the hospital. All children had been given the drug without a doctor’s prescription, the ministry added.
It remains unclear how many of the children consumed the cough syrup tainted with ethylene glycol, or had been given more than the standard dosage, or both.
The ministry said it had withdrawn all tablets and syrups of the drug from pharmacies across the country and said that 7 responsible employees have been dismissed from their positions “due to negligent and careless attitude to their duties.” It also said disciplinary measures are being applied against a number of specialists, but it did not specify who or what those measures would be.
Ethylene glycol is commonly found in anti-freeze used in motor vehicles. If ingested, it can damage the brain, lungs, liver and kidneys, and can lead to death.
