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Episode details

World Service,25 Jan 2022,26 mins

Central Asia suffers power cuts

World Business Report

Available for over a year

Millions of people in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan have suffered power cuts. The disruption has been caused by a grid failure, and Timor Karpov in the Uzbekistan capital Tashkent tells us about his experience of power shortages. And Temur Umarov of the Carnegie Moscow Centre explains the background to the problems. Also in the programme, the BBC's Ed Butler reports on how drug cartels in Mexico have turned to innovative solutions to continue smuggling drugs across the border into the United States. The latest European Space Conference is under way in Brussels today. We explore the main items on the agenda, including a possible rival to Elon Musk's Starlink internet satellite constellation, and tackling the problem of space junk, with space journalist Jonathan O'Callaghan. Plus, the pandemic has disrupted the industry awards sector considerably over the past two years. Our regular workplace commentator Peter Morgan tells us why he is happy to keep his tuxedo tucked away in the wardrobe. Today's edition is presented by Rahul Tandon, and produced by Nisha Patel, Sara Parry and Tom Kavanagh. (Picture: Power cables in Uzbekistan. Picture credit: Getty Images.)

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