Expand / Collapse search
Watch TV
Menu

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2024 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

Asia

Uzbek TV figure reads independence speech for ill president

Associated Press
Published | Updated
  • 2ce5e67a-
    Image 1 of 3

    Performers dressed in Uzbek national costumes take part in a welcome ceremony of a new Boeing 787 Dreamliner that will be used by the national airway company, at the airport in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016. Uzbekistan's prime minister led the nation's Independence Day celebration Wednesday in the capital of Tashkent as President Islam Karimov remained hospitalized. (AP Photo) (The Associated Press)

  • dafcb084-
    Image 2 of 3

    Street vendors talk at a market in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016. Uzbekistan's prime minister led the nation's Independence Day celebration Wednesday in the capital of Tashkent as President Islam Karimov remained hospitalized. (AP Photo) (The Associated Press)

  • 27560a3a-
    Image 3 of 3

    Street vendors wait for customers at a market in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016. Uzbekistan's prime minister led the nation's Independence Day celebration Wednesday in the capital of Tashkent as President Islam Karimov remained hospitalized. (AP Photo) (The Associated Press)

MOSCOW – A national newsreader has delivered a televised Independence Day speech on behalf of ailing President Islam Karimov, who remains hospitalized in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, with a suspected brain hemorrhage.

The surprise substitution reflected rising political uncertainty in Uzbekistan, which observed its national holiday Thursday. It was Karimov's first-ever absence from the celebrations.

Karimov has run an authoritarian regime in the Central Asian nation since 1989, suppressing opposition and cultivating no apparent successor. He hasn't been seen in public since mid-August, and his government last weekend admitted he was ill. His daughter on Monday said he had suffered a brain hemorrhage.

Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyayev led the start of independence-related events Wednesday. Other events have reportedly been cancelled, including a concert and a fireworks display.