A former banker and diplomat faces murder investigations in Austria, it has emerged.

OSH, Kyrgyzstan (Reuters) - A powerful earthquake struck Central Asia's densely populated Ferghana valley on Wednesday, shaking houses and sending residents of several Uzbek and Kyrgyz cities onto the streets in panic.

Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan are included in a U.S. immigration service's special watch list of countries whose people should come in for extra scrutiny to make sure they're not terrorists. The list (pdf), of "specially designated countries (SDCs) that have shown a tendency to promote, produce, or protect terrorist organizations or their members" is a fairly crude one, the logic of which seems to be, "if a country has a lot of Muslims, it's a terrorist threat."

Goga Ashkenazi has experienced a meteoric rise, from small-town Kazakh girl to prominent fixture of British high society.

With an historical drama, Myn Bala, and other "blockbusters," the former Soviet republic is making a bid to become Hollywood on the Steppe

(SRI) - Local authorities, and representatives of KazMunaiGas Exploration and Production (KMG EP), trade unions and striking workers have agreed to form a working commission to resolve the strike at the Karazhanbasmunai oil facility, the Kazakhstan-Novosti news agency last week.