Kyrgyzstan's authorities focus on getting ethnic Uzbeks to polls after bloody rampages

An international police force may be needed to restore stability in southern Kyrgyzstan after the ethnic bloodshed that has killed hundreds and sparked a wave of refugees, an OSCE official said on Wednesday.

SKazakhstan's National Security Committee (KNB), the country's security service, said on Tuesday it had charged defaulted Astana Finance's former chairman Kintal Islamov and former chief executive Artur Akhmetov with embezzlement.

Human Rights Watch says Kyrgyz troops launch new raids of Uzbek areas in southern Kyrgyzstan

JALALABAD, Kyrgyzstan (Reuters) - Kyrgyz leader Roza Otunbayeva pledged on Monday to press ahead with a referendum in six days' time for the sake of stability, as violence flared again in the Central Asian state.

Kyrgyz government forces swept into an ethnic Uzbek village Monday, beating men and women with rifle butts in an assault that left at least two dead and more than 20 wounded, witnesses told The Associated Press.