Austria has asked Switzerland to carry out an autopsy on Rakhat Aliyev, a Kazakh dissident found hanged in an Austrian prison last week, to dispel any suggestions of a cover up after a first post mortem found traces of sedatives.

Rakhat Aliyev experienced the sort of career that is only possible in autocratic regimes; where blood is thicker than water, and where whom you know is infinitely more important than anything you may have learned. A one stage his CV glistened with the sort of plum jobs only available to those with contacts, but by the time of his death at 52 his downfall was complete. He died in an Austrian prison cell awaiting trial for murder, a charge his supporters say was politically motivated.

The two Uzbeks and one Kazakh who were arrested this week in Brooklyn for allegedly making plans to join Islamic State found their way to the extremist group only after they immigrated to the United States. You have to wonder whether there's something about their experience in the U.S. -- rather than the Central Asian countries they left -- that inspired them to radicalize. Were these two mobile phone repairmen and gyro seller inspired by a sense of betrayal or disgust at the American way of life?

Rakhat Aliyev, the Kazakh president's former son-in-law who had came to Malta in a bid to evade double murder charges, has been found dead in an Austrian jail after killing himself, a court spokeswoman said on Tuesday, but his lawyers said they doubted he had taken his own life.

The missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370 was hijacked on the orders of Vladimir Putin and secretly landed in Kazakhstan, an expert has claimed in a wild new theory.

Rakhat Aliyev, the flamboyant and controversial former son-in-law of Kazakhstan's president, has been found dead in an Austrian prison, where he was awaiting trial on charges of murdering two bankers in Kazakhstan eight years ago.