Great Silk Road's modern dark side: Government forces Uzbek children to help grow silkworms

The head of a European human rights watchdog has visited jailed Kazakh rights activist Yevgeny Zhovtis to congratulate him on being awarded the group's annual prize, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.

(SRI) - Samruk-Kazyna, Kazakhstan's state-owned holding and investment company, filed a claim in a Kazakh court against BTA Bank and "some of its creditors" over $300 million in transactions, BTA said on Wednesday.

Britain is facing a diplomatic rift with Kazakhstan, a key trading partner, over attempts by a leading Kazakh pro-democracy campaigner to seek political asylum from the British government.

Oil consultant Jim Giffen, after more than seven years of fighting charges that he bribed government leaders in Kazakhstan, pleaded guilty to a tax-related misdemeanor.

Does this picture make you think of Rwanda? If so, a British PR firm has done its job, and many states want a similar makeover

International donors pledged $1.1 billion in aid Tuesday to help Kyrgyzstan rebuild after months of political and ethnic violence.

This summer's Kyrgyz-Uzbek clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan presented the gravest threat to Central Asian security since the Tajik civil war of the 1990s. Reportedly, about 3,000 people died and more than 300,000 were displaced in the violence. While some stability emerged after the bloodshed and following a national referendum legitimizing the new government, the urgent needs for speedy reconstruction of the destroyed infrastructure and for reconciliation between the two ethnic groups present daunting security challenges.

Police in Kyrgyzstan have detained a brother of deposed President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, authorities said Thursday — the latest effort to solidify control over the country's tense south and dismantle the former leader's entourage.