Uzbekistan

Ambassador George A. Krol, a long-time diplomat specializing in Central Asia,has been confirmed as the American ambassador in Tashkent, the Senate Office of the Majority Leader reported. Unlike similar hearings for other envoys and officials, such as for Ambassador Robert E.

Azerbaijan's authoritarian regime gave the prominent human rights group Amnesty International an unexpected gift ahead of its golden anniversary on May 28: a miracle.

That's how jailed Azerbaijani newspaper editor Eynulla Fatullayev described his unexpected release from prison this week.

A trip to Germany May 24-26 by Uzbek First Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov became an occasion for human rights groups to put pressure on Berlin to gain more concessions from Tashkent. Germany has enjoyed increasingly cooperative relations with Uzbekistan in recent years.

President Islam Karimov's daughter, Lola Karimova-Tillyayeva is pursuing her libel lawsuit against the French website rue89.com.

Michael Emerson is a Senior Research Fellow at the Brussels-based Centre for European Policy Studies, which is an independent think-tank focused on probing European Union issues through research, debates and publications.

Thirty-eight-year-old Ahmadjon Mahmudov pulls out his smart phone and, pausing to contemplate the painfully dire chances of a reunion, flashes an image on the touch pad.

"My children," the former grocery-store owner from Kokand, in Central Asia's restive Fergana Valley, says proudly. "I have four of them."