Islam Karimov

(Newser) - Islam Karimov, who crushed all opposition in the Central Asian country of Uzbekistan as its only president in a quarter-century of independence from the Soviet Union, has died of a stroke at age 78, the Uzbek government announced Friday. Karimov will be buried Saturday in the ancient city of Samarkand,...

(Newser) - The US media rarely mentions Uzbekistan, but human rights there are in a deplorable state. Just ask Sanjar Umarov, who was jailed and tortured for years for speaking out against the massacre of mostly peaceful protesters in 2005. "I was drugged, beaten, falsely accused of directing the uprising,"...

(Newser) - Gulnara “GooGoosha” Karimova may be the daughter of a hated dictator who once boiled an enemy alive, but that didn’t stop organizers from allowing her to unveil her new fashion line during a show at New York’s upcoming Fashion Week. Karimova, 39, is a high-ranking official in...