RFE/RL

A look at some of the most popular stories from RFE/RL’s Central Asia bureaus.

# Sore losers? A Tajik football club received a stiff fine and had several players suspended after defeating an arch rival team — which just happens to be founded by President Emomali Rahmon’s eldest son.

# Kyrgyzstan’s Prosecutor-General says Georgia has refused Bishkek’s extradition request for a former chief of the country’s presidential secretariat wanted for allegedly giving orders to shoot unarmed protesters in 2010.

# Whoever said that money can’t buy you love obviously wasn’t the long-time autocratic ruler of a country with the world’s 11th-largest oil reserves and global top-10 reserves of uranium, zinc, copper, coal, iron, and gold. If you are, say, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev, getting high-profile world figures like Tony Blair to sing your praises appears to be no problem.

# Elsewhere in Kazakhstan, a former detention center warden has gone on trial for allegedly abusing his authority in connection with a man’s death after December’s deadly riots in Zhanaozen.

# As Turkmenistan readies for its annual Horse Day celebrations, a national holiday that rejoices in the unique status of the horse in Turkmen culture, it’s not just the equine beauties that benefit from a cult of personality.

For more news in Central Asia, visit the section online.