Tashkent - When comic Erkin Choliyev apologised for mocking the police, in a video posted by Uzbekistan's interior ministry, his loyal fans feared the worst.

Tashkent - China's embassy in Uzbekistan accused US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of slander on Tuesday after he raised the plight of Muslims in the Xinjiang region during a visit to Central Asia.

Tashkent - US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Uzbekistan on Sunday for the final stop of a five-country tour in which he is manoeuvring to undercut Chinese and Russian influence.

Tashkent - All five pro-government parties competing in Uzbekistan's first elections under President Shavkat Mirziyoyev took seats in the country's parliament, preliminary results showed Monday, with international monitors criticising the "lack of real contest.

Tashkent - Uzbekistan voted Sunday in the first parliamentary election since a new leader ushered in an era of reform after years of isolation and authoritarian rule.

Tashkent - Uzbekistan votes Sunday in the former Soviet republic's first parliamentary elections since a new leader ushered in an era of reform after years of isolation and stagnation, yet voters' choices remain highly restricted.

Tashkent - The jailed daughter of Uzbekistan's former leader has begged his successor to release her after claiming she gave more than $1.0 billion to the state, while an anti-fraud ruling in her former home of Switzerland deepened her troubles.

Tashkent - Uzbek student Luiza Muminjonova wanted to work in the country's booming Islamic tourism sphere but last year she was expelled from a university in the capital Tashkent.

Tashkent - The daughter of Uzbekistan's late president Islam Karimov has been sent to prison for allegedly violating the terms of her house arrest, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

Uzbekistan - On February 15, 1989, crowds of stunned onlookers watched the last Soviet troops leave Afghanistan over the Friendship Bridge -- defeated after a decade of war."The Russians were waving and smiling at the people.

Tashkent - Russia and Uzbekistan on Friday hailed the construction of an $11 billion nuclear power plant that should help solve an energy deficit in the Central Asian country while binding it tighter to Moscow politically.

Tashkent - Russian President Vladimir Putin starts his first state visit to Uzbekistan under new leadership on Thursday as the Kremlin attempts to recalibrate a once thorny relationship with billions of dollars in business deals.

Tashkent - French nationals will be the first in the European Union to gain visa-free entry to Uzbekistan ahead of key talks between both countries' leaders in Paris, the foreign ministry said Saturday.

Muynak - Beats pumped and strobe lights beamed across the desert in ex-Soviet Uzbekistan into the early hours of Saturday as festival-goers danced beside rusting boats beached miles from the shrinking Aral Sea.

Chilanzar - The passage of time seems to have slowed down at Zarif Mukhtarov's paper mill in a village not far from ex-Soviet Uzbekistan's silk road city, Samarkand.

Samarkand - Coiffed, cheerful and multilingual, identical twins Fatima and Zukhra Rakhmatova do not immediately resemble agents of ex-Soviet Uzbekistan's long-feared security apparatus.

Tashkent - Uzbekistan threw open its doors Tuesday for a multilateral meeting on Afghanistan aiming to lay the ground for direct talks between Kabul and the Taliban.

Tashkent - Uzbekistan has released an activist who was jailed for nearly 12 years after a bloody crackdown on protesters in the east of the country, rights groups said on Saturday.

Tashkent - Uzbek authorities are to ease strict rules that bar visitors from taking photos or videos in parts of the country's picturesque capital, in a new bid to encourage tourism.

Tashkent - Uzbekistan's notorious national security chief Rustam Inoyatov has been replaced as the Uzbek leader seeks to consolidate his hold over the Central Asian country.