The European Union's German presidency has said it will unveil a draft of the bloc's first-ever strategy for Central Asia at a meeting with the region's foreign ministers in late March.

About 20 protesters rallied today in front of the Uzbek Embassy in Kyrgyzstan's capital, Bishkek, in support of two imprisoned Uzbek rights activists, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports.

One of the biggest producers of carpets in the world, Turkey, was very prominent at the Domotex trade fair in Hannover on January 13-16.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier today said the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) confidence-building measures could serve as a model for the EU's strategy on Central Asia and Kosovo.

The European Union's external relations commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, has said the union is working toward closer ties with the Central Asian region despite the human rights failings there. In comments on January 15, Ferrero-Waldner warned that neglecting Central Asia would merely drive the region toward Russia and China.

The head of Tajikistan's drug control agency has warned that he expects drug smuggling in Central Asia to surge in 2007.

For Russia, Saparmurat Niyazov's death means, on the one hand, the pleasing prospect of a less isolated Turkmenistan. On the other, there is the very real possibility that Ashgabat's gas supplies to Russia will dry up as the Central Asian nation navigates a new course.

Turkmen President-for-life Saparmurat Niyazov, also refered as Father of all Turkmens has died of heart attack, a government source told Reuters on Thursday. "It happened overnight. The president has died," the source said.

"Turkmenbashi (Head of the Turkmen) the Great has died," said a news presenter on Turkmen state-controlled television.

Relations with the Central Asian countries, the Black Sea region, and Russia are among the top priorities of the European Union's incoming German presidency, which begins on January 1.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev made some surprising comments on November 10. The leader of a country that has attracted major investment from the West, Nazarbaev said Kazakhstan does not need lecturing and advice from Western nations.