Azerbaijan's first lady, Mehriban Aliyeva, has never taken a back seat to her powerful husband. But could she replace him as president?

Belgium's postal service says media reports in Azerbaijan about what was essentially a vanity stamp of the late President Heydar Aliyev gave the wrong impression.

The U.S.-based NGO Human Rights Watch has slammed Azerbaijan for arresting political opponents on spurious drugs charges in the run-up to the country’s October presidential election. But it seems Baku is not alone in apparently using such tactics to muzzle dissent.

In a new report, the global rights group Amnesty International documents abuses in 159 countries and territories that it says were "inflicted by those in power on those who stand in the way of their vested interests."

The multinational musical glitzfest known as Eurovision holds its final in Sweden. But the main sponsor of this year's contest raises eyebrows for its ties to human rights abuses in the former Soviet Union.

Stefan Fuele, the European Union commissioner for enlargement and neighborhood policy, has called on the EU-hopeful countries of the Eastern Partnership and the Western Balkans to do more to prove their commitment to democratic values. Correspondent Daisy Sindelar spoke to Fuele during his visit to RFE/RL headquarters in Prague on May 9.