http://www.rferl.org/archive/Kazakhstan/latest/652/662.html RFE/RL's latest news, features, commentary, and multimedia content on Kazakhstan http://www.rferl.org/img/rssLogo.gif http://www.rferl.org/archive/Kazakhstan/latest/652/662.html en-US Copyright 2009 - RFE/RL, Inc. 60 Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:06:16 +0000 Pangea CMS – RFE/RL Kazakhstan has approved a bill introducing tougher punishment for invasion of privacy in a move condemned by the opposition as an attack on press freedom. http://www.rferl.org/content/Kazakhstan_Adopts_Tough_Privacy_Protection_Law/1882583.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Kazakhstan_Adopts_Tough_Privacy_Protection_Law/1882583.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:54:22 +0000 News The imprisoned director of the Kazakh Bureau for Human Rights, Yevgeny Zhovtis, has been denied access to his lawyer, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. http://www.rferl.org/content/Kazakh_Rights_Activist_Denied_Access_To_Lawyer/1881814.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Kazakh_Rights_Activist_Denied_Access_To_Lawyer/1881814.html Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:16:23 +0000 From Our Bureaus The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has begun a third round of discussions in Almaty about upcoming counterterrorism exercises, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. http://www.rferl.org/content/Uzbeks_Skip_Regional_Security_Meeting_In_Kazakhstan/1881390.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Uzbeks_Skip_Regional_Security_Meeting_In_Kazakhstan/1881390.html Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:03:24 +0000 From Our Bureaus Russia has confirmed it wants to join the World Trade Organization and said members of its customs union with Kazakhstan and Belarus would seek to join as separate entities. http://www.rferl.org/content/Russia_Says_It_Wants_To_Join_WTO_Soon/1881277.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Russia_Says_It_Wants_To_Join_WTO_Soon/1881277.html Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:38:37 +0000 News Transparency International has just released its annual index of corruption in countries across the globe. The Corruption Perceptions Index 2009 finds that high levels of corruption in some countries could slow international efforts to help them cope with, or recover, from the global economic crisis. We speak with Jana Mittermaier, head of Transparency International's Brussels office, to learn more. RFE/RL correspondent Charles Recknagel conducts the interview. http://www.rferl.org/content/Transparency_Campaigner_Warns_Corruption_Could_Slow_Recovery_In_Fragile_Countries/1880774.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Transparency_Campaigner_Warns_Corruption_Could_Slow_Recovery_In_Fragile_Countries/1880774.html Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:46:35 +0000 Features http://www.rferl.org/content/Transparency_Campaigner_Warns_Corruption_Could_Slow_Recovery_In_Fragile_Countries/1880774.html#relatedInfoContainer Yevgeny Zhovtis and Tohniyaz Kuchukov say that prison officials have put pressure on them to sign disadvantageous work contracts, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. http://www.rferl.org/content/Kazakh_Activist_Journalist_Complain_Of_Pressure_In_Prison/1879764.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Kazakh_Activist_Journalist_Complain_Of_Pressure_In_Prison/1879764.html Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:55:13 +0000 From Our Bureaus The son of a late Kazakh opposition figure has been appointed to an Almaty City administration post on the eve of the anniversay of his father's mysterious death, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. http://www.rferl.org/content/Slain_Kazakh_Opposition_Figures_Son_Gets_Government_Job/1877223.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Slain_Kazakh_Opposition_Figures_Son_Gets_Government_Job/1877223.html Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:57:39 +0000 From Our Bureaus Before the autumn revolutions in Eastern Europe, there was the Moscow Spring in the Soviet Union. In 1989, Mikhail Gorbachev's reform policies hit their high-water mark, as the USSR held its first competitive elections, press freedom flourished, and civil society awakened. http://www.rferl.org/content/Revolutions_of_89_The_Moscow_Spring/1876450.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Revolutions_of_89_The_Moscow_Spring/1876450.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:14:45 +0000 Features http://www.rferl.org/content/Revolutions_of_89_The_Moscow_Spring/1876450.html#relatedInfoContainer The number of swine flu patients in Kyrgyzstan has reached 27, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports. http://www.rferl.org/content/Kyrgyzstan_Reports_More_Swine_Flu_Infections_But_No_Deaths/1875149.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Kyrgyzstan_Reports_More_Swine_Flu_Infections_But_No_Deaths/1875149.html Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:26:24 +0000 From Our Bureaus Tajikistan has introduced electricity rationing in some of its provinces after a major blackout in the country, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports. http://www.rferl.org/content/Electricity_Being_Rationed_In_Some_Tajik_Provinces/1875105.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Electricity_Being_Rationed_In_Some_Tajik_Provinces/1875105.html Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:00:56 +0000 From Our Bureaus Supporters of leading Kazakh human rights activist Yevgeny Zhovtis say his case is politically motivated, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. http://www.rferl.org/content/Supporters_Of_Jailed_Kazakh_Activist_Says_Case_Politically_Motivated/1875117.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Supporters_Of_Jailed_Kazakh_Activist_Says_Case_Politically_Motivated/1875117.html Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:05:07 +0000 From Our Bureaus http://www.rferl.org/content/Supporters_Of_Jailed_Kazakh_Activist_Says_Case_Politically_Motivated/1875117.html#relatedInfoContainer Kazakh officials are investigating a fire in a warehouse in Astana on November 9 that killed at least 14 people, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. http://www.rferl.org/content/Eyewitness_Says_Explosion_Started_Deadly_Kazakh_Fire_/1874401.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Eyewitness_Says_Explosion_Started_Deadly_Kazakh_Fire_/1874401.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:38:30 +0000 From Our Bureaus At least 16 workers were killed by a fire at an Astana warehouse filled with plastic-foam materials, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. http://www.rferl.org/content/Fire_At_Astana_Warehouse_Kills_At_Least_16/1873927.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Fire_At_Astana_Warehouse_Kills_At_Least_16/1873927.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:16:50 +0000 From Our Bureaus Some 2,000 Kazakhs are planning to go on the hajj -- the holy pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia -- despite the swine flu epidemic, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. http://www.rferl.org/content/Kazakhs_To_Make_Hajj_While_Turkmen_Will_Stay_Home__/1873451.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Kazakhs_To_Make_Hajj_While_Turkmen_Will_Stay_Home__/1873451.html Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:32:49 +0000 From Our Bureaus A court in Turkmenistan has overturned a five-year jail sentence handed down last week to a biologist whose environmental organization was shut down by the state in 2003. The case marks the second time in three years that Andrei Zatoka has been sentenced and detained before being released, and highlights the difficulties activists commonly encounter in Central Asia. http://www.rferl.org/content/Turkmen_Case_Highlights_Plight_Of_Activists_In_Central_Asia/1871275.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Turkmen_Case_Highlights_Plight_Of_Activists_In_Central_Asia/1871275.html Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:13:52 +0000 Features http://www.rferl.org/content/Turkmen_Case_Highlights_Plight_Of_Activists_In_Central_Asia/1871275.html#relatedInfoContainer The big thinkers in the capital, Astana, are urging ordinary Kazakhs -- who earn on average $114 a week -- to make more use of small planes to replace what they call the "anachronism" of long car and train journeys. After all, it's an 800-mile trip between the main business hub of Almaty and Astana. http://www.rferl.org/content/Honey_Dont_Forget_Your_Parachute/1870444.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Honey_Dont_Forget_Your_Parachute/1870444.html Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:30:46 +0000 Transmission http://www.rferl.org/content/Honey_Dont_Forget_Your_Parachute/1870444.html#relatedInfoContainer Last week’s announcement that the next Russian census will be held in 2010 as originally scheduled is welcome news indeed. There had been considerable speculation that the census had been delayed largely for political reasons, and it is encouraging to think that the opinions of experts who say the census information is crucially needed were heeded in this case. http://www.rferl.org/content/Russia_Is_Dying_To_Learn_Its_Census_Data/1869329.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Russia_Is_Dying_To_Learn_Its_Census_Data/1869329.html Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:38:55 +0000 Commentary http://www.rferl.org/content/Russia_Is_Dying_To_Learn_Its_Census_Data/1869329.html#relatedInfoContainer The whereabouts of a Kazakh asylum seeker deported from the Czech Republic to Almaty remains unknown, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. http://www.rferl.org/content/Deported_Kazakh_Asylum_Seeker_Still_Missing/1869164.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Deported_Kazakh_Asylum_Seeker_Still_Missing/1869164.html Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:33:03 +0000 From Our Bureaus http://www.rferl.org/content/Deported_Kazakh_Asylum_Seeker_Still_Missing/1869164.html#relatedInfoContainer The president of the Russian Republic of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, presided at the ceremonial opening of an Ingush Cultural Center in Almaty on October 30, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. http://www.rferl.org/content/Ingushetian_President_Opens_Culture_Center_In_Almaty/1867504.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Ingushetian_President_Opens_Culture_Center_In_Almaty/1867504.html Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:41:16 +0000 From Our Bureaus A U.S. official has called on Kazakhstan to fulfill its obligations before it assumes the chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. http://www.rferl.org/content/US_Official_Calls_On_Kazakhstan_To_Adhere_To_OSCE_Pledges/1866513.html http://www.rferl.org/content/US_Official_Calls_On_Kazakhstan_To_Adhere_To_OSCE_Pledges/1866513.html Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:53:48 +0000 From Our Bureaus http://www.rferl.org/content/US_Official_Calls_On_Kazakhstan_To_Adhere_To_OSCE_Pledges/1866513.html#relatedInfoContainer The head of a Kazakh nongovernmental organization is urging the country's ombudsman, National Security Committee (KNB) chief, and the prosecutor-general to ensure proper medical care is given to the jailed former president of uranium-producer KazAtomProm, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. http://www.rferl.org/content/Kazakh_NGO_Urges_Care_For_Jailed_Company_Head_/1866088.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Kazakh_NGO_Urges_Care_For_Jailed_Company_Head_/1866088.html Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:12:04 +0000 From Our Bureaus The Communist Party is protesting the dismantling of a monument to Vladimir Lenin in the southeastern Kazakh city of Taldy-Qorghan, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. http://www.rferl.org/content/Kazakh_Communist_Party_Resents_Lenin_Statue_Removal_/1865427.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Kazakh_Communist_Party_Resents_Lenin_Statue_Removal_/1865427.html Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:37:50 +0000 From Our Bureaus Leading Kazakh human rights activist Yevgeny Zhovtis has been transferred from Almaty to a labor camp in northeastern Kazakhstan, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. http://www.rferl.org/content/Kazakh_Rights_Activist_Sent_To_Remote_Labor_Camp/1863547.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Kazakh_Rights_Activist_Sent_To_Remote_Labor_Camp/1863547.html Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:47:59 +0000 From Our Bureaus The former president of Kazakhstan's Uranium-producing giant KazAtomProm says he needs to be hospitalized, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. http://www.rferl.org/content/Jailed_Kazakh_Uranium_Company_Chief_Requests_Hospitalization/1862422.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Jailed_Kazakh_Uranium_Company_Chief_Requests_Hospitalization/1862422.html Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:40:30 +0000 From Our Bureaus What's your idea of the best place in which to live? Many people would probably answer that palm trees and a gleaming beach would be a good start to their idea of earthly paradise. But in real life, the country which scores best on a whole range of economic and quality-of-life issues is a good deal colder. It's Finland. That's what the 2009 Prosperity Index issued by the British-based think tank the Legatum Institute finds. http://www.rferl.org/content/Wheres_The_Best_Place_To_Live_Prosperity_Index_Offers_A_Few_Surprises/1861387.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Wheres_The_Best_Place_To_Live_Prosperity_Index_Offers_A_Few_Surprises/1861387.html Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:48:40 +0000 Features http://www.rferl.org/content/Wheres_The_Best_Place_To_Live_Prosperity_Index_Offers_A_Few_Surprises/1861387.html#relatedInfoContainer