Prague, 12 January 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Russian researchers say rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan are causing serious illnesses among people who live nearby. Russia's Rosaviakosmos space agency, the U.S. space agency NASA, and the European Space Agency (ESA) all launch rockets from the base. The unpublished study contends that unburned remnants of toxic fuels regularly spray over inhabited parts of Kazakhstan's Altai area. It says this is resulting in increased levels and severity of sickness among the area's children.
Tsunami-ravaged Aceh in Indonesia The United Nations has asked donor nations to contribute nearly $1 billion by the end of the month to address the immediate needs of victims of the South Asian tsunami disaster. The world body says it has already secured concrete commitments for about two-thirds of that amount. Meanwhile, relief supplies continue to arrive in the region. As RFE/RL reports, Central Asian nations, including war-ravaged Afghanistan, have joined the international effort to raise funds and provide humanitarian aid to the affected areas.
Nazarbaev is hosting the meeting (file photo) 12 January 2005 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev met today in Kazakhstan's commercial capital Almaty for talks focused on energy issues.
President Nazarbaev (file photo) 10 January 2005 -- A U.S.-based human rights group is criticizing authorities in Kazakhstan for their recent decision to ban a leading opposition party.
7 January 2005 -- A Kazakh opposition party, the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DCK), says it will appeal a court decision to liquidate it.
Almaty, 7 January 2005 (RFE/RL) -- A Kazakh court yesterday authorized the liquidation of an opposition party, the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan.
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Authorities in Kazakhstan have launched a criminal case against the Soros-Kazakhstan Foundation, a U.S. humanitarian organization, for tax evasion. Kazakh officials said the foundation faces possible fines or a suspension of its activities in the country. The foundation maintains it has been operating in full compliance with Kazakh law. The foundation itself, as well as independent experts, believe the action is purely political.
A U.S.-based organization that tracks the progress of political rights and civil liberties across the world says Russia has fallen to the status of "not free." Freedom House points to a growing trend under President Vladimir Putin to "concentrate political authorities, harass and intimidate the media, and politicize the country's law-enforcement system." Elsewhere, Belarus, Armenia, and Romania also saw setbacks, while the organization found encouraging democratic gains in Georgia and Ukraine. Turkmenistan rated among the most repressive countries.
A new report by the international credit rating agency Standard & Poor's sheds an unflattering light on the banking systems of Central Asia. The report says Kazakhstan has the region's most advanced banking system and accounts for 5 percent of banking assets in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). But the report says the rest of Central Asia lags far behind due to the failure of governments to enact economic and regulatory reforms.
Kazakhstan's sunny skies and flat, wind-swept steppes make the country a promising land for solar and wind-based energy. In order to develop its solar potential, Kazakhstan last year launched its first solar energy project, in the southeastern Almaty region. Some 1,500 residents stand to benefit from the solar program, which was initially funded by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Canadian International Development Agency. Recently, the vast Central Asian republic launched its first large-scale project aimed at developing wind-based energy.
The Grand Duchy of Tuscany is noted for being the first sovereign state to abolish the death penalty, in 1786. Today, more than 130 countries have stopped executing prisoners in practice, and of those, around 80 have abolished capital punishment completely. Even in Central Asia, a region not known for its attention to human rights, the death penalty has been on the decline. As the world marks Human Rights Day today, RFE/RL looks at progress being made to rid Central Asia of what Amnesty International calls the "ultimate, irreversible denial of human rights."
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