Ex-finance director at arm of FTSE 100 company claims officials received holidays and cash for lucrative contracts. A subsidiary of Compass Group, the FTSE 100 catering firm, paid bribes to Kazakhstan government officials and has been reported to the Serious Fraud Office, according to allegations made public by a whistleblower.










Rakhat Aliyev, the ex-husband of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev's eldest daughter, surrendered today in Austria seven years after police in his home country sought his arrest in a murder probe.
With Ukraine in continued crisis and Moscow deflating under a crippled ruble, the European Union has begun scouring for non-Russian gas. Azerbaijan, in the gas-rich southern Caspian, should present a natural replacement.
EVERY couple of years a now familiar cycle begins at Buckingham Palace when officials try to rehabilitate Prince Andrew's battered image.
The Eurasian Economic Union, a trade bloc of former Soviet states, expanded to four nations Friday when Armenia formally joined, a day after the union between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan began. The Russian-dominated bloc has been politically controversial and its early days are being overshadowed by the sharp deterioration of Russia's economy in recent months.
China secured deals worth more than $14 billion to enhance connectivity with Kazakhstan, Central Asia's largest economy, in what is another step forward in efforts to revive the ancient transcontinental Silk Road.


