A rights group has hit out at hip-hop superstar Kanye West for performing at the lavish wedding party of the Kazakh president's grandson, calling the country a "human rights wasteland." Thor Halvorssen of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation said President Nursultan Nazarbayev's "regime crushes freedom of speech and association."

A political storm unleashed by the whirlwind expulsion of a dissident Kazakh oligarch's wife and daughter has further strained the tense relations within the coalition parties of Italy's fragile government.
The finance director of FTSE 100 mining giant ENRC has been dragged into a row over corruption allegations, after parts of an internal probe were leaked.
Aliyev subject of interest to German federal intelligence Former Kazakh diplomat Rakhat Aliyev subject of interest by the German federal intelligence service.
The Commentator has published an exclusive report about Issam and Devincci Hourani brothers involvement with Palestinian Authority corruption. Issam Hourani is married to Gulshat Aliyeva, a younger sister of Rakhat Aliyev, who is a former Ambassador to Austria, a former high-ranking Kazakhstan official and the ex-husband of Dariga Nazarbayeva, the eldest daughter of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
Imagine that a gigantic corporation privately informs the government that it won an important deal overseas that might have involved the bribery of foreign officials. Journalists discover a confidential document written by the company itself that highlights its concerns. But they can't write about the story because the corporation hires a white shoe law firm that threatens legal action against media outlets that make inquiries about the document.

