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Secretary of State Clinton pushes Central Asia on human rights

ASTANA (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressed Central Asian governments on Tuesday to expand democratic freedoms, saying countries which quash human rights only make themselves less competitive on the global stage.

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Clinton begins four-nation tour in Kazakhstan

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday kicked off a four-nation diplomatic tour dogged by the WikiLeaks disclosure of U.S. diplomatic cables, an act she called an assault on the international community.

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WikiLeaks cables: 'Rude' Prince Andrew shocks US ambassador

a8Duke railed against France, British anti-corruption investigations into BAE and American ignorance, leaked dispatches reveal

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President Nazarbayev's personal public relations project. Fanfare, criticism before Kazakhstan's OSCE summit.

ASTANA (Reuters) - Heads of state flying to Kazakhstan's showpiece capital for a security summit next week will be met with fanfare as Astana shrugs off critics of its year at the helm of Europe's top security and rights watchdog.

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Yevgeniy Zhovtis declares protest against his illegal political isolation. Statement for Media (by phone from Ust-Kamenigirsk)

zhovtisIn the course of the entire year of my incarceration in the colony-settlement of Ust-Kamenogorsk city (a custody place for people that have committed a reckless crime) the colony administration has been undertaking all possible measures for my illegal political isolation from the outer world. Regardless the fact that this colony-settlement is an
institution of a semi-open type, in which inmates are not under safe-keeping or under the guard but only under the overseeing and out of 130 convicts more that 100 work outside the colony I am deprived of all that, as I believe on political reasons.

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China to set up factories in Kazakhstan

chinasfactoriesChina is planning to put its cheap labour force to work in a new 70,000-strong factory town across the border in Kazakhstan, in a move which will heighten fears of a land grab in the Central Asian country.

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Kazakhstan: Astana Wants Kazakhstanis to Speak Kazakh

med_nazOfficials in Kazakhstan are developing a grand plan to get virtually everyone in the Central Asian country speaking Kazakh by 2020. Data from a recent survey, however, suggests that Astana's goal may be overly ambitious.

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Taking on Kazakhstan’s Kafkaesque Bureaucracy with Soviet-Style Samizdat

The bureaucratic hoops that people sometimes have to jump through to complete routine business in Kazakhstan are legendary. Frustrated by years of dealings with what they say are high-handed officials, one group of citizens has turned in desperation to the old Soviet method of samizdat to draw attention to their plight, Respublika reports.

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Once held on $10M bail, man accused of Kazakh bribery now lauded as Cold War hero by NY judge

A businessman once accused of bribing officials in Kazakhstan with tens of millions of dollars was praised as a Cold War hero Friday by a judge who said he helped thousands of Soviet Jews emigrate to the West and played a key role in secret talks between the U.S. and the Soviet Union at the time.

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Kazakh officials press for review of oil and gas contracts

(SRI) - Kazakh officials pressed for the need to review production sharing agreements (PSAs) with foreign oil and gas majors and harmonize them with the current legislation.

Experts of the Committee against Torture Commend Kazakhstan for Enhanced Legislation

Experts of the Committee against Torture Commend Kazakhstan for Enhanced Legislation

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Kazakh official: Not the time to resolve differences through war

Kazakh official: Not the time to resolve differences through war

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Oil majors sued by Kazakh government over billions in revenue

Oil majors sued by Kazakh government over billions in revenue

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