No country in the Caucasus or Central Asia saw its ranking rise in this year's Freedom in the World report, released January 12 by the democratization organization Freedom House.
Political process
ASTANA -- The Kazakh Interior Ministry says Kyrgyz citizens were involved in the recent murder of a Kyrgyz journalist in Almaty, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.
Austria and Kazakhstan have signed a new bilateral investment agreement, it has been announced.
In the early 2000s, the Ketebayev brothers – Bakhytzhan and Muratbek – ran Central Asia's most interesting journalistic enterprises. They were Kazakhstan's Tan TV and the weekly newspaper Respublika.
Kazakh plans might be reduced to window dressing and finding ways of avoiding upsetting the major powers
Kazakhstan ranked 142 out 175 countries on media watchdog Reporters Without Borders' annual worldwide press freedom index
OSCE Centre facilitates discussion on simplification of pre-trial criminal procedures in KazakhstanA recently adopted law that aims to simplify preliminary criminal investigation procedures in Kazakhstan was in focus at an OSCE-supported roundtable discussion that was held in Astana today.
Kazakhstan's anti-corruption campaign made some progress in 2009, underscored by Astana's ability to move up 25 places on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index of corrupt states to 120th this year. However, some observers are questioning whether there is more to efforts aimed at curbing graft than meets the eye.
Central Asia welcomed China's foray into their energy-rich region on Sunday as Chinese leader Hu Jintao prepared to open a new pipeline connecting a Turkmen gas field with China's restive Xinjiang region.
China's President Hu Jintao opened a pipeline linking a gas field in Turkmenistan with his country's Xinjiang region on Monday, extending Beijing's reach into Central Asia's natural resources.
Subcategories

Iran’s New Grand Strategy
More details
‘Escalating efforts’: A year after China Targets, Beijing’s global campaign against dissenters continues
More details
