Central Asia

Kazakstan: Clerics Quizzed in Test to Root Out Radicalism

Officials want to clamp down on mosques that feed militant Islam, but mullahs say they are being unjustly targeted.

21 Feb 05

Suspicions are growing that security forces could have used envoy’s family members as hostages to force him to return home after defection.

21 Feb 05

The authorities say children slave away in cotton fields for the good of the country.

21 Feb 05

Traders circumvent high Kazak tariffs by smuggling goods in bulk along a particularly porous stretch of border.

21 Feb 05

Voters will have little choice in the parliamentary ballot, and still less hope of affecting change in the repressive republic.

21 Feb 05

Opposition parties say charges against Democratic Party leader are politically inspired.

21 Feb 05

Officials hope that a dedicated response team will turn the republic’s majestic peaks into a magnet for climbers from across the world.

21 Feb 05

Teachers complain of being roped in to work as election managers, and in some cases to help political candidates’ campaigns.

21 Feb 05

Disagreements over water have postponed ratification of a friendship treaty between Kazakstan and Kyrgyzstan.

21 Feb 05

Police say Jamshid Karimov was the victim of a simple mugging, but he’s sure he was targeted for his journalism.

21 Feb 05

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