An ethnic Kazakh from China has been welcomed back to Kazakstan by his family at Almaty airport after 17 years of captivity in China…Sergei Sazanakov was hunting in Russia’s Khakassia region when an accident left him trapped in the snow overnight. He lost his lower legs to frostbite, and later had to fight for his children in court after his wife left him
Kazakh conservationists fear that the construction of a new highway linking central and western Kazakhstan could disrupt the migration of critically endangered saiga antelope and lead to a further reduction in their population
Heavy rain and snow have brought devastating floods to thousands of hectares in western Kosovo…There were no opposition parties in Kazakhstan’s parliamentary elections, but the voting booths were open anyway to make sure people voted for the “right” candidates
The Bukhtarma Reservoir is the biggest artificial body of water in Kazakhstan. There’s no bridge across it, so in warmer months, local residents must often wait for hours for a ferry crossing. In colder months, many risk their lives crossing the ice by car.
A cathedral in Azerbaijan’s breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh was damaged in fighting on October 8. Armenia has blamed Azerbaijan, which denies targeting any religious sites. Districts across Azerbaijan have also come under attack from the Armenian side. The violent conflict between the two sides, which resulted in a war in the 1990s, flared up
The political turmoil in Kyrgyzstan follows a period of relative calm in the country’s post-Soviet history, which is marked by revolutions in 2010 and 2005
More than 100 activists have been detained by police in Kazakhstan where two opposition parties had planned to hold rallies on June 6 in several cities to demand democratic reforms
People gathered for Friday prayers at mosques in Pakistan’s capital, defying an official ban on gatherings to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Several mosques across Islamabad were open on April 17 and clerics delivered sermons after religious leaders and authorities failed to reach a consensus on exemptions for the government’s COVID-19 measures..Kazakhstan is urgently building three hospitals as part of measures connected to the COVID-19 outbreak in the Central Asian nation. The construction company said the first two would be ready next week
Demonstrators rallying on International Women’s Day were assaulted by unidentified masked men in Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek, on March 8..Dozens joined an International Women’s Day march through the streets of Kosovo’s capital, Pristina, to demand equality and justice for women
Kazakh security forces detained dozens of people on March 1 in the wake of an activist’s death in custody. Some were detained while speaking to journalists. Others ended up in police vans after standing in public places without actually protesting. Kazakhstan’s opposition called for protests after activist Dulat Aghadil died within hours of his detention on February 24