Kazakhstan

ALMATY (Reuters) - Police in Kazakhstan detained dozens of opposition supporters on Sunday who took to the streets of major cities denouncing what they called political repression in the oil-rich Central Asian nation.

The ruling Nur Otan party has dominated the political scene in the former Soviet republic for almost three decades while opposition movements, sidelined and with no seats in parliament, mostly make themselves heard through public protests.

ALMATY/NUR-SULTAN (Reuters) - A party led by Kazakhstan’s powerful ex-president Nursultan Nazarbayev is set to sweep Sunday’s parliamentary election, as it has done for decades, with no major opposition groups running in the vote.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, handpicked by Nazarbayev as his successor in 2019, is also a senior member of the Nur Otan political party which controls 84 of 107 seats in Kazakhstan’s lower house.

NUR-SULTAN, December 20. /TASS/: President of Kazakhstan Kasym-Jomart Tokayev signed a law introducing amendments and supplements into the legislation to strengthen protection of citizens’ rights in criminal proceedings and the corruption control. Government officials are banned from holding accounts with foreign banks since now, the press service of the head of state says.

NUR-SULTAN, Nov 18 (NNN-ASNA) – Central Asian countries and the European Union (EU) agreed to promote cooperation, especially in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic and its socio-economic impacts.

During the 16th Central Asia-EU Ministerial Meeting, held yesterday via videoconference, the ministers and representatives discussed ways to advance Central Asia-EU partnership, to tackle the wide range repercussions of COVID-19.

They also reaffirmed determination to promote connectivity and broad cooperation, aimed at maintaining peace, security and development.

BAIKONUR /Kazakhstan/, October 13. /TASS/: The solar panels and windows of the International Space Station (ISS) have marks of minor damage from micrometeorite hits but they are smaller than the projected degradation, Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergei Ryzhikov said at a pre-flight press conference on Tuesday.

"There is, of course, minor damage to the elements of the external surface of the station: micro-canyons [from micrometeorites] can be seen on solar panels and windows," the cosmonaut said.

NUR-SULTAN, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Kazakhstan has begun resuming flights to the United Arab Emirates, Belarus and Germany, among other nations, local media reported.

According to Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport, a plane from the country's capital to the German city of Frankfurt took off on early Tuesday morning with 94 passengers on board, becoming the first direct flight between Kazakhstan and Germany since March.

Passengers aboard the plane must pass a COVID-19 test within 48 hours before their departure or within 72 hours after entering Germany.

NUR-SULTAN, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) has combined the PCR-negative pneumonia cases with clinical signs of COVID-19 infection in Kazakhstan into the total coronavirus tally on its website.

Since Aug. 1, Kazakhstan's Health Ministry has registered the pneumonia cases with coronavirus-like symptoms on a daily basis. But confirmed COVID-19 cases and pneumonia with coronavirus-like symptoms are identified in two categories on the official website coronavirus2020.kz.

ALMATY (Reuters) - Police in Kazakhstan’s largest city Almaty detained dozens of anti-government protesters who took to the streets on Saturday even as a new, more liberal law on demonstrations was expected to come into force.

The Central Asian nation has frequently been criticised by human rights groups for requiring public rallies to have been approved by authorities. However President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a law late last month removing this provision.

NUR-SULTAN, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Kazakhstan has resumed domestic passenger flights between its capital Nur-Sultan and its largest city Almaty, which were suspended on March 30 due to COVID-19.

Six flights will be operated between Nur-Sultan and Almaty per day beginning Friday. Flights from Nur-Sultan and Almaty to Kyzylorda, Oskemen, Semey and Petropavlovsk will resume on May 4.

Daulet Khamzin, executive director of the Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport, said all necessary safety measures will be taken during the quarantine period.

NUR-SULTAN, April 12. /TASS/: Spacecraft producers from Russia, France, Italy, the United States and Turkey sent technical proposals on making the Kazakh telecom satellite KazSat-2R, press service of the Kazakh Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry told TASS.