Weekly news wrap

Press freedom was under pressure in Kazakhstan this week, with authorities ordering the closure of the independent weekly 'Respublika' newspaper. The move is seen by observers and rights activists as a crackdown ahead of presidential elections in December 2006. According to Reuters on Thursday, the opposition weekly was told by the Kazakh Culture, Information and Sports Ministry that the paper had been "liquidated" without giving a reason. The paper has been shut down several times in the past, prompting it to re-open under another name. Its editor, Irina Petrushova, fled to Russia in 2002 after intimidation and an arson attack on the paper's offices. She was detained for two days in April by Russian police, acting on a request from Kazakh prosecutors investigating tax evasion. The closure of Respublika comes shortly after legislation outlawing public protests at election time - widely seen as an attempt to prevent any repeat of uprisings similar to those seen in Ukraine, Georgia, and most recently, in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan, that unseated long-time rulers. The Kazakh parliament is also considering changes to national security laws that increase government scrutiny over media organisations, non-governmental organisations and religious groups. Astana will increase its expenditures on the elderly, students and state-sector employees, Eurasianet reported on Thursday. Some analysts say the rise in state spending is designed to "buy" the loyalty of key sectors of Kazakh society in the run-up to the polls. Increased social spending in Kazakhstan could go a long way toward alleviating economic discontent, thus boosting the president’s political standing as he gears up for a re-election campaign, the Eurasianet report said, while likewise decreasing the chances that citizens might participate in anti-government protests. In Turkmenistan, the country's Communist Party called for mass protests to demand the ex-Soviet republic's authoritarian leader step down, circulating leaflets in mailboxes in an unusual show of discontent, AP reported on Tuesday. Residents in central areas of the capital, Ashgabat, found leaflets in their mailboxes on Monday, urging them to join protests throughout the country on 9 May, when most former Soviet republics mark the end of the Second World War in Europe. The leaflets urge people "to demand the resignation of (Saparmurat) Niyazov who is illegally holding the post of president". The leaflets said that Niyazov, who has ruled the Central Asian nation since 1985, was illegitimate because he had broken the constitutional limit of two consecutive terms. It also accused Niyazov of creating a personality cult around himself and suppressing civil and political freedoms. The leaflets demanded that courts prosecute Niyazov on charges of genocide, treason, bribery, fraud and other crimes. Niyazov, who disbanded the Communists after the 1991 Soviet collapse and created the Democratic Party - now the country's only party, tolerates no dissent and has jailed dissenters or forced political opponents into exile. In Kyrgyzstan, the interim authorities launched criminal cases against seven firms thought to be associated with ousted leader Askar Akayev, Uchkun Karimov, the country's deputy prosecutor general, said on Wednesday. "Criminal cases have been launched over legal violations, violations of privatisation and financial violations found in relation to these companies," the Russian Interfax news agency quoted him as saying. Alleged corruption by Akayev's circle was a key grievance of protests that swept through this mountainous ex-Soviet republic in March, culminating in Akayev's flight to Russia after protestors overran his office on 24 March. In Tajikistan, unusually warm weather is threatening to flood Lake Sarez, the Tajik Asia-Plus news agency reported on Thursday. Water swept away about 30 metres of the main inlet structure of the small Ak-Su hydro-electric power station in the eastern Tajik district of Murgab, Yusuf Qurbonbekov, an emergency officer from the regional civil defence unit, said. The temperature shot up from 20 degrees Celsius below zero to 20 degrees above zero over the past few days, prompting this year's heavy snows to thaw so quickly. According to the Tajik emergency ministry, the Ak-Su river overflowed and was threatening to flood many villages, roads and bridges in the area. The Ak-Su river flows into Lake Sarez and all the other rivers in Tajikistan originate from snows and glaciers of the eastern Pamir mountain range. Lake Sarez was formed as a result of a powerful earthquake in 1911 and stands at over 3,200 metres above sea level. Specialists believe that should another earthquake damage land holding the lake back from lower ground, a gigantic flood could swamp a substantial part of Central Asia, impacting on some 5.5 million people in the area.