Ukraine's week of tough negotiations with Russia, aimed at ending a separatist insurgency and averting a gas cut-off, got off to a rocky start as a round of gas talks broke up early Tuesday without a deal.
European leaders are desperately pushing a new peace bid for Ukraine as the country slipped towards what its interim president warned Monday was already a "war" in the face of spreading violence.
More than 30 people were killed in a "criminal" blaze in Ukraine's southern city of Odessa, as violence spread across the country during the bloodiest day since Kiev's Western-backed government took power.
The Group of Seven rich countries agreed Saturday to impose new sanctions on Russia over the crisis in Ukraine, after Kiev accused Moscow of seeking to trigger a "third world war".
OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović has expressed her concern over the changes in Kazakhstani legislation concerning freedom of speech and free internet access.
Сommenting the situation of Ukraine, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Yerlan Idrissov said that Kazakhstan had always been supportive of integration processes.
The presidents of arch-foes Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed Tuesday to discuss a peace settlement over the disputed region of Nagorny Karabakh, the European security body OSCE said.
Today President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev received Filippo Lombardi, President of the Council of States of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland.
International observers have fanned out across some 40 US states to monitor next week's elections, a State Department official said Friday, adding problems with some states were being ironed out.
The southern US state of Texas has warned it could prosecute election observers from the OSCE, a global body that regularly monitors voting around the world, if they try to visit polling stations next month.