Interfax Central Asia General Newswire.

HEADLINE NEWS:

NATO MAY HELP KAZAKHSTAN DISPOSE OF WEAPONS, HOPES FOR CASPIAN COOPERATION

ASTANA. Nov 1 (Interfax) - NATO may assist Kazakhstan's disposal of outdated weaponry, Special Representative of the NATO Secretary General for Central Asia and the Caucasus Robert Simmons said, in comments on a meeting with member of the Kazakh Parliament Committee on International Affairs, Defense and Security Sat Tokpakbayev on Thursday.

NATO and partner countries have arms disposal programs, and Kazakhstan can have an access to them, Simmons said.

The project may be launched next year, he added.

NATO is also considering Caspian cooperation prospects, Simmons said.

He did not rule out that Caspian cooperation might become the goal of a new program.

NATO's assistance to the Kazakh military reform, the development of the Kazakh peacekeeping unit, Kazbrig, and civil defense were other items on the agenda of the Thursday meeting, Simmons said.

HEADLINE NEWS:

RAPED CHILD EVOKES RIOTING IN SOUTHERN KAZAKHSTAN

SHYMKENT. Nov 1 (Interfax) - Several dozen residents of the village of Mayatas in the Tolebiisky district of the Southern Kazakhstan province went on a riot in the early hours of Thursday following reports about the rape of a child.

A 16-year old teenager raped a four-year boy, press secretary of the South Kazakhstan's interior affairs department Saltanat Karakozova told Interfax. "Though the suspect was detained and sent to a pre-trial detention center, local residents wanted to go to law of the mob," the press secretary said.

Local residents threw stones at the house where the family members of the suspect live and set it ablaze. "The fire destroyed the house and several vehicles. Several people were injured, but no one was killed," Karakozova said.

The council of local chieftains advised the family of the suspect to leave the village "in order to avoid more serious consequences," she said.

A criminal case was opened into rioting. Police forces circled the village and are looking for those who lead the rioting.

HEADLINE NEWS:

KAZAKH PROSECUTORS EXPOSE ILLEGAL CHILD LABOR AT ORPHANAGE

ASTANA. Nov 1 (Interfax) - The administration of an orphanage in the North Kazakh region has been illegally using child labor, the Kazakh Prosecutor General's Office said on Thursday.

The office said that the orphanage had been inspected for possible labor and sexual exploitation, and the North Kazakh regional education department chief was ordered to stop the exposed misdeeds.

"A report confirmed the department's inadequate control over the …