Question Author
A great idea, bows13. Thanks a lot.
I'll keep working on your idea, amadeusamati. I think I know what you're getting at and have already tried it, but I'll experiment a bit with different spellings. Here's a bit of help with a couple of yours;
4) The clue actually contains the answer. Try searching the words for a province that is often in the news.
5) The answer is an anagram of the first 3 words of the clue. It's a river in the former Soviet Union.