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Central Asia Culture & History Eastern Europe Russia Science & Technology

Armenia’s Metsamor One of the Most Dangerous Nuclear Power Plants

Experts have called Armenia’s Metsamor nuclear power plant “among the most dangerous” nuclear plants still in operation.

The Metsamor nuclear power plant is only 20 miles from Armenia’s capital and most populous Yerevan city. Its location in a seismic zone has drawn renewed attention since Japan’s nuclear crisis, NatGeo magazine said in its article “Is Armenia’s Nuclear Plant the World’s Most Dangerous?”

The power plant Metsamor was built in 1979 and closed in 1989 after an earthquake prompted officials to reconsider the safety of the location.

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Central Asia China Economy & Foreign Trade Issue Russia Science & Technology

Mongolia to Have First Nuclear Power Plant by 2020

Mongolia will have its first nuclear power plant by 2020 and planned to build nuclear fuel production capacity, Tsogtsaikhan Gombo, deputy chairman of state-owned MonAtom LLC has stated this week.

Japan’s recent nuclear disaster is not seen to have a lasting impact on the global nuclear industry, he said.

“We don’t think it’s a big problem for the industry as a whole. It’s a little bit of set-back in time frame, but as a whole it will go on” Gombo said. “We want green development and nuclear is the number one choice.”

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Central Asia Economy & Foreign Trade Politics

Mongolia May Store Taiwanese and South Korean Spent Nuclear Fuel

Mongolia may store Taiwan’s and South Korea’s spent nuclear fuel, a senior U.S. diplomat said to the Global Security Newswire.

According to Richard Stratford, who directs the State Department’s Nuclear Energy, Safety and Security Office, U.S. Energy Department’s officials and their counterparts in Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian capital, are in the early stages of discussion.

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Culture & History Current Events Eastern Europe Issue Russia Vietnam

BBC to End its Radio Broadcasting in Post-Socialistic States

BBC World Service, which is a U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office-funded Broadcasting Services Organization in 32 languages world wide, will close its broadcasting operations in Azeri, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese and Russian, as well as in five languages of Balkan Republics due to the drastic budget cuts by the British government from Saturday March 26.

The broadcasting operations are going to close in Serbian, Portuguese, Macedonian, Albanian, and English in Balkan republics Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Kosovo.

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Central Asia China Culture & History Current Events Issue Politics Russia

Aftermath of Middle East Rebellions to Hit Central Asian States

Oil-rich Azerbaijan had its first Facebook-organized rally last Friday.

According to Amnesty International information, about 300 people gathered in the city’s Fountain Square for a rally held by the Musavat opposition party. Several people were also detained on their way to the event by the police.

“There is no justification for heavy-handed tactics to be used against obviously peaceful protestors,” said Natalia Nozadze, Amnesty International’s Azerbaijan expert who was present at the protest.

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Central Asia Economy & Foreign Trade Issue

Indian Steel Producer to Buy Two Coal Mines and Build up a Factory in Mongolia

The second-largest Indian steel producer is seeking to purchase at least two coking coal mines in Mongolia and build one US$3 billion factory.

According to the Steel Authority of India Ltd., the company aims to buy one mine itself and another through a venture with other state-run metal and energy companies.

Mongolia, holding the world’s largest deposit of steelmaking raw material, is seeking developers to help it feed demand for raw materials from its neighbors, while maintaining control over the deposits. The Tavan Tolgoi region holds more than 6 billion metric tons of coal in the deserts of southern Mongolia.

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Central Asia Economy & Foreign Trade Finance & Taxes

Mongolia to Choose Underwriters for Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi IPO

Mongolian state-run Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi is expected to appoint banks to manage an IPO worth up to US$5 billion for the world’s largest unexploited coking coal deposit, a source close to the matter told reporters.

More than 150 investment banks from Wall Street, Europe and Asia-Pacific made pitches to the Mongolian government over the past few days to win the coveted underwriting mandate for the Tavan Tolgoi coal mine. Sources said a decision is expected within two weeks.

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Eastern Europe Economy & Foreign Trade Issue Legal & Regulatory Russia

Latvia to Lure Foreign Investors With Five Year EU Residence

A new Latvian law that provides residency rights to foreign investors has provided a boost to the real estate market and nationalist sentiment alike, the BBC reported.

The new amendment to the Latvian Law on Immigration came into force in July, 1, and allows foreign investors and their family members including those from non-EU countries to receive a 5-year residence permit in Latvia along with the right to travel in the Schengen area freely, if they purchase Latvian property of at least 70,000 euros (US$95,000) in value, or invest in a business.

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Central Asia Current Events Issue Legal & Regulatory Politics

Kazakhs Try to Keep First President

Kazakhstan’s long-serving president Nursultan Nazarbayev on Monday asked a constitution council to examine a proposed referendum on another decade of unchallenged rule, which would allow him to bypass two elections and lead the country unopposed until 2020.

On December 27, the Central Election Commission registered a statement by the initiative group in favor of such a plebiscite, which was endorsed by both houses of parliament. In their letter to Nazarbayev, the legislators asked him “to support the initiative to call a national referendum on the following question: Do you accept the law on Amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, envisaging the possibility of extending in a national referendum the powers of the first president of Kazakhstan?”

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Eastern Europe Economy & Foreign Trade Issue Legal & Regulatory

Large-Scale Privatization Planned in Ukraine

Ukraine hopes to gain from privatization of US$1.3 billion in 2011 by selling at least 25 percent in 162 enterprises this year, Interfax reports.

The draft list of enterprises includes stakes that have been offered multiple times in the past but never sold.

“We continue to campaign, that the electricity should go for privatization. And it will be privatized. This will be the main event of the privatization of the year,” Alexander Ryabchenko, Ukrainian State Property Fund (SPF) chairman said earlier in December 2010.