News Roundup

News Roundup - October 25, 2007

By SRI ⋅ October 25, 2007 ⋅

Reuters: Kazakhstan Shuts Ddown Opposition Web Sites

Kazakhstan has blocked access to a number of opposition Web sites in a move Internet users condemned on Wednesday as a crackdown on freedom of speech…

The Register: Kazakhstan Blocks Opposition Websites

Kazakhstan yesterday blocked access to several websites critical of the government, including the “main opposition outlets”, kub.kz and geo.kz, Reuters reports…

EurasiaNet: Kazakhstan Blocks Critical Websites As Opposition Cries “Cenzorship”

Kazakhstan has blocked four opposition news websites in a move that media freedom advocates called “political censorship” in a country increasingly seeking to portray itself as an emerging democracy…

Forbes: Development Bank of Kazakhstan’s Medium Term Note Issue Ratings Affirmed

Fitch Ratings said it has affirmed the medium-term note programme of Development Bank of Kazakhstan at ‘BBB’ long-term and ‘F3′ short-term, after the size of the programme was doubled to 2 bln usd…

Reuters: Kazakh KazMunaiGas Seeks $3 Billion Loan

KazMunaiGas, Kazakhstan’s national oil and gas company, will borrow $3 billion on the international markets to a fund a refinery purchase, Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday citing banking sources…

International Herald Tribune: Kazakhmys Shares Drop as Copper Cathode Production Fell

Shares in Kazakhmys PLC fell more than 7 percent Wednesday after the mining company with operations in the former Soviet republics said copper cathode production fell 6 percent in the first nine months of the year…

Reuters: Kazakhmys Q3 Copper Output Down, Shares Slide

Copper miner Kazakhmys Plc posted weaker third-quarter copper cathode output on Wednesday and gave details of production problems that would trim 2007 production, hitting its shares…

Mining Journal: Kazakhmys Production Falls after Flooding

Kazakhmys plc, Kazakhstan`s biggest copper producer, said third-quarter output fell 19% after a flood affected its South Mine…

CACI Analyst: Bread Crisis in Kazakhstan Hightens Social Tension

To all appearances, the Kazakh government was totally unprepared for the unprecedented rise in bread prices aggravated by runaway inflation. At a government meeting on October 1, Prime Minister Karim Masimov, irritated by the helplessness of regional governors in coping with galloping prices, assigned them the task of creating grain reserves to stabilize the food situation in their respective regions…

neweurasia.net: India Looks to the Caspian

Turkmenistan’s gas and oil reserves may soon attract the attention of yet another world players, Russian newspaper RBK daily reported Tuesday…

DefenseNews.com: Kazakhstan To Build Up Navy To Protect Oil

Kazakhstan plans to build up its naval force on the Caspian Sea to guard its vast offshore oilfields and diversify arms imports, the Central Asian state’s defense minister said Oct. 24…

RIA Novosti: Kazakhstan Lifts Ban on Russian Rocket Launches from Baikonur

Kazakhstan has lifted its ban on launches of Russian Proton-type rockets from its space center in Baikonur, a government spokesperson said Wednesday…

Reuters: Kazakhstan Lifts Ban on Russian Rocket Launches

Kazakhstan, home to Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrome, has lifted a ban on launches of Russian Proton rockets that was imposed after one of them crashed, the government said on Wednesday…

Guardian Unlimited: Kazakhstan Target Astana Success at Tour de France

Kazakhstan hopes to use its newly revamped Astana cycling team to win next year’s Tour de France, the head of the Kazakh Cycling Federation said on Wednesday…

Global Voices Online: Kazakhstan: Prices Unleashed

Immediately after the parliamentary elections, which were deemed undemocratic by the international monitors, the prices went crazy in Kazakhstan…

Interfax: Kazakhstan Drops Plans for Power Plant Construction with China

The government of Kazakhstan has frozen talks on a joint project with China to build a large power plant in the Ekibastuz coal region of Pavlodar region, a government source told Interfax…