APRIL 19 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s domestic football is often plagued by illegal betting, media reported quoting European gambling watchdog officials. The oocrp.org website, a part-US funded anti-corruption website, quoted the head of FederBet, Francesko Baranca, as saying Georgia’s second division matches were often targeted for illegal bets.
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(News report from Issue No. 325, published on April 17 2017)
APRIL 18 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The former head of Kazakhstan’s journalist union, Seitqazy Mataev, has had his sentence for embezzlement and tax evasion cut to 2 years and 8 months from the 6 years he was given in October. Media reports said that the sentence cut was granted to Mataev in December in a presidential amnesty.
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(News report from Issue No. 325, published on April 17 2017)
APRIL 14 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A US air strike on Mosul in Iraq has killed Gulmurod Halimov, the Tajik former special police unit chief who defected to the extremist group IS in 2015, Western media said. The death of Halimov has not been confirmed by IS. He had allegedly been promoted to be the IS military commander. Halimov was one of the most high-profile recruits to join IS and had been in propaganda.
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(News report from Issue No. 325, published on April 17 2017)f
APRIL 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s foreign ministry said that it is working with Iran, Russia and Turkey to persuade Syrian rebels to attend peace talks scheduled for next month in Astana. Talks last month were stunted because the rebel faction pulled out at the last minute. The fourth round of Syria peace talks in Astana comes as tension between the opposing sides hits new highs. Rebels have accused the Syrian government of dropping chemical bombs on a town, killing dozens of civilians. The Syrian government and its Russian allies deny the charges.
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(News report from Issue No. 325, published on April 17 2017)f
APRIL 18 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s Silk Way Airlines bought 10 Boeing 737 passenger air- planes in a deal which some media reports said could be worth as much as $1.1b. The deal also marks a change of strategy for the Baku-based airline, which is part of the Silk Way conglomerate. Up until now, the airline had focused on cargo transport. It now says that it has drawn up plans to lease the passenger airplanes out.
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(News report from Issue No. 325, published on April 17 2017)
APRIL 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — On a trip to Tashkent, French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault discussed improving security relations with Uzbekistan. Mr Ayrault is the most senior Western government official to visit Uzbekistan since Shavkat Mirziyoyev took over as president in September 2016. He has opened up the country to the West, including persuading the EBRD to start investing in Uzbekistan once again.
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(News report from Issue No. 325, published on April 17 2017)
APRIL 14 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek president Shavkat Mirziyoyev fired the head of the government’s privatisation committee, Davron Hidoyatov, shortly after criticising him for not attracting enough foreign investment. The sacking of Mr Hidoyatov is part of Mr Mirziyoyev’s drive to freshen up his government’s approach to pulling in foreign investment. Mr Hidoyatov had been given the job in December 2014 by former president Islam Karimov.
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(News report from Issue No. 325, published on April 17 2017)
APRIL 13 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan’s Central Bank said that panic speculation was driving up the cash exchange rate against the official rate to dangerous levels. The Reuters news agency said that the official somoni rate was 8.49 somomi/$1 compared to 8.9/$1 at cash exchanges. Tajikistan’s banking system has been teetering on the verge of collapse, only propped up by the government.
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(News report from Issue No. 325, published on April 17 2017)
APRIL 13 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Drawing comparisons with Russia’s oligarch network, the so-called Investors’ Club of Armenia pledged to invest $300m in stimulating business across a range of sectors from tourism to IT to energy. The Investors’ Club is a group of Armenia’s wealthiest businessmen brought together by PM Karen Karapetyan. He set up the group just before an election earlier this month.
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(News report from Issue No. 325, published on April 17 2017)
APRIL 15 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s airports have handled 621,800 people in the first three months of 2017, an increase of 43.6% from the same period in 2016, media reported quoting figures released by the national civil aviation authority. The data highlights the huge growth in the number of air- lines flying to Georgia and, also, Georgia’s growing attraction as a stable country that straddles both Asia and Europe.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 325, published on April 17 2017)