JULY 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz police detained MP Hajimurat Korkmazov for extorting a bribe of $100,000 from the brother of Nariman Tuleyev, a jailed MP, the AKIpress agency reported. The case highlights corruption among officials in Kyrgyzstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 240, published on July 16 2015)
JULY 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan’s President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov sacked deputy PM Annamukhamed Gochyev “for serious drawbacks in his work” and several other government officials on allegations of corruption. Mr Berdymukhamedov rotates ministers to reduce their power.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 240, published on July 16 2015)
JULY 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov signed a decree to pardon over 1,300 prisoners on the eve of a religious holiday. Mr Berdymukhamedov regularly issues presidential amnesties to celebrate official holidays.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 240, published on July 16 2015)
JULY 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – China imported around 23% more Georgian wine in the first half of this year from last year, new figures showed, making it one of Georgia’s fifth most important market. Georgia’s agriculture minister, Otar Danelia, was in Beijing to meet his Chinese counterpart.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 240, published on July 16 2015)
JULY 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The World Bank approved a $305m loan to Uzbekistan to update and modernise its motorway network and a second loan of $105m to improve the irrigation network in the Bukhara region, media reported. Human rights groups have criticises the world Bank for the loans.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Korea’s Huawei has won a contract to fit out a 265km section of railway running across Turkmenistan from the border with Kazakhstan to Iran, media reported. Korean companies are winning a number of contracts in Turkmenistan.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The body of the final animal missing from Tbilisi Zoo after a flood swept into it in June has been found in central Tbilisi, media reported. Salima was an Ussuri tiger. Last year she gave birth to three cubs.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s Central Bank reported that foreign currency exchanges increased by more than 50% in the first six months of the year compared to the same period in 2014. In Feb., Azerbaijan devalued its manat currency by a third.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The European Court of Human Rights (ECRH) in Strasbourg ruled that Russia had broken the European Convention on Human Rights in 2006 and 2007 when it detained hundreds of Georgians in Moscow and deported them. At the time, analysts said the deportations were linked to a Russia-Georgia spy row. The ECRH ruling will likely raise Georgia-Russia tension.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Relations between the United States and Azerbaijan appeared to have sunk to a new low after Azerbaijani media accused US ambassador Robert Cekuta of inciting a revolution.
The US embassy published a rare statement refuting the allegations, saying that meetings with opposition groups and media were part of its ongoing mission to listen to all sides of Azerbaijan’s community.
“The Ambassador also continues meeting extensively with top figures in Azerbaijan’s government,” the US embassy statement said.
“The US Embassy is not plotting a coup in Azerbaijan. Nor is it instructing or financing any political party in the country.”
Relations have nose-dived in the past year over Azerbaijan’s crackdown on civil society. Azerbaijan has responded to criticism by accusing the US and Europe of mounting a smear campaign.
The US Peace Corps, a US- government funded organisation which sends teenagers and young adults abroad to live and teach English, has quit Azerbaijan, as has the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The US has also criticised Azerbaijan for jailing opponents of President Ilham Aliyev.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)