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The Regions This Week
May 31, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 6
Eurasia
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and possibly other Central Asian nations might be at risk of
losing their buffer against drought as ice
caps in locations from Kyrgyzstan’s Alai range
to the Himalayas are shrinking under global temperatures, researchers at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) said. Each summer, 95,000 glaciers covering mountain ranges from Central Asia
to India produce enough meltwater to support 221mn people - this buffer is crucial for times when rains fail and water reserves are limited.
Little to no change in Iran’s attitude to the pros- pects for talks with the US over renegotiating the nuclear deal was evident in remarks made by Ira- nian President Hassan Rouhani. Rouhani repeated the line he has taken for the past year, indicating that talks with Washington might be possible if the Trump administration lifted sanctions.
Kyrgyz legislation allowing for the prosecution of former heads of state came into force. The new law may pave the way for the prosecution
of ex-president Almazbek Atambayev, who has been locked in an ongoing power struggle with his successor Sooronbai Jeenbekov over control of the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan and influence in Kyrgyz politics.
Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has issued a decree on providing state subsidies to domestic exporters, including up to 50% compensation for costs goods exported via railways, Xinhua news agency reported. The decree said the measures are part of an effort to expand financing mechanisms and insurance protection for the country’s exports.
New Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy restored former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili’s Ukrainian citizenship. It was granted by his predecessor Petro Poroshenko,
who then withdrew it after he had a falling out with Saakashvili.
Kazakhstan’s state railway operator KTZ will suspend liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and coal shipments to Ukraine starting from June 1, Reu- ters reported, citing a letter KTZ sent to its cus- tomers. The suspension comes after Russia, which transits Kazakh oil products to Ukraine, banned such shipments to Ukraine from its territory.
A former mayor of Tehran has admitted in a state television news broadcast that he shot his wife dead in their apartment. Mohammad Ali Najafi, who had only a short tenure as mayor last year, is then interviewed by the reporter. During the interview he states that he “only intended to scare” his wife before shooting her five times in the chest in the bathroom.
Azerbaijan plans to restart crude oil exports via Russia from July 1, the country’s national oil com- pany Socar said. The export route to Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiisk was suspended at the start of March after maintenance work was announced by Russia on the Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline.
Turkmenistan launched a youth employment programme. The Turkmen government has been focusing on the topic of employment for the past several weeks as the Central Asian nation appears no longer able to ignore fallout from its ongoing budgetary and economic crisis.
Finland's Wärtsilä is cooperating with Uzbekistan in reforming the country’s energy sector by “mod- elling power systems and optimising assets”, Uzbek state-run UzDaily news agency reported. Uzbekistan is planning to replace its existing electricity gener- ation capacity with modern, efficient technologies in order to allow itself to keep electricity costs low, while maintaining a reliable energy supply.