Joanna Lillis
Kazakhstan is marking the week leading up to First President's Day on December 1 with public displays of affection for Nursultan Nazarbayev, the leader whom this public holiday – introduced last year – celebrates. Fueling criticism that a cult of personality surrounds the president who has ruled independent Kazakhstan for 22 years, one Astana university organized a mass display of student adoration for the man who goes by the title Leader of the Nation.
Due to the diplomatic deal reached in Geneva, the theocracy running Iran has half a year to decide if its potential nuclear-weapons program would make the regime more, or less, secure. Sure, if the country keeps its capability to weaponize, it may be harder for regional rivals or Western powers to push for regime change. But internal collapse as a result of strict sanctions and international isolation may be more dangerous.
Russian-Israeli millionaire businessman Arkady Gaydamak was arrested a number of days ago in Zurich, Switzerland, Channel 2 reported on Monday evening. Swiss police confirmed the arrest to Channel 2. According to the report Gaydamak was arrested under a Luxembourg arrest warrant.
The last symbol of Prince Andrew's marriage to Sarah Ferguson – the much derided 'Tesco-style' mansion he was given by the Queen as a wedding present – is set to be demolished and replaced with a house that looks strikingly similar.
Vladimir Kim, chairman of the FTSE 100 mining company Kazakhmys and one of Britain's wealthiest residents, has been accused of giving false evidence to a foreign court during the trial of a former prime minister of Kazakhstan.
The first industrial revolution in the 19th Century was the invention of the steam engine. In the 20th Century oil and gas played a large role, and the US invented the telephone and television. Electrical supplies became centralised.
Mining firm ENRC bids farewell to the Stock Exchange but its Uzbek and Kyrgyz creators are here to stay. It is May 2010 at Monaco's vast Le Sporting banquet hall, where 800 guests have responded to an invitation from one of central Asia's most powerful, and secretive, oligarchs.
