Iran's talks with the UN nuclear watchdog about Tehran's atomic activities are going well, a senior Iranian official said on Tuesday, the second day of discussions.

• May 15, 2012

Belarus and Kazakhstan underuse their potential in economic cooperation, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Kazakhstan to Belarus Ergali Bulegenov told in an interview to the Belarus-1 TV Channel.

• May 14, 2012

President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov will participate in informal summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and in the jubilee session of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which will be held in Moscow on Tuesday, a source in the government of the republic told Trend on Monday.

• May 14, 2012

A senior U.N. nuclear agency official urged Iran on Monday to allow access to sites, people and documents it seeks in its probe of suspicions that Tehran conducted secret research into nuclear weapons development.

• May 14, 2012

The conference is organized by the Turkmen government, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (IOC) and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Forum initiator, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow made an introductory speech on Friday. He proposed to hold the conference at the 66th session of the UN General Assembly.

• May 12, 2012

Kyrgyzstan may become a new member of the Customs Union in the near future. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev promised to help in removing existing barriers to join this organization. Kazakhstan is one of Kyrgyzstan's major political and economic partners.

• May 12, 2012

The Iranian Energy Ministry said it expects to secure export contracts for electricity with the Syrian and Lebanese governments in the near future.

• May 12, 2012

Insights into Turkish Domestic and International Politics during April 2012

Key Points:

• Turkey continues to work with Arab and Western allies to intensify pressure on Syria. After hosting the 1 April 2012, Friends of Syria group meeting, Prime Minister Tayip Erdogan responds to Syrian forces firing on a Turkish refugee camp by openly considering invoking NATO’s Article 5 on mutual defence.
• The Fethullah Gulen Movement’s influence on Turkey is re-examined following a somewhat controversial expose in the 24 April edition of The New York Times.
• A pricing dispute between the Kurdish Autonomous Government in Northern Iraq and the national government threatens Turkish crude supplies, while the TANAP pipeline agreement between Azerbaijan and Turkey should be signed by the end of the month.
• NABUCCO loses a Hungarian stakeholder while Turkish gas pipelines operator, BOTAS, cuts down its own stake in Brussels’ pipeline project. However, all is not lost in breaking Gazprom’s dominant grip on European gas supplies, as TANAP will likely connect to the revamped NABUCCO West project.
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• May 12, 2012