Former Kyrgyz Finance Minister and Ak-Shumkar leader Temir Sariyev listens to a question during his interview with the Associated Press in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010. The head of a leading party running for election in Kyrgyzstan says an incoming government will likely sharply increase the rent for a U.S. air base in the country.

• October 8, 2010

Russia will pay back Iran's downpayment on an order for a missile system after refusing to fulfil the contract, a top Russian official says.

• October 8, 2010

Japan has submitted a bid to construct a nuclear energy power plant in Turkey through the mediation of Toshiba, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yıldız has said.

• October 8, 2010

Great prospects exist for the cooperation between Russia and China with two-way trade on the rise and high-tech exchange ever increasing, Artem Volynets, a member of the Board of Directors of the RusAl aluminum company, told Xinhua on Wednesday.

• October 7, 2010

Kyrgyzstan votes in a crucial election on Sunday which interim leaders hope will help unite the country but opponents fear could trigger more violence and leave the south vulnerable to ethnic extremists and militant Islamists, APA reports quoting “Reuters”.

• October 7, 2010

As the Kyrgyz parliamentary elections near, Moscow’s attempts to influence the elections’ outcome is becoming more obvious. By using both its hard and soft power, the Russian leadership has been supporting favorable candidates, while marginalizing others before the vote on October 10.

• October 6, 2010

Pakistan appears to have stepped up construction of a new atomic reactor that could help the country produce easier-to-deliver nuclear weapons, a US research institute said.

• October 6, 2010

Amidst the latest flare-up in the centuries-old Sino-Japanese spat, Beijing made an unexpected move last month when it halted exports of a little-known commodity group, "rare earth metals," to Japan.

• October 6, 2010