China has announced a double-digit increase in its secretive military budget but insisted the annual outlay of more than 90 billion US dollars posed no external threat, despite concern worldwide.

• March 4, 2011

The Chechen Islamist rebel leader who is Russia's most wanted man has issued an appeal for recruits for a "total war" against the Russian state, in a new video message

• March 4, 2011

Kazakh Ambassador to Turkey Zhanseit Tuimebayev has also been appointed by President Nursultan Nazarbayev as the ambassador to Albania, the Presidential Press Service reported.

• March 4, 2011

ISSUE #06
02/28/2011

President Viktor Yanukovych has created a group of scholars and experts who will set up a Constitutional Assembly to amend the Ukrainian constitution. Former Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk was appointed as the head of the group. The presidential administration said that the Constitutional Assembly would draw up a new draft of the nation's fundamental law. “This draft will be widely debated by the public and then sent to parliament as a presidential bill,” the president's press service explained. READ MORE

• March 4, 2011

On 14-28 February 2011, Gorshenin Institute conducted an all-Ukrainian telephone survey on the topic «Viktor Yanukovych: the first year in office» As many as 2,000 randomly sampled adults, aged 18 years and older, living in Ukraine’s regional centers, cities, towns and villages, including Kiev and Sevastopol, were interviewed. Gender, age, and the type of a respondent’s residence were used as quotas. The maximum margin of sampling error is +/-2.2 percentage points. READ MORE

• March 4, 2011

The EBRD and the Government of Bulgaria have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on March 2 to boost competitiveness of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) through investments in energy efficiency in order to strengthen the transition of the South East European country towards a green economy.

• March 3, 2011

Belarus has not yet answered questions regarding the nuclear power plant's environmental impact, states the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania.

• March 3, 2011

Russia is demanding that Japan investigate a protest that took place outside the Russian embassy in Tokyo, and warning that it could open its own criminal case in the matter.

• March 3, 2011