Iran and Armenia plan to start building two major hydro-electric stations on their border early next year, the energy ministers of the two countries said in Yerevan.

• October 18, 2010

Angela Merkel and Russian president Dmitry Medvedev are due to arrive in the French seaside town of Deauville today for a summit on European security hosted by President Nicolas Sarkozy.

• October 18, 2010

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez visited Belarus on October 16 promising President Alyaksandr Lukashenka that Venezuela could fill Belarus's oil refineries "for the next 200 years."

• October 18, 2010

RIA Novosti citing Mr Vagit Alekperov CEO of OAO Lukoil as saying that the company may sell 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas produced in Uzbekistan to China.

• October 18, 2010

So – Keston has existed for 40 years – over half my life – and half of that time (exactly 20 years) I’ve  been living in    Oxford. It’s almost unbelievable to reflect that the Berlin Wall came down just after I came to St Edmund Hall, Oxford, with a visiting fellowship: my temporary absence from Keston College seemed to inaugurate the sensational collapse of communism. READ MORE

• October 18, 2010

President Hugo Chavez, on his ninth visit to Russia in eight years, says he wants to reduce dependence on oil and gas. No details on cost or time are disclosed.

• October 16, 2010

Armenia’s nuclear power plant in Metsamor will be brought to a halt October 16 for a partial refuelling and regular repairs, its executive director Gagik Markosian told

• October 16, 2010

The amount of electricity bought at the Estonian electricity market that was opened to competition on April 1 for large consumers has tripled in the first six months, and in September 2010, electricity bought from the electricity bourse formed 38% of the Estonian domestic consumption

• October 16, 2010