The Rajin-Sonbong Free Trade Zone in the extreme northeast corner of North Korea was always something of a joke. The zone was created in 1991 by the late North Korean dictator Kim Il-sung when the North was in one of its periodic flirtations with Chinese-style free markets. But nothing much came of it.

• February 1, 2011

Turkey aspires to possess at least 20 nuclear reactors operating in the country by 2030, a key official from the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources has said.

• February 1, 2011

Ministry of Economic Regulation (MER) of Kyrgyzstan intends to attract Turkish businessmen to develop the mining sector, as the head of the investment policy of MER Kubat Murzaev stated at a joint Kyrgyz-Turkish Business Forum.

• February 1, 2011

Kazakhstan's constitutional council on Monday rejected a referendum to extend President Nursultan Nazarbayev's rule until 2020, meaning the leader of Central Asia's largest economy is likely to stand for election in 2012.

• January 31, 2011

Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, the first of its kind in the country, is to join the national power grid in early April, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI), Ali Akbar Salehi said

• January 29, 2011

Russian experts confirmed during a presentation of the Kaliningrad nuclear power plant project in Riga yesterday that the project will have no detrimental effect on the environment.

• January 29, 2011

Cash shortages and uncertainty over energy prices are delaying or cutting back nuclear power projects across Central and South-Eastern Europe, threatening energy supply and a push to abandon polluting coal.

• January 28, 2011

Last year was Japan Year in Turkey, and the occasion for it was the 120th anniversary of a sad event in the history of the Ottoman Empire. Today, Turkish-Japanese relations are moving closer to their true potential. These two countries, located at the western and eastern ends of Asia, are poised to form a strong partnership over the next decade.

• January 28, 2011