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

Environmental group Greenpeace sharply criticised Swiss power stations Tuesday for using nuclear fuel from a Russian reprocessing centre at Mayak, claiming it was one of the world's most polluted.

• October 6, 2010

In the 1960s, American political scientists became fascinated with political modernization in Turkey and Japan.

• October 6, 2010

Opportunities are opening for Australian companies in Kazakhstan's mining industry.

• October 5, 2010

Russian gas producer Itera and oil company Zarubezhneft have planned to jointly explore offshore sites in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea until 2012, said Itera Board Chairman Igor Makarov on Monday.

• October 5, 2010

Ukraine's nuclear power plant state operator Energoatom and Russia's Atomenergomash, controlled by the state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom, have reached an agreement to set up a consortium to launch local production of equipment for nuclear power plants.

• October 5, 2010

Latvia’s Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis is seeking a cooperation deal with an opposition party backed by the country’s large Russian-speaking minority in a bid to broaden his government’s support base after a strong election win.

• October 5, 2010

Bulgaria should be able to start exporting electricity to Turkey end of October, the energy ministers of the two countries agreed in Sofia.

• October 5, 2010