The Straits Times: Russian missile test fails again

The Straits Times: Russian missile test fails again

MOSCOW - Russia's new nuclear-capable Bulava missile has suffered a new failure in testing which was the likely source of a mysterious light that appeared over Norway, Russian newspaper reports said Thursday.

The submarine-launched Bulava missile was test-fired from the Dmitry Donskoi submarine in the White Sea early Wednesday but failed at the third stage, the Kommersant and Vedomosti newspapers reported, quoting defence sources.

The test was the 13th test-firing of the Bulava and the ninth time that the launch has failed, Vedomosti said. The missile is central to Russia's plan to revamp its ageing weapons arsenal but is struggling with development problems.

Kommersant said the reported test-firing before dawn on Wednesday morning coincided with the appearance of an extraordinary light over northern Norway that captivated observers. Images of the white light that appeared in the sky above the Norwegian city of Tromso prompted explanations ranging from a meteor, northern lights, a failed missile or even a UFO.

The problems with the Bulava have become an agonising issue for the defence ministry which has ploughed a large proportion of its procurement budget into ensuring the missile becomes the key element of its revamped rocket forces.

The previous failure in July had forced the resignation of Yury Solomonov, the director of the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology which is responsible for developing the missile. – AFP

BarentsObserver launches BorderZone portal

Are you curious about the Norwegian-Russian borderland? BarentsObserver now launches its BorderZone project, a web portal with comprehensive news, contact data and practical information from the two neighboring municipalities of Sør-Varanger and Pechenga.

The BorderZone website is located at the address:www.barentsobserver.com/borderzone

The two municipalities of Sør-Varanger and Pechenga are neighbors across the 196 km long Norwegian-Russian border. For decades, Cold War tensions made cross-border contact between people in the area almost impossible. The 1990s saw a major increase in cross-border travelling. Still, contacts between Sør-Varanger and Pechenga even today remains at a modest level.

The new portal is made to facilitate cross-border knowledge and contacts between people living in the borderland area. It is however also a useful tool for other people interested in the area, be it business people, officials, researchers or other.

The BorderZone website is established with project support from the Norwegian Barents Secretariat.

Itar-Tass: RF-Dutch intergovt comsn meeting to be held in May 2010-Zubkov

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=14624739&PageNum=0

10.12.2009, 05.22

THE HAGUE, December 10 (Itar-Tass) - Te Russia-Netherlands joint commission for economic cooperation will hold its regular meeting in Holland in late May 2010, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov told Itar-Tass in an exclusive interview summarising the results of his working visit to the Netherlands.

On Wednesday, Zubkov met here Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, his Dutch colleague in the intergovernmental commission – Economics Minister Maria van der Hoeven, heads of companies of the Project Delta group and visited a high technology centre of the Philips company.

According to Zubkov, the commission’s May 2010 meeting will be preceded by meetings of working groups on separate fields. Besides, at a meeting with Hoeven the parties agreed to hold next March-April a joint working meeting on cooperation in the oil and natural gas sphere. It will be held in a northern region of Russia with invitation of Dutch companies that have displayed interest in cooperation in this economy sphere, he said.

Bloomberg: China Imposes Duties on U.S., Russian Steel Imports (Update1)

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aMJdy3k_HJdg

By Bloomberg News

Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- China, the world’s largest steel consumer, will impose provisional duties on some U.S. and Russian imports following anti-dumping and subsidy investigations, escalating a trade spat started in September.

Flat-rolled electrical steel products from steelmakers including AK Steel Holding Corp., OAO Novolipetsk Steel and Allegheny Ludlum Corp., would attract duties of as much as 25 percent from tomorrow, China’s commerce ministry said in two statements on its Web site today. The steel is used to make power transformers.

China is striking back after the U.S., the European Union and other countries slapped tariffs and filed complaints about Chinese steel and commodity products to the World Trade Organization this year. U.S. and Russia last year exported a combined $602 million of the targeted steel products to China, according to Mysteel Research Institute.

“Dumping allegations can’t always be made from one side,” Xu Xiangchun, an analyst at Mysteel, said from Beijing. “U.S. and Russian imports have hurt Baosteel Group Corp. and Wuhan Iron & Steel Group, the only two producers of transformer steel in China.”

The tariffs come after U.S. President Obama in a visit to Beijing last month pledged with China President Hu Jintao to work on easing trade frictions. Obama imposed tariffs on Chinese tires in September, and the U.S. later levied duties on some Chinese steel pipes. The two countries have $409 billion in annual two-way trade.

First Probe

Richard Buangan, press officer at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, declined to comment. Calls to the Russian embassy’s press office were answered. Baoshan Steel’s Vice President Chen Ying wasn’t immediately available for comment. Calls to Wuhan Steel were not answered.

U.S. steel products will face two duties, one for subsidies and the other for dumping, the Chinese ministry said in its statement. Russian companies will only pay tariffs for anti- dumping, it said. A final ruling will be decided later, the ministry said, without giving a time frame.

“This is the first time China has conducted an anti- subsidy and anti-dumping investigation,” the ministry said. The imports have hurt the Chinese steel industry, it said.

Disputes between China and its trading partners are escalating as the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression spurred countries to protect jobs. China protested U.S. duties of as much as 99 percent on $3.2 billion of Chinese steel pipe exports on Nov. 6, and announced the start of an anti-dumping probe into American carmakers.

The Chinese commerce ministry in October made a preliminary ruling that U.S., European, Russian and Taiwanese chemical companies had dumped nylon fibers at below-cost prices in the Chinese market. Nylon is used in to make textiles and toothbrushes.

--Xiao Yu. With assistance from Li Yanping. Editors: Tan Hwee Ann, Jacob Lloyd-Smith

To contact the Bloomberg News Staff of this story: Xiao Yu in Beijing at yxiao@bloomberg.net

   The discussion started with energy cooperation and special emphasis was placed on the Burgas-Alexandroupoli pipeline.

   The Greek side once again confirmed its interest in the speedy and effective implementation of the project, that is also of great interest for the country's energy planning, as Kouvelis said after the discussion.

   Also discussed was cooperation for the development of the South Stream natural gas pipeline, the renewal of the cooperation agreement on the supply of natural gas after the end of 2010 for 2016, as well as cooperation between Greece and Russia on green technology issues and the saving of energy.