Quake measuring 4 pts registered near Commander's Islands in Pacific

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, February 3 (Itar-Tass) - An earthquake
measuring 4.2 points on the open-ended Richter scale has occurred in the
vicinity of the Commander's Islands in the Northwest Pacific, experts at
the Far-Eastern territorial center of the Ministry for Emergency
Situations and Civil Defense /EMERCOM/ told Itar-Tass.

No victims or destructions have been reported and there is no threat
of a tsunami, they said.
The quake was registered at nighttime February 2. The epicenter was
located some 154.3 kilometers southwest of the town of Nikolskoye on the
Bering Island and the seismic focus, at the depth of 10 kilometers below
the surface of the earth.
Earth crust tremors in the population centers of the nearby Kamchatka
territory were not felt.


.US experts predict improvement of Ukrainian-Russian relations.

NEW YORK, February 3 (Itar-Tass) - Whoever wins the runoff
presidential election in Ukraine February 7, the next president will
inevitably improve relations between Ukraine and Russia, analysts of the
PBN consulting agency say in a special report devoted to the runoff.
They indicate that either of the candidates who will be on the ballots
February 7 will impart a more friendly character to this relationship.
In spite of the harsh remarks that the candidates, Prime Minister
Yulia Timoshenko and the Regions Party leader, Viktor Yanukovich, exchange
on the eve of voting, political differences between them are few, in fact,
and their public positions on most issues are different only in terms of
nuances, the PBN report says.
The analysts recall that both candidates seek to improve relations
with Russia and to do this in a manner that envisions a counterbalance in
the form of a closer economic integration in the EU.
Also, both candidates support the agreement that the Ukrainian oil and
gas monopoly Naftogaz Ukrainy and the Russian natural gas producer Gazprom
signed for a period of ten years in 2009.
Both Yanukovich and Timoshenko speak in favor of Ukraine's cooperation
with NATO but oppose the idea of getting a full-fledged membership of the
North-Atlantic pact, the PBN report says.
Its authors do not rule out that Moscow may offer Kiev to join the
Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan customs union in the future. The trilateral
union went into effect as of January 1, 2010.
Still, they believe the next Ukrainian administration will scarcely
join the union, given the country's membership of the World Trade
Organization and a possible integration in the EU's free trade area.
Along with this, the PBN experts predict a sizable rise in the number
of commercial transactions between Russia and Ukraine, including the
Russian companies' purchases of assets in a number of industries like
metallurgy, chemical production, and power generating.
One of the key issues of Timoshenko's or Yanukovich's presidency will
be the ability to keep up a balance between the defense of national
security and the selling of properties and other assets to the neighbor
that bas considerable resources on his own territory, the PBN report said.

.US says membership of SCO not ruled out in future.

WASHINGTON, February 3 (Itar-Tass) - U.S. is not seeking membership of
the Shanghai Cooperation Organization at the moment but it does not rule
out an opportunity of this kind in the future, Robert Blake, the U.S.
Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia said Tuesday in an
interview with Itar-Tass.
He recalled that the U.S. has sent its representatives for holding
dialogue with the SCO in the past and although Washington does not seek
the organization's membership at the moment, an interest towards this
might emerge in the future.
Blake made it quite clear, however, that none of the SCO members have
made any invitations to Washington to join in so far.
He admitted that the U.S. Administration is closely watching the SCO's
activities.
Blake recalled for instance that the organization's rotating
presidency went over to Uzbekistan recently.
Washington believes that the SCO may offer a smoothly working
mechanism of cooperation and partnership in the region.
The U.S. is interested in getting assured that the organization is not
misused by anyone for establishing domination in the region.
The CSO must be used as a mechanism of attaining equal partnership.
The SCO currently embraces China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia,
Tajikistanan, and Uzbekistan.
-0-kle


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