ID :
98100
Mon, 01/04/2010 - 16:41
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/98100
The shortlink copeid
Russian KAMAZ's lead in truck standings at Dakar 2010 after 1st stage
.
MOSCOW, January 4 (Itar-Tass) - Vladimir Chagin's KAMAZ has taken the
lead in truck standings at Dakar 2010 rally after the first stage.
His teammate Firdaus Kabirov, the winner of the previous Dakar
finished third behind Ales Loparis in Tatra.
"That's my 48th special stage victory on the Dakar? Really?" Chagin
told the competition's official website.
"I don't know when the 50th will come!" he said. "We have to get
through the mountains first. You never know when you're going to win, but
I'll try to reach fifty victories and win this Dakar."
He indicated that, from the angle of view of an experienced
competitor, the most important is avoiding problems and mishaps.
"After that, the results look after themselves," Chagin said. "That's
why first and foremost I want to have a careful and controlled Dakar."
.Presidents of Tajikistan, Iran to discuss joint investment projects.
DUSHANBE, January 4 (Itar-Tass) - Presidents Emomali Rakhmon of
Tajikistan and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran plan discussing practical steps
that have been taken on a number of documents they signed previously, an
official spokesman for Tajikistan's Foreign Ministry told Itar-Tass Sunday.
Ahmadinejad begins a two-day official visit to Tajikistan Monday.
"President Emomali Rakhmon is going to draw his Iranian counterpart's
attention to the importance of stepping up the final phase of construction
works at the Sangtuda hydropower plant No. 2," said Davlat Nazriyev, the
spokesman.
The hydropower plant has the designed output capacity of 220 megawatts
of electricity a year and is erected in the southeast of Tajikistan with
the aid of Iranian companies.
"The problem of energy independence has crucial significance for this
country, as it suffers from annual shortages of electricity," Nazriyev
said.
Under provisions of an intergovernmental agreement, Iran contributes $
180 million of the $ 220 million needed for completing the construction
works at Sangtuda.
Simultaneously it has reserved a monopoly right to sell all the
electricity produced at the plant over a period of 12.5 years after the
date of commissioning.
The Sangtuda hydropower project was launched in 2006 and the
commissioning of the plant was initially scheduled for 2011.
However, the rates of activity at the construction site have slowed
down of late and this produces certain nervousness in the Tajikistani
government.
The current situation in the Tajikistani-Iranian economic cooperation
can be generally described as a satisfactory one, since Iranian
investments are working well enough in Tajikistan's transport, agriculture
and the processing industries, a source in the country's government said.
Iran occupies the fifth position on the list of Tajikistan's largest
foreigh trade partners. The top four partners are Russia, China,
Kazakhstan, and Turkey.
Bilateral trade between Dushanbe and Teheran exceeded $ 160 million
from January through November 2009.
The source admitted that some problems in relations between the two
countries concern the humanitarian sphere.
Presidents Rakhmon and Ahmadinejad are expected to discuss a number of
regional problems, including the situation in Afghanistan and the knotty
events that have been developing in Iran over the past several months.
At the end of the talks, the two sides plan signing a package of
documents, several of which concern the sphere of defense.
Officials decline to specify the contents of the latter.
.Railway in Sakhalin returns to normal schedules, snow removed.
VLADIVOSTOK, January 4 (Itar-Tass) - Traffic on the main railway line
in Russia's Far-Eastern insular region of Sakhalin is returning back to
normal after two days of disruption following a descent of snow avalanches
from mountain foothills.
Masses of snow blocked 300 meters of the line between the stations
Zaozyornoye and Pugachevo, and the height of snow banks above the tracks
there reached almost three meters.
At the time of reporting, the section of the railway was fully clear
and ready for resumption of the traffic, the press service of the regional
branch of Russia's Ministry for Emergency Situations and Civil Defense
/EMERCOM/ said.
The avalanche trapped three railway men. One of them managed to get
out of the snow on his own, and EMERCOM rescuers assisted by sniffing dogs
found the body of one more worker under the snow Sunday.
The third worker is still listed as missing.
Passage has been restored on all the automobile roads on the island,
but road repairs are still in progress in two towns and that is why entry
of their territory by cars is limited there so far.
The airport in the regional capital Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk is functioning
as scheduled.
EMERCOM officials also say there have been no disruptions of electric
power supplies anywhere on the island.
MOSCOW, January 4 (Itar-Tass) - Vladimir Chagin's KAMAZ has taken the
lead in truck standings at Dakar 2010 rally after the first stage.
His teammate Firdaus Kabirov, the winner of the previous Dakar
finished third behind Ales Loparis in Tatra.
"That's my 48th special stage victory on the Dakar? Really?" Chagin
told the competition's official website.
"I don't know when the 50th will come!" he said. "We have to get
through the mountains first. You never know when you're going to win, but
I'll try to reach fifty victories and win this Dakar."
He indicated that, from the angle of view of an experienced
competitor, the most important is avoiding problems and mishaps.
"After that, the results look after themselves," Chagin said. "That's
why first and foremost I want to have a careful and controlled Dakar."
.Presidents of Tajikistan, Iran to discuss joint investment projects.
DUSHANBE, January 4 (Itar-Tass) - Presidents Emomali Rakhmon of
Tajikistan and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran plan discussing practical steps
that have been taken on a number of documents they signed previously, an
official spokesman for Tajikistan's Foreign Ministry told Itar-Tass Sunday.
Ahmadinejad begins a two-day official visit to Tajikistan Monday.
"President Emomali Rakhmon is going to draw his Iranian counterpart's
attention to the importance of stepping up the final phase of construction
works at the Sangtuda hydropower plant No. 2," said Davlat Nazriyev, the
spokesman.
The hydropower plant has the designed output capacity of 220 megawatts
of electricity a year and is erected in the southeast of Tajikistan with
the aid of Iranian companies.
"The problem of energy independence has crucial significance for this
country, as it suffers from annual shortages of electricity," Nazriyev
said.
Under provisions of an intergovernmental agreement, Iran contributes $
180 million of the $ 220 million needed for completing the construction
works at Sangtuda.
Simultaneously it has reserved a monopoly right to sell all the
electricity produced at the plant over a period of 12.5 years after the
date of commissioning.
The Sangtuda hydropower project was launched in 2006 and the
commissioning of the plant was initially scheduled for 2011.
However, the rates of activity at the construction site have slowed
down of late and this produces certain nervousness in the Tajikistani
government.
The current situation in the Tajikistani-Iranian economic cooperation
can be generally described as a satisfactory one, since Iranian
investments are working well enough in Tajikistan's transport, agriculture
and the processing industries, a source in the country's government said.
Iran occupies the fifth position on the list of Tajikistan's largest
foreigh trade partners. The top four partners are Russia, China,
Kazakhstan, and Turkey.
Bilateral trade between Dushanbe and Teheran exceeded $ 160 million
from January through November 2009.
The source admitted that some problems in relations between the two
countries concern the humanitarian sphere.
Presidents Rakhmon and Ahmadinejad are expected to discuss a number of
regional problems, including the situation in Afghanistan and the knotty
events that have been developing in Iran over the past several months.
At the end of the talks, the two sides plan signing a package of
documents, several of which concern the sphere of defense.
Officials decline to specify the contents of the latter.
.Railway in Sakhalin returns to normal schedules, snow removed.
VLADIVOSTOK, January 4 (Itar-Tass) - Traffic on the main railway line
in Russia's Far-Eastern insular region of Sakhalin is returning back to
normal after two days of disruption following a descent of snow avalanches
from mountain foothills.
Masses of snow blocked 300 meters of the line between the stations
Zaozyornoye and Pugachevo, and the height of snow banks above the tracks
there reached almost three meters.
At the time of reporting, the section of the railway was fully clear
and ready for resumption of the traffic, the press service of the regional
branch of Russia's Ministry for Emergency Situations and Civil Defense
/EMERCOM/ said.
The avalanche trapped three railway men. One of them managed to get
out of the snow on his own, and EMERCOM rescuers assisted by sniffing dogs
found the body of one more worker under the snow Sunday.
The third worker is still listed as missing.
Passage has been restored on all the automobile roads on the island,
but road repairs are still in progress in two towns and that is why entry
of their territory by cars is limited there so far.
The airport in the regional capital Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk is functioning
as scheduled.
EMERCOM officials also say there have been no disruptions of electric
power supplies anywhere on the island.
