News Roundup - October 10, 2007

The Moscow Times: S&P Marks Down Kazakhstan's Ratings
International ratings agency Standard & Poor's has downgraded Kazakhstan's sovereign ratings to within a notch of losing its investment grade rating on concerns that the country's banks are overexposed to foreign borrowings...
Forbes: Kazakhstan Outlook Cut to Stable as Banks Hit by Tough Financing Climate - Fitch
Fitch Ratings revised the outlook on the Republic of Kazakhstan's issuer default ratings (IDR) to stable from positive, citing the impact of a tougher international financing climate on Kazakhstan's banks...
The Financial Times: Kazakhstan Hit Hard by Shortage of Liquidity
At a recent gathering of bankers in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s financial capital, Dmitry Shishkin, an analyst from Standard Bank, noted the efforts being made to play down the problems in the country’s banking sector...
EurasiaNet Insight: Italian Premier "Happy" with Kazakh Pledge to Keep Oil Contract
Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi is positive in his assessment of assurances by the Kazakh leadership that contracts will remain unchanged...
The Wall Street Journal: Kazakhstan Downplays Tiff With Eni About Oil Project
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev played down his government's dispute with the Eni SpA-led consortium developing the giant Kashagan oil field...
Reuters: Kazakhstan Maps Demands for Eni Oil Talks Next Week
Kazakhstan has mapped out a set of demands for an Eni-led consortium developing the huge Kashagan oilfield and will start talks on them next week, its energy minister said on Tuesday...
The New York Times: Kazakh Leader Eases Tensions Over Oil Project
The president of Kazakhstan sought on Monday to ease fears that his government was seeking to alter the terms of the Kashagan offshore oil project, indicating a possible cooling in the dispute with the Italian-led consortium developing the field...
International Herald Tribune: Media Watchdog Requests Withdrawal of Amendments to Kazakh Defamation Law
The media freedom representative at a European security organization said Tuesday he has requested the withdrawal of recent draft amendments to Kazakhstan's defamation law...
Itar-Tass: Russia, Kazakhstan Disagree on Sum of Damage from Proton Fall
Russia and Kazakhstan could not agree a sum of damage from a Proton-M missile. A compensation sum of the damage will be determined in December 2007, head of Roskosmos (Russian Space Agency) Anatoly Perminov told reporters in Astana on Tuesday...
The Canadian Press: Russians Present 'Kazakh' Whip' to 1st Woman to Command Space Station
A Russian space official presented a traditional Kazakh whip Tuesday to American astronaut Peggy Whitson a day before she was scheduled to head into orbit to become the first woman to command the international space station...
TREND: Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and other Countries of Region Interested in Cooperation with Europe: Italian Premier
Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and other countries of the Caspian region are interested in cooperation with Europe, the Italian Premier Romano Prodi said in Kazakhstan...
Reuters: Kazakh Halyk Bank 9-Month Net Income Up 65 Percent
Kazakhstan's Halyk Bank reported a rise in nine-month net profit and growth in deposits, as Fitch Ratings cut its outlook on the Central Asian nation's third-largest bank to stable from positive...
Reuters: Kazkommertsbank Buys into Russian Brokerage
Kazakhstan's Kazkommertsbank has bought 50 percent of Russian brokerage East Capital, the Kazakh bank said on Tuesday. Kazkommertsbank said in a statement it planned to rename the company East Kommerts...
EurasiaNet Insight: CIS Summit: Coming Together on Paper, Still Apart in Practice
The leaders of former Soviet states signed a bevy of agreements during three separate inter-state gatherings held recently in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe. Despite the move toward greater integration on paper, it remains uncertain to what extent the agreements will be implemented...
Forbes: Four Kazakhstani banks' outlooks cut to stable from positive - Fitch
Fitch Ratings said it has revised the outlook on the long-term issuer default ratings (IDR) of four Kazakhstani banks -- the Development Bank of Kazakhstan (DBK), Bank TuranAlem (BTA), Halyk Bank of Kazakhstan (Halyk) and Kazkommertsbank (KKB) -- to stable from positive...
Telegraph: Russian Billionaire's Hostile Bid for Celtic
Billionaire steel magnate Alexei Mordashov ran out of patience with the board of Celtic Resources yesterday, launching a hostile bid for the gold miner and threatening to throw out management even if he does not secure full control of the company...
Kazinform: Heads of Caspian Littoral States to Convene in Tehran
The second summit of the heads of the Caspian littoral states will be held in Tehran on October 16. All the presidents of 5 Caspian littoral states will take part in the summit, Kazinform refers to the spokesman of the Kazakh Foreign Affairs Ministry Yerzhan Ashikbayev...