“25 families move from Kazakhstan's 'Sleepy Hollow' – Governor”, “Tajikistan confirms its EXPO 2017 participation”, “Mentally challenged woman beheads her 6yo niece in South Kazakhstan”, “Kazakhstan thinking of reducing crude export duty rate”

akipress.com. “Mentally challenged woman beheads her 6yo niece in South Kazakhstan” - Mentally ill woman has beheaded her 6-year-old niece in South Kazakhstan region, Kazakh media report Wednesday. A girl born in 2008 was killed in the village of Temirlanovka, Ordabasy district in South Kazakhstan region on January 31, Kazakhstan Today news agency reported.

“25 families move from Kazakhstan's 'Sleepy Hollow' – governor” - 25 families have moved from the village of Kalachi, Akmola region, nicknamed as “Sleepy Hollow” due to mysterious disease causing sleep disorder, governor of Akmola region Sergey Kulagin said. Villagers in Kalachi, northern Kazakhstan, have been suffering from the unexplained condition for about two years. It causes people to fall asleep suddenly, sometimes for several days, and those affected have also complained of memory loss and in some cases hallucinations.

“Tajikistan confirms its EXPO 2017 participation” - Tajikistan has confirmed its participation in EXPO 2017, the Kazakh foreign ministry said. "A Kazakh delegation headed by the Expo 2017 Commissioner - First Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Rapil Zhoshybayev paid a working visit to Tajikistan,” the statement says. “The bilateral meetings were held with First Deputy Prime Minister of Tajikistan Davlatali Said, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan Parviz Davlatzoda as part of this visit."

tengrinews.kz. “Kazakhstan thinking of reducing crude export duty rate” - Kazakhstan is thinking of reducing crude export duty rate, the country’s Minister of National Economy Yerbolat Dossayev told journalists February 3. “The current export duty rate was appropriate given earlier prices for crude. We are thinking of reducing the export duty rate (…) We have almost completed consultations with the Energy Ministry to ensure a certain profitability for oil producing companies and maintain a certain level of revenues into the country’s budget”, Mr. Dossayev said. Starting from April 1, 2014 the crude export duty rate had been raised from $60 to $80 per ton of crude.