SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #1207 (73), Tuesday, September 26, 2006
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TITLE: Indian Student Killed by Masked Attackers
AUTHOR: By Ali Nassor
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: ST. PETERSBURG — Young men in dark glasses and masks fatally stabbed an Indian medical student outside his St. Petersburg hostel late Sunday.Hundreds of foreign students gathered Monday to angrily condemn the latest slaying. Nationalist youth, meanwhile, rallied in the city center to demand again that dark-skinned foreigners be barred from Russia.
It was the fourth apparently racist murder this year in St. Petersburg, and it occurred in the same place where another foreign student survived an attack five months earlier, on Adolf Hilter's birthday.
A group of young men jumped Nitesh Kumar Singh, 27, at about 9.30 p.m. Sunday as he was approaching the entrance to his hostel at 14 Kirillovskaya Ulitsa in central St. Petersburg.
"They were eight guys, some in dark glasses and others in masks," said Faisal Ibesh, a second-year medical student from Syria who said he rushed to Singh's side.
He said Singh described the assailants as he dragged himself up the hostel stairs to the fourth floor, where he lived. Singh, a sixth-year student at Mechnikov Medical Academy, had gone out to a nearby store.
"Once on the fourth floor, he immediately fell down half-conscious from a loss of blood from five stab wounds to his back and sides," Ibesh said.
The St. Petersburg Prosecutor's Office said Singh was stabbed seven times.
Panic broke out in the hostel as Singh climbed the stairs, said Walid Aboid, a third-year student from Jordan. "But we managed to call the ambulance, which unfortunately took more than 40 minutes to arrive," he said.
Nitesh died shortly after arriving at the Alexandrovsky Hospital, about two hours after the attack.
A Sudanese national was admitted to the same hospital with a head injury and concussion after being attacked by unidentified assailants that same night in another part of St. Petersburg, Ekho Moskvy and NTV reported.
An aide to the St. Petersburg prosecutor, Yelena Ordinskaya, said an investigation had been opened but declined to say whether the attack might have been racially motivated.
St. Petersburg Deputy Prosecutor Andrei Lavrenko told a rally of about 300 foreign students that he hoped the killing would be solved. He noted that two suspects had been detained in an attack outside the same hostel on April 20, when Indian student Anjangi Kishore Kumar, 23, was stabbed in the throat.
Lavrenko said the two suspects were in custody while investigators waited for Kumar to identify them. Kumar, who went home to India to recuperate, just returned this month for the new school year.
Mechnikov Medical Academy rector Alexander Shabrov assured the students that security would be improved by Wednesday. "Extra security personnel will be deployed in the three-hostel compound on Kirillovskaya Ulitsa, and the courtyard and pavements will be illuminated," he said.
On Sunday, about 200 activists with the nationalist Movement Against Illegal Immigrants were demonstrating against dark-skinned migrants at Pionerskaya Ploshchad. Dozens of police kept a close eye on the gathering in an attempt to avert a repeat of a clash at a similar rally earlier this month. Three people were hospitalized after a group of anti-fascists attacked the Sept. 17 rally.
Four dark-skinned foreigners have been killed and dozens of others attacked in St. Petersburg this year. In July, an Uzbek man was fatally stabbed in what appears to be a hate crime. An African student was shot dead in April, in the first killing to involve a gun. Another African student was killed in February. Police arrested eight young men in May and accused them of belonging to a nationalist group that carried out racially motivated attacks, including a shooting death and the stabbing death of a 9-year-old Tajik girl in 2004.
Russia has seen a series of attacks on foreign students in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Voronezh and other cities in the past two years. Tensions also are high after clashes and riots targeting Chechens in the Karelian town of Kondopoga killed two people this month.
The Prosecutor General's Office said Monday that it had created a department to enforce laws against hate crimes.
Federal prosecutors plan to conduct an inspection of how federal, regional and local authorities enforce laws on race- and religious-motivated crimes, the office said in a statement on its web site.

TITLE: Verdict In Starovoitova Case Given
AUTHOR: By Galina Stolyarova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: A jury in St. Petersburg has found Vyacheslav Lelyavin guilty of organizing the shadowing of the late Duma deputy Galina Starovoitova as part of preparations for the politician's murder in November 1998, and has cleared Pavel Stekhnovsky of murder-related charges, finding him guilty only of the illegal purchase of a gun.The sentencing will be given on Wednesday.
Starovoitova, the uncompromising and outspoken leader of the Democratic Russia party, was murdered in the stairwell of her building on Nov. 20, 1998. She died instantly, and her aide, Ruslan Linkov, who was with her at the time, suffered severe head injuries but survived.
The jury did not believe that it had been presented with sufficient proof of a political motive for Lelyavin's actions.
The jury found Stekhnovsky guilty of illegally purchasing an Agran-2000 gun — the weapon used by the killers — but the prosecution failed to convince the jurors that Stekhnovsky had been aware of the use that the gun would be put to.
The prosecution also maintained that Lelyavin had arranged the tapping of Starovoitova's phones and for her to be followed.
The prosecution also claimed that he had organized the transportation of the killers to Starovoitova's apartment.
Lelyavin pleaded non-guilty, while Stekhnovsky admitted only to buying the gun. "I mediated a purchase of a gun," Stekhnovsky said on Friday in his last statement.
"I very much regret being involved in this, but I was unaware of what I had been getting involved in. I had no knowledge whatsoever of what the gun was meant for."
The Starovoitova trial has been limping along for over 3 1/2 years, while the investigation took about 8 years, and the prosecutors are still struggling to establish the identity of those who ordered the killing.
Galina's sister, historian and human rights advocate Olga Starovoitova, blamed the investigation for failing to establish the political motives behind the killing, despite promises from those in power, including former president Boris Yeltsin and current president Vladimir Putin, that law enforcement officers would not rest until those behind the killing were convicted.
Starovoitova's killers — Valery Akishin and Yury Kolchin — have been convicted and sentenced to 23 1/2 and 20 years in prison respectively.
"Those who ordered the crime have still not been found," Olga Starovoitova said. "And unless the mastermind behind the murder is established and [his guilt proven], we can only keep guessing at what exactly may have driven them to kill Galina."
The assassins took neither Starovoitova's money nor her valuables. The deputy had a substantial amount of cash, including 855 rubles, a 1,000 Deutschmark note and about 18 $100 bills, with her when she was shot on the stairway leading to her apartment on Naberezhnaya Canal Griboyedova.
Olga Starovoitova said that the family has been trying to answer the question as to why Galina was murdered for a very long time.
"It is very complicated," Olga Starovoitova said. "She tried hard to make the country's budget transparent and believed legislators should be able to trace where state money goes. This, of course, was rather irritating for those on the receiving end of improperly directed budgetary funds."
During the investigation Starovoitova's aide Ruslan Linkov suggested that former LDPR Deputy Vyacheslav Shevchenko and his counterpart Mikhail Glushchenko were linked to the assassination but the prosecution did not prove any such connection.
Shevchenko's body was found wrapped in a plastic bag in a villa in Cyprus in March 2004. The whereabouts of Glushchenko are unknown.

TITLE: 100 Years On, Shostakovich's Legacy is Mixed
AUTHOR: By Tim Smith
PUBLISHER: the baltimore sun
TEXT: Only a handful of composers in the 20th century reached the kind of artistic heights that measured greatness in previous eras — creating undisputed masterworks in genre after genre, gaining the admiration of music lovers from one generation to the next.Dmitry Shostakovich belongs to that select group.
Born in St. Petersburg a century ago on Monday, Shostakovich remains a subject of fascination and respect 31 years after his death in Moscow.
He continues to speak to us, sometimes in the clearest and most direct of voices, sometimes through a veil that leaves us wondering exactly what might be behind the notes.
His music is unmistakably, proudly Russian in character, yet only rarely nationalistic in the baser sense of the word.
It is just as unmistakably, proudly tonal in style. Though Shostakovich lived through political revolution, he never went near the musical revolution and experimentation that drew in so many of his contemporaries in the West.
Although Shostakovich could write pieces full of light and wit and charm, the overriding quality in his creative output is a deep seriousness. This is a composer of conviction. And truth.
"Feelings of love, hate, happiness, fear, sadness — they are the same everywhere," says Maxim Shostakovich, the composer's son.
"Like in all great art of previous centuries, my father's music deals with those human feelings," he says.
"I think people understand great art, maybe not directly. But, on some level, they can understand the feeling behind it."
Pianist and conductor Maxim Shostakovich, 68, conducted a program of his father's music on Monday at the city's famed St. Petersburg Philharmonic.
The music director of that orchestra, Yury Temirkanov, also 68 and an old friend of Maxim Shostakovich, will contribute to the centennial observances this week and next, leading Shostakovich-filled concerts with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, his first as music director emeritus.
And, in November, Mstislav Rostropovich, 79, a good friend of the composer's (and the composer's son and Temirkanov, for that matter), will be in Washington DC as music director laureate of the National Symphony Orchestra in all-Shostakovich programs.
That's just a small portion of what is a global acknowledgement of the composer this season. Not that the world needed an excuse to program his music.
Shostakovich has never really gone out of favor, certainly not in the West. To be sure, in his homeland, the composer fell out of official favor more than once, so much so that he feared for his life. But those who concerned themselves only with the art of music were hardly swayed by tastes of the Soviet government.
Temirkanov says the popularity of Shostakovich "among the Russian people has, so far, remained always the same."
Maxim Shostakovich agrees. "There is a big interest in my father's music and his creativity in Russia today," he says. "Lots of books have come out. The attention is very good."
But with a new Russian generation growing up after the end of the Soviet state, it is possible that the music of a man who lived his whole creative life under that system (in more ways than one) may mean something different now.
"There aren't any horrors for the young people today, as there were for my generation," Temirkanov says. "They know about the horrors of the past, because they probably read about it, but I don't know if they get it. I don't know if the younger generation really gets Shostakovich."Messages in music
What to "get" in Shostakovich has always been a matter of some debate.Like all music, his can be heard on strictly abstract terms, a thing of notes and dynamics and tempos and structures. But, almost from the start, the composer's work was recognized by many to be something much more than that, something full of messages.
What those messages mean depends on the listener and the era. Just when you think you have an interpretation all figured out, you may have to rethink it. Something that sounded exultant can suddenly seem ironic, even bitter. Something that sounded straightforward and agenda-free can suddenly seem confrontational, even subversive.
"It is difficult to label music as political or not political," Temirkanov says. "But you can say that Shostakovich was a historian in his music. He was like Pimen [the chronicling monk in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov.]"
Maxim Shostakovich echoes that point. "My father's music was like a mirror held up to his own time. It reflects what happened around him."
And so much happened.
From the almost sassy young composer who wowed everyone with his brilliantly colored first symphony in 1926, Shostakovich seemed to become a politically correct servant of the state, happy to supply music that reflected Soviet ideals.
But then, two years after the triumphant premiere of "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk," an astonishing opera filled with amoral characters and bitter truths, Shostakovich was denounced by the government. That 1936 attack, prompted by Stalin himself, effectively turned the composer from artist to martyr and symbol, inside and outside the U.S.S.R.
When Shostakovich returned to political favor the following year, it was with a symphony — No. 5 — supposedly fueled by contrition and mended ways. It was nothing of the kind.
Beneath the surface of the Fifth lies the unbowed artist.
At that symphony's premiere, Soviet party bosses and lackeys smugly applauded, convinced that they had taught a lesson to the upstart composer, who was now writing good old-fashioned, uplifting music with a nice, brassy, major chord finish — music of the people, for the people.
But the actual people in the audience at the first performance were weeping. They heard and understood.
"To me, the ending of the Fifth Symphony is the most tragic major in music," Temirkanov says.
Maxim Shostakovich likewise hears in this music anything but a docile Soviet. "I believe the finale is my father's way of saying that he will never turn from his own way, he will stay the same man," says the composer's son.'The music won'
Shostakovich was not out of danger, however. Another round of attacks came in 1948. Even after Stalin's death, the Communist Party machine could cause trouble for the composer."But, finally, the music won," says his son.
The fact that Shostakovich wrote occasional pieces that at least ostensibly celebrated the Soviet system makes some people uncomfortable to this day. But at no point was the composer's real voice ever silenced.
"I think that only in music was he absolutely honest," Rostropovich told The New York Times recently.
That honesty invariably found outlets in profoundly involving symphonies, concertos, chamber and vocal pieces, right up to the last Shostakovich composition — the elegiac Viola Sonata of 1975, with its poignant references to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.
Even the Soviet works have value, Temirkanov argues, especially "The Song of the Forests," an oratorio from 1949. "The words are very positive about Stalin," the conductor says. "It is a glorification of the period, yes. But that is our history.
"When I performed it in St. Petersburg [after the fall of the Soviet regime], I received letters saying 'How could you?' In the audience were sitting people whose relatives had been in concentration camps. Some were crying because of these memories. But the fact is that Shostakovich had to write this piece, and Shostakovich couldn't write bad music, even if the text was revolting."
Art should perhaps not be about accommodation or compromise, but life has a way of changing the rules. Shostakovich was a survivor. That survival would have been rendered less significant had he ever lost his soul and become a manufacturer of aural pabulum.
"Regardless of the political situation of the Stalin era, there was always great feeling inside this music, great feelings about the fate of humanity," Maxim Shostakovich says. "He was concerned with human fate in general. The Symphony No. 7, for example, is not only about World War II, but about wars which will be in the future."Modest and shy
It is possible to feel as if we know and understand Shostakovich, even on an intimate level, just because of what occurs in his work. But, as critic and music historian Paul Griffiths has written, "There could never be an explanation of music so riven and masked."What about the composer himself?
"Getting to know him could be easy and difficult," says Temirkanov. "Difficult because he was so modest and shy. He seemed embarrassed, maybe because he was a genius.
"But he was very friendly to everyone," Temirkanov says, "maybe even too friendly in a way, always very polite, very respectful. You could almost faint when you saw it. It was too much sometimes."
During his early conducting career, Temirkanov would get thank-you notes from the composer for programming his music. If he came to rehearsals, Shostakovich did not interfere — "Not the way many other composers do," the conductor says. "Only afterward, he might say to me, 'Maybe, maybe in this place ... ' When I would ask him if I could do something differently, he would say, 'Do it as you feel it should be.' I never knew if he liked me to change it or not."
When those who knew Shostakovich speak of him, it is with a mix of awe and affection. "He was the most important man in my life, after my father," Rostropovich has said.
Maxim Shostakovich says it was "a great happiness to be the son of such a father. But sometimes it was very difficult, because I felt bad for him when there was pressure against him in the newspapers — calling him a formalist and an enemy of the people, etc., etc."
For all of the anxiety such attacks caused, the composer held on, employing what must have been enormous inner strength — and another useful trait.
"He had an absolutely incredible sense of humor," says Temirkanov. "But Shostakovich's sense of humor wasn't just for the sake of laughing. There was always a twist in it, a sting."
The same could be said of so much of his music — a twist, a sting. The truth, after all, can hurt.
See Opinion, page 14.

TITLE: Demonstrators Held
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: MOSCOW — Dozens of leftist activists were arrested near Moscow's Kremlin on Monday after they forced their way into the finance ministry to protest against government policies, witnesses said.The members of the National Bolshevik Party waved red flags, lit torches and shouted anti-government slogans from the finance ministry windows before police arrived.
Witnesses said the protesters offered no resistance and up to 40 were taken to a police station, according to the official Itar-Tass agency.
Russian authorities worry fringe movements such as the National Bolshevik Party, led by maverick leftist writer Eduard Lemonov, could attract more support among alienated youth.
They have been alarmed by the success of mainly pro-West youth groups in triggering political change in the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Ukraine in recent years.
Last year eight activists of the National Bolshevik Party were jailed for up to three and a half years for staging noisy protests near a presidential complex close to the Kremlin.

TITLE: Multiple Attacks On Religious Sites
PUBLISHER: Combined Reports
TEXT: MOSCOW — Unidentified attackers vandalized two synagogues on Friday and a mosque early Sunday. No one was injured.In one pre-dawn attack on the synagogue in Khabarovsk, a city on the border with China, attackers shattered windows in the building, the regional department of the Interior Ministry said. A criminal investigation into the attack was launched.
In another attack early Friday, unknown assailants threw a Molotov cocktail at a synagogue in Astrakhan.

TITLE: 'Phallic Symbol' Writer May Face Major Fine if Convicted
AUTHOR: By Nabi Abdullaev
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW — Calling the president a phallic symbol earned Vladimir Rakhmankov 15 minutes of fame earlier this year. Now the Ivanovo journalist could face a fine equal to several months of his wages."I still treat the whole story as a joke," Rakhmankov, 42, said in a recent interview.
"But prosecutors and the judge are deadly serious, and I have a bad feeling I'll get the stiffest possible sentence."
Rakhmankov's troubles date to May, when he published an opinion piece on the Internet publication Kursiv.
The piece mocked Ivanovo officials, who had recently announced a spike in births at a local zoo.
The officials' announcement came on the heels of President Vladimir Putin's May 10 state-of-the-nation address, in which he called on women to have more babies to reverse the nation's slumping birthrate.
In his article, Rakhmankov, a father of two, said Putin "has decided to turn into the phallic symbol of the nation."
In late May, the Ivanovo Region Prosecutor's Office charged Rakhmankov with publicly insulting an official, a crime punishable by a fine of up to 40,000 rubles ($1,500) or one year of forced labor.
The Kremlin has never commented on the case. Rakhmankov is convinced that the decision to go after him was that of local prosecutors and not the Kremlin's.
Three linguists testified in court last week on whether "phallic symbol" amounted to an insult, taking into account the Russian Orthodox Church and other factors. Two of the linguists were brought in by prosecutors; one was working for the defense.
Not unexpectedly, the prosecutors' linguists said the comment was offensive, while the defense linguist said it was not, according to a local media report.
Hearings will continue on Tuesday.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, a media freedom watchdog group, voiced concern about the trial in a statement last week.
"Satire is an essential and vital element of democratic discourse," the group's executive director, Joel Simon, said in the statement.
Insulting Putin in the media has already proven to be risky business.
In 2004, Andrei Skovorodnikov, a National Bolshevik Party official, was sentenced to six months in prison for creating a web site that included obscenities directed against Putin.

TITLE: Lavrov Voices Hope For Negotiations With Iran
AUTHOR: By Edith M. Lederer
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: UNITED NATIONS — Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said there is a reasonable chance Iran will return to negotiations on its nuclear program, and he cautioned against setting artificial deadlines.Lavrov said last Thursday that the main outcome of a meeting of key nations trying to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions was the strong desire to have negotiations "in good faith, seriously, taking into account legitimate concerns of Iran, legitimate needs of Iran."
Iran's response to a package of incentives put forward by the six parties — Russia, the United States, Britain, France, Germany and China — to suspend enrichment raised some questions, Lavrov said, "but the main thing is that the Iranian response did not close the door to the negotiations.
"The chance is there, and the chance is not too slim," he said. "But for this chance to be realized in practical terms, we need efforts on both sides, and we need good will."
This summer, the UN Security Council set an Aug. 31 deadline for Iran to suspend enrichment or face mild initial sanctions. With the deadline elapsed and Iran publicly insisting on its right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes, the nations have been holding talks on what the consequences should be.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said earlier that the six nations were working on a new deadline for Tehran to provide a more definitive response, despite differences over sanctions.
France is also pushing a compromise proposal that would have Iran suspend uranium enrichment at the same time as a Security Council suspension of all threats of sanctions.
A senior French diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because the meeting was private, said the nations involved in talks with Iran were mulling an early October deadline for Iran to agree to a simultaneous suspension of uranium enrichment and any talk of sanctions.
"This cannot go on for very much longer," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday of the Iranian standoff with the West.
"What we are looking for is a clear and sustained and concrete signal that Iran wishes to negotiate," British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said. "Our patience, I think, is not unlimited."
Oil-rich Iran says it needs uranium enrichment to produce fuel for nuclear reactors that would generate electricity. Enrichment can also create material for atomic bombs, however, and the United States and other nations suspect that is Tehran's real goal.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insisted Thursday that Tehran does not need atomic weapons and he is "at a loss" about what more he can do to prove that. He insisted that Iran is not hiding anything and is working within the framework of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty.
Lavrov dismissed predictions that Iran is two months away from a nuclear bomb.

TITLE: Provinces Spark War of Words
AUTHOR: By Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: TBILISI, Georgia — Russian and Georgian diplomats traded angry statements Friday, accusing each other of stalling talks on Georgia's separatist province of South Ossetia, in a sign of growing tensions between the two countries.The statements by the two countries' foreign ministries followed a harsh exchange of words between Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Saakashvili accused the Kremlin of "gangster occupation" of parts of his nation and seeking to annex its separatist provinces, while Lavrov fired back, accusing the Georgian leader of lying.
Moscow was also clearly displeased when NATO ministers this week endorsed stronger ties between the alliance and Tbilisi. Moscow harshly criticized the decision, saying it could upset fragile stability in the Caucasus and hurt Russia's interests.
In a statement issued last Friday, the Foreign Ministry accused Georgia of stalling the work of the so-called joint control commission that has been mediating talks on the status of the unrecognized province of South Ossetia, which broke away from the central government in a bloody war in the early 1990s. Besides Georgia and South Ossetia, the group includes Russia and the republic of North Ossetia, which borders the breakaway province.
In response, Georgia's Foreign Ministry charged that the group "had discredited itself entirely" and "had long turned into an absolutely ineffective mechanism of the peace process, and the so-called Russian peacekeepers had become a stronghold of the separatist regime's security."
Georgia's ministry also reiterated accusations that Russian peacekeepers in the region, with which Moscow has cultivated strong ties, were supporting the separatist government rather than helping settle the conflict.
Tensions have mounted recently between Tbilisi and South Ossetia, which Saakashvili has vowed to bring back into the fold. Several soldiers were killed on both sides and South Ossetian forces fired on a helicopter carrying Georgia's defense minister.
In the latest incident of violence, a spokeswoman for the South Ossetian government said Georgian troops fired at its soldiers Saturday afternoon, wounding two officers.
A spokesman for Georgian peacekeepers deployed in the region vehemently denied that, saying the incident was the result of friendly fire between South Ossetian troops.
South Ossetia is to hold a referendum on independence in November that it hopes will strengthen its bid for independence.
President Vladimir Putin on Saturday called Saakashvili "hot-tempered." "If such political will is shown by all sides involved in the conflict, we can count on having a result," Putin told reporters in France.

TITLE: Remains of Russian Empress Leave Denmark for Petersburg
PUBLISHER: Combined Reports
TEXT: MOSCOW — A ship carrying the remains of the mother of Russia's last tsar set sail Saturday from Denmark for Russia, where she will be laid to rest next to her late husband, in accordance with her wishes.The reburial of Empress Maria Fyodorovna, mother of Nicholas II, has been postponed several times because of a Russian-Danish dispute over a Chechen conference held in Denmark in 2002 and Denmark's release from detention of a Chechen rebel envoy.
"Empress Dagmar will now begin her final journey to the country she loved so much," Paul Kulikovsky said about his great-great-grandmother during a memorial service Saturday at the Roskilde Cathedral, west of Copenhagen. Fyodorovna is known in Denmark as Empress Dagmar.
Her descendants, including members from the Kulikovsky and Romanov families, sat on the right side of the coffin draped in a yellow Russian imperial flag inside the cathedral. The coffin was taken by carriage to Copenhagen's Russian Orthodox church, where clergy prayed and performed rituals. It was then taken to Copenhagen Harbor, where a Danish naval ship waited to take it to St. Petersburg.
On Sept. 28, Maria Fyodorovna will be reburied next to her husband, Tsar Alexander III, in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, 140 years to the day after she first arrived in Russia.
(Reuters, AP)

TITLE: Chechens From Kondopoga Move
AUTHOR: By Carl Schreck
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW — Some 50 Chechens who fled ethnic violence in the northwestern industrial town of Kondopoga have begun to leave the summer camp near Petrozavodsk, the Karelian capital, where they have been living for three weeks.Hamzat Magamadov, a representative of the group living at the Aino summer camp, said last Friday that the families were deciding whether to return to their homes in Kondopoga or to move elsewhere.
Magamadov denied reports Friday that the Chechens were being evicted from the two-story dormitory on Lake Lososinnoye, where they were put under police protection after ethnic Russians attacked and looted Kondopoga businesses, prompting most of the several hundred natives of the Caucasus living in the town to flee.
"We have met with local and regional officials and expressed our concerns. Now the families are deciding where they want to go," Magamadov said by telephone from the camp Friday.

TITLE: Duma Approves Bigger Budget, Prompting Fear
AUTHOR: By Anna Smolchenko and Oksana Yablokova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW—The State Duma on Friday gave preliminary approval to a 2007 budget that is expected to be 25 percent bigger than this year's, prompting worries of overspending and higher inflation as next year's elections near.The hike comes on top of a 40 percent increase this year, as the government spends windfall revenues created by the bonanza of high world oil prices.
By a 343-94 vote with no abstentions, deputies passed the draft budget on first reading. Budget spending is to swell to 5.46 trillion rubles ($205 billion), or 17.5 percent of the country's gross domestic product. With expected revenues of 6.96 trillion rubles, the budget foresees a surplus of 1.5 trillion rubles, or 4.8 percent of GDP.
The projected surplus, however, will largely depend on the oil price, as the budget is based on an average price of $61 per barrel of Urals crude — a far higher level than in previous years. Should the price fall significantly below this level, the budget could slip into deficit.
Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin told deputies in an address that the draft budget would help the country regain economic ground and fulfill its "industrial potential."
Analysts, however, said the budget was put together with an eye to the upcoming elections and sounded alarm bells over increased spending on bureaucrats. They also expressed concern that one-eighth of the budget would be kept secret, a proportion that has grown in recent years.
State Duma elections are scheduled for late 2007 and the presidential election is due in early 2008.
While the big-spending budget may have conjured up comparisons with the Soviet era, a slip of the tongue by Kudrin caused some merriment among his audience.
"The strategic priorities of the budget are aimed at improving the well-being of the Soviet people," Kudrin said, prompting a burst of laughter from deputies in their seats and observers in the lobby, where giant relay screens broadcast the session.
Apparently unaware of his faux pas, Kudrin continued, saying next year the country would have its highest-ever per capita income, including during the Soviet period.
State employees' salaries will increase by 50 percent in real terms, while education spending will be increased by 33 percent and health care spending by 31 percent, Kudrin said.
"This is clearly a pre-election budget. This is the only way to explain a spike in spending," said Anton Struchenevsky, an economist with Troika Dialog. "I bet that from the middle of next year we'll hear the cry: 'What are we going to do?'"
The hike in spending will add to inflationary pressures and push prices up past the government's target of 8.5 percent inflation, Struchenevsky said.
GDP next year is expected to total 31.22 trillion rubles ($1.16 trillion), 6 percent more than the forecast for this year. Consumer prices are forecast to grow next year between 6.5 percent and 8 percent.
Some lawmakers expressed doubts about Kudrin's budget predictions.
"The plan for the anticipated revenues from collecting value added tax are clearly inflated," said Yury Vasilyev, chairman of the Duma's Budget Committee, who nevertheless recommended the Duma back the bill.
Valery Draganov, head of the Duma's Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism Committee, said the draft budget overlooked several industries that needed state support the most, including tourism, aircraft manufacturing and shipbuilding.
"One should not be deceived that some sectors of the economy can survive without state support," Draganov said.
The government earmarked 821.3 billion rubles ($30.7 billion) for so-called general state spending, which includes salaries of state officials, and 821.2 billion rubles for defense. State security and law enforcement was allotted 664.8 billion rubles.
According to the Institute for the Economy in Transition, secret budget spending has grown to 12.2 percent in 2007 from 9.5 percent in 2003.
A total of 45.6 percent of next year's spending on state security will be kept secret, up from 36.2 percent in 2003.
The secret part of general state spending will rise to 7.6 percent from 3.9 percent in 2005, the institute said in a recent report.
In spite of the government's pledge to focus on social issues, the budget showed the government's top priorities were defense, security and administration, Troika Dialog said.
"It is becoming clear that Russia's future presidents will need to de-bureaucratize and reduce budget spending," the brokerage said in a recent research note.
On a similar note, Rodina Deputy Sergei Glazyev said Friday that the budget could not be described as socially oriented and urged deputies in his faction to vote against it.
"Comparing ourselves with any African country, our social spending is six times less and health spending is three times less than theirs. Only 12 percent of spending goes toward social needs, while 42 percent goes to finance the bureaucratic apparatus. Let's not deceive ourselves — it's ridiculous to call such a budget socially oriented," Glazyev said.
To bring the budget in line with those of European countries, Glazyev said health and education spending should be doubled and science spending tripled.
As part of next year's budget, the government plans to pump a total of 230.9 billion rubles into the so-called national projects on education, agriculture, health and housing. Funding of 32.3 billion rubles is being earmarked for measures to improve the birthrate.
Former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said the budget increased the chances of a crisis and called its calculations "unrealistic."
"For the first time in many years, a budget is being considered that in fact has a deficit," Interfax quoted Kasyanov, a presidential hopeful, as saying. "The market price of the Urals blend is already almost 10 percent less than the estimate in the draft budget."
Analysts were divided over the decision to set next year's oil-price forecast so close to the current market price. This year's budget was based on an oil price of $40 per barrel.
"Whether $61 is too optimistic right now is very hard to say," said Peter Westin, chief economist at MDM Bank. If the oil price falls next year it would not affect the country's finances significantly, he said.
But Natalya Volchkova, an economist with the Center for Economic and Financial Research, said the government was being too bold in assuming that prices would remain high.

TITLE: Putin Pushes for a Role in EADS
AUTHOR: By Angela Charlton
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: COMPIEGNE, France — President Vladimir Putin pushed the country's interest in Airbus parent EADS and pledged to share more Russian natural gas riches with European customers during a summit Saturday with his French and German counterparts.Putin, appearing confident and determined, also sought to allay European fears about his country's reach — but seemed to revel in the role of friendly and increasingly wealthy neighbor, thanks to soaring oil prices.
All three leaders stressed their warm relations at their first such three-way talks, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel laughed affectionately when French President Jacques Chirac kissed her hand upon arrival at a chateau northwest of Paris.
Chirac insisted that their alliance was not aimed at forming a counterweight to the United States — as Russia, France and Germany did in their opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
"These meetings aren't directed against anyone," he said.
Economic issues topped the agenda — including the recent purchase by Vneshtorgbank of a 5 percent stake in Airbus parent European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co.
Putin announced Saturday that France, Germany and Russia would form a working group to study Russia's possible role in the company. EADS said recently that it was considering greater cooperation with Russia but that Vneshtorgbank would not have a say in company policy.
The working group appeared to be a face-saving move for Russia, one that leaves the door open for more Russian participation in the European company without requiring either side to make concessions yet.
Tensions showed through the leaders' friendly front. While Putin pushed for deeper industrial cooperation with Europe, Merkel remained cautious.
"There must be mutual interest. We must find a win-win situation," she said.
Seeking to reassure European consumers that Russia would continue to be a trustworthy supplier of natural gas, Putin announced that Russia might redirect some gas from its giant Shtokman field in the Barents Sea to Europe, in addition to U.S. markets. The idea, Putin said, came from Merkel.
Putin also assured European consumers that Russia had no plans to cut its energy supplies through existing routes, and promised to honor all of its energy commitments.
The leaders discussed the standoff over Iran's nuclear program, and Chirac said he was optimistic that contacts between Iran and the international community would produce a solution.
"We are hoping that an agreement will come out of this dialogue as soon as possible," Chirac said.
Chirac, Putin and Merkel all urged a negotiated solution to the dispute over Iran's nuclear enrichment activities, which some believe are aimed at building a bomb. Tehran insists it only wants nuclear energy, and the United States is pushing for sanctions.
In their talks about Lebanon, Putin said Russia could send a small contingent of military construction experts to the country if the Lebanese authorities agreed.

TITLE: Transaero to Take the Airbus
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: Transaero Airline plans to sign a deal with Airbus to purchase 12 jets from 2008 to 2011, Kommersant reported Friday.Transaero spokesman Sergei Bykhal confirmed the two companies would sign a purchase agreement Friday evening in Paris, but gave no further details.
The deal coincides with talks between President Vladimir Putin and French President Jacques Chirac, and comes after national flag carrier Aeroflot announced it would buy 22 jets from both Boeing and Airbus.
Russia is thought to be looking to forge closer ties with Airbus' owner, EADS, after Vneshtorgbank bought nearly 5 percent of its shares last month. Kommersant said Transaero, a privately held company, might get a discount of 40 percent on the planes, which have a total list value of $1.5 billion. Transaero's foreign-made planes now are all Boeings, the paper reported. The company looked into buying them again, but said they were more expensive than Airbuses, Kommersant said.

TITLE: Billionaire Looks to Uralkaly Sale For Another $1.1 Billion
PUBLISHER: Bloomberg
TEXT: BEREZNIKI, Perm — Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev is seeking as much as $1.1 billion by selling shares in his Uralkaly, the world's fifth-largest producer of potassium fertilizers, after the stock rose more than 40-fold since 2002.Madura Holding Ltd. is offering as much as 442.7 million shares, or 21 percent of the company, for between $2.05 and $2.45 each, the Berezniki, Perm Region-based company said Monday in a Regulatory News Statement. UBS AG is managing the sale.
Uralkaly will sell ordinary shares in Russia and global depositary receipts in London. About 20 percent of the company currently trades on Russian exchanges.
Rybolovlev, a doctor of medicine who began buying stock in the Urals-based company in the early 1990s, owns Uralkaly shares through Madura. He has made a fortune as fertilizer prices and production rose. He is following businessmen such as Vladimir Lisin, the country's second-richest individual, who made $609 million in December selling part of his stake in Novolipetsk, Russia's fourth-biggest steelmaker.
"Rybolovlev thinks the company is fairly valued and is cashing out," said Jean-Louis Tauvy, who manages $200 million at Atria Advisors Ltd. in Moscow and used to own Uralkaly shares.
"Now it will be interesting to find out what he's going to do with his billion."
The businessman has a net worth of at least $3.8 billion, based on his holdings in Uralkaly and Silvinit, a competitor of Uralkaly.
Alfa Bank President Petr Aven was rated Russia's 24th richest man by Forbes in May with a net worth of $3.3 billion.

TITLE: France Demands Total Support Over Oil License
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: PARIS — France hopes Russia will allow energy company Total to continue with its production sharing agreement in Western Siberia, Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said on Sunday.The Vremya Novostei newspaper on Friday quoted a source close to Russia's Natural Resources Ministry as saying that it was only a matter of time before Total's PSA (production sharing agreement) license for the Kharyaga project was withdrawn.
Asked whether France had received any guarantees, Douste-Blazy said: "To my knowledge no, but I really hope that the good relations between France and Russia translate very quickly into the possibility for Total to continue its whole program in Russia."
He was speaking on LCI Television.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was in Paris on Friday to meet French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, played down fears over the report.
"I can assure you that the rumors about taking away the license (Total's) are greatly exaggerated," Putin said.
Total and Russia's energy ministry have been at odds for years over how to develop the Kharyaga oil field in the Arctic.
Russia has sparked concern in Europe after a standoff with firms such as Royal Dutch Shell over rights to huge oil and gas projects in the remote Sakhalin region.
Moscow cut off gas supplies to Ukraine last winter in a move that underscored concerns that Russia, the world's second biggest oil exporter and holder of the largest natural gas reserves, is starting to flex its economic muscle.

TITLE: MTVBoss Signals New Station to Station Approach
AUTHOR: By Yelena Andreyeva
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Interview with Leonid Yurgelas, director of MTV in Russia.
Why did you choose St. Petersburg as this year's venue for the MTV Russia Awards (RMA)?The RMA ceremony is not only held for Muscovites but for young people from other Russian cities. For example, the MTV Europe Music Awards usually take place in different European cities — in Russia we decided to keep up this tradition and after St. Petersburg, where most major events have already been held, we will start moving around the regions.
What is the difference between the RMA 2006 and previous years' ceremonies?
Firstly, it was easier to buy tickets for the ceremony this year. Secondly, for the first time the show was on the air from 5 p.m. till late at night. At the same time, the number of performers at this year's ceremony was considerably up on previous years. The city of St. Petersburg was also the original theme for our set design.
Why did you invite Missy Elliott as a guest star at RMA 2006?
Missy Elliott is a special performer. She is not just a talented singer who's won awards at World Music Awards and many other MTV awards ceremonies — she also writes songs for many other musicians. She had never been to Russia before and we thought it would be a good chance to invite her. She is a professional who sings without lip synching and came with a group of 33 dancers and 4 tons of equipment.
How has the focus of the MTV Russia channel changed over the last few years?
We have got to the stage where 64 percent of the programs broadcast we produce ourselves and only 36 percent are foreign-made products. Non-stop music videos account for about 30 to 35 percent of the week's air time. It is much less than compared with the year 1998, when MTV started in Russia. However, we have tried to keep non-stop music videos on VH1, a channel that is rapidly developing in St. Petersburg.
Russian production will prevail over its foreign counterparts. Russian-made programs already have considerably higher ratings than foreign ones, as on all Russian TV channels.
What is the difference between the MTV Russia channel and its foreign counterparts?
As well as its variety of local content, MTV Russia is different in another big way. Unlike most MTV channels abroad, it is a terrestrial channel. Only three countries in the world Russia, Italy and Brazil have terrestrial MTV channels, everywhere else they are cable.
And unlike other countries where there are bunches of MTV channels (for example, MTV1, MTV Hit) focusing on different audiences, we have a very serious competitor — MUZ TV — that we respect and never write off. In other countries, MTV channels are not subject to this kind of competition.
How do you successfully compete with MUZ TV? How do the two channels differ?
I think we are doing quite well. Although we compete in the same field of music, MUZ TV has an older and wider target audience. We have a younger audience (11-34) and present more segmented products.
How do you choose which music videos to broadcast on MTV Russia?
The most important factor is quality. Although we conduct consumer surveys, the song's radio history is also very important for us. It is difficult to promote the singer if he or she has had little radio airtime.
What proportion of your music videos are Russian?
We air more Russian videos (around 60 percent) than foreign ones (40 percent). In comparison with previous years, more people are listening to Russian music. The quality of Russian music and music videos has risen and, in general, people tend to listen more to music from their own country; Russians are no exception.
What are MTV Russia's plans for the future?
We plan to develop our program production. We are going to produce shows that for whatever reason are not broadcast on other channels. They will be new, original and provocative. For example, our show "The club" is one that would never have been made and broadcast on any other Russian channel. There is neither the blood nor snivel of which shows on other channels are full. It is a show based on a real story of young people and we are going to develop it.
How many seasons of "The club" do you plan to produce?
The plot of "The club" is original and it is a very successful long-term project. Over the last eight years (since MTV Russia was founded) no other show has been so profitable and has had such high ratings. The show also promotes RnB music that used to be written only by foreigners. Now the situation has changed and we have many Russian RnB musicians who write high-quality music. The RMA host Seryoga is one of them.
Which type of pop music is currently popular in Russia?
I think rock music is developing rapidly right now and later we'll get a new generation of popular rock singers like Zemfira, and bands like "Mumiy Trol."
Do you think that over time rock music can develop into a more elitist genre, like, for example, jazz?
No, I don't think so. Jazz will be jazz, and rock, with the exception of some acoustic concerts, will still be the genre of mass appeal. You know, besides MTV, there are so many sources of music out there right now. There are musicians who sell their albums on the Internet without any advertisement and they gain large followings. So it is very difficult to predict what kind of music will be thought of as elitist, and what will even be meant by the term elitist.
Do you plan the launch of any new channels in the near future?
Yes, we plan to start new channels but they will be mostly entertainment, not music ones. The company YCOM has many popular projects abroad that have not yet been launched in Russia.

TITLE: Pulkovo's King of Convenience
AUTHOR: By Yekaterina Dranitsyna
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: The Uyut development company has completed construction of its Pulkovo III shopping and entertainment center, one of a number of large shopping malls due to open in the city this year.With 70,000 square meters of floor space, the three-story complex will be able to accommodate a total of 30,000 customers at any one time.
It is due to open in November.
It is located in the developing commercial area along Pulkovskoye high-way — at a crossroads with Sheremetievskya Ulitsa.
"Our concept involves allocating space in the way best suited for family and corporate entertainment," Anton Kachibaya, Uyut CEO, said Friday in a statement.
Pulkovo III has been designed with the accent on entertainment combined with unusual architectural solutions. The center's billiard and bowling facilities, which include 120 billiard tables and a 52-lane bowling alley respectively, are the largest in Europe.
The complex houses a gallery of restaurants and cafes, nightclubs, sport bars, children's play areas and an international festival center with six cinema halls, as well as shopping malls. Open and underground parking lots will be available for the use of customers.
The total cost of the project is 120 million euros ($153.5 million). Uyut managers expect to get a return on the investment within six years.
Co-investors for the project are ARGO association, Coca-Cola HBC Eurasia, Vena brewery, Baltika brewery, Northwest Bank of Sberbank Rossii and Eastern European Construction Company.
"The location of the complex and its convenience of use will make it popular among the population of city and suburban residents," Kachibaya said.
"Pulkovo III is conveniently located in one of the most rapidly developing areas of the city, at the intersection of the city's busiest highway and the link to the ring-road," said Arina Sender, director for shopping real estate at Colliers International, consultant and broker for the project.
"Among shopping centers, Pulkovo III offers the most when choosing where to spend one's free time," Sender said.
However Pulkovo III is not the only shopping center to focus on entertainment, and the developers will face strong competition.
One of the largest projects to be completed this year is Rodeo Drive. The 47,450 square meter shopping and entertainment center will house an aqua-park, bowling and billiard centers, restaurants, cafes and shopping malls. The project is being developed in the area between Prospekt Kultury, Severny Prospekt and Prospekt Lunacharskogo.
According to a report on commercial real estate by Becar real estate agency, 20 shopping centers are due to open in the city in the second half of the year, including an IKEA and two Mega family shopping centers.
"A growing number of shopping areas will result in stronger competition. The infrastructure — entertainment, leisure and fitness areas and food courts — will increasingly play their role in attracting customers in the new shopping centers," Becar concluded in the report.

TITLE: Competent Brand Puts Faith in Foreign Model
AUTHOR: By Yekaterina Dranitsyna
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: The Setl Group investment holding has launched a new brand onto the commercial real estate market. Two Praktis companies — Praktis Consulting & Brokerage and Praktis Property & Facility Management — will complement the services of the Peterburgskaya Nedvizhimost real estate agency owned by Setl Group."The company will offer only those solutions, which have been tried in practice — this is the main principle of our approach," Vyacheslav Semenenko, vice president of Peterburgskaya Nedvizhimost, said last week at a press conference.
Praktis claims its ability to supervise the whole cycle (from finding a land plot to developing a concept and property exploitation) with expertise in both residential and commercial real estate as its major competitive advantages.
"A detailed practical knowledge of shopping and office real estate and street retail allows us to offer consulting services in these areas. Moreover, our familiarity with the residential real estate market also allows us to consult on multifunctional projects. No company has such competence in the city," said Ilia Yeremenko, CEO of Praktis CB.
Yulia Drovyannikova, executive director of Praktis CB, described the company approach as an "application of foreign models to Russian realities."
Semenenko indicated the consulting experience of Peterburgskaya Nedvizhimost specialists as a guarantee against the risks of vagaries in town-planning and bureaucratic delays.
As for its knowledge of foreign models, the Praktis team includes employees with work experience at BCMgroup, Jones Lang LaSalle, Astera and LCMC.
At the moment Praktis CB has brokerage agreements for three business centers of 80,000 square meters total area. Praktis PFM manages 160,000 square meters of residential and commercial real estate.
Dmitry Zolin, managing partner of London Consulting and Management Company, said that only about ten out of around thirty consulting companies operating in the city are considered serious market players.
"At the moment the commercial real estate market suffers from a lack of qualified professionals. Praktis managed to create a rather good team of specialists, so they have a good chance of occupying a market niche," Zolin said.
Praktis experts said that unlike most other real estate markets, St. Petersburg does not have ups and downs, just steady growth.
According to their estimations, the city could consume up to one million square meters of office area within the next three years. Foreign investors and large Russian companies moving to the city will keep the demand for commercial areas growing.
Zolin also indicated that the commercial real estate market is set to keep growing for the time being, increasing demand for consulting services.
"This market is young. That's why it will be developing in the foreseeable future," he said.
According to Becar's forecast, about 1.05 million to 1.1 million square meters of office space will be made available by the end of 2006 and about 1.2 million square meters by the end of 2007.
Even more spectacular growth is expected in retailing. By the end of the year 1.878 million square meters of shopping areas will be available in St. Petersburg, which is about twice the level of the previous year.
Igor Gorsky, director for development at the Becar real estate agency, did not see any lack of specialists in the market.
"Commercial real estate has been rapidly developing, and companies have adjusted to this and employed qualified professionals to find the necessary solutions," he said.
However Gorsky agreed that the ability to provide multiple services is an advantage.
"Very few companies offer a full range of services. A brand as serious as Peterburgskaya Nedvizhimost will strengthen competition in this business and introduce new, western standards of servicing. It will be a serious market player," Gorsky said.

TITLE: Work Starts on First Russian Business School
AUTHOR: By Miriam Elder and Catherine Belton
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: SKOLKOVO, Moscow Region — President Vladimir Putin laid the foundation stone Thursday for a Moscow-area business school designed to churn out a new generation of pinstriped moguls to build on the nation's ongoing economic boom."The successful creation of business schools will be a positive contribution to the development of the entire Russian economy," Putin said at the ceremony Thursday evening on the grounds of the future school. "The rapid development of our economy dictates the need for high-quality managers."
Thursday's foundation ceremony followed years of lobbying by Troika Dialog president Ruben Vardanyan, who has said the country needs more qualified business managers.
The 38-year-old entrepreneur has been touting the Skolkovo - Moscow School of Management as Russia's answer to Harvard Business School and France's INSEAD.
Some of the country's best-known business leaders have agreed to help fund the $300 million project.
Fourteen business leaders and companies, including Vardanyan and the country's richest man, Roman Abramovich, have agreed to donate up to $5 million each to the school. Other backers include Severstal chief executive Alexei Mordashov; Rustam Tariko, the founder of Russky Standart Bank; and Alexander Abramov, the founder of steel giant Evraz.
Putin gave his blessing to the project in March, when he met the school's founders and made it part of his national education project. The school is expected to open by 2008.
Even as Russia has rapidly transformed into a market economy since the 1991 Soviet collapse, most entrepreneurs have had little access to Western-style business education. ExExecutives in the nation's rapidly growing companies complain of a lack of qualified managers. Many businessmen, including Vardanyan, have studied business abroad.
Tariko also studied business in a foreign country, Bloomberg reported Thursday. Abramovich, meanwhile, dropped out of university just before the communist collapse to become an oil trader. He later gained a law degree via a correspondence course, the agency quoted his spokesman, John Mann, as saying.
Construction of the school is expected to total $128 million, with another $100 million being plowed into an endowment. An additional $32 million will be spent on miscellaneous costs, while the government has agreed to set aside 1.5 billion rubles for the school from its national projects budget.
Most of the project's backers, including Mordashov, attended the ceremony Thursday. Also in attendance was First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and economist Vladimir Mau.
Putin was given a tour of the school grounds by Vardanyan.
A model of the futuristic school — featuring a circular, glass building — was also displayed.
At a small private dinner Thursday, Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref said the school filled a crucial niche.
"I always felt this was a serious problem for Russia," Gref said. "We have a great country, wonderful people who are creative, smart and hardworking. But [the lack of business education] is a problem for Russia. If I were asked today which reform is most needed, I would say without question it is education."
Many of those attending the ceremony were of like mind. Robert Dudley, the American president of Russian-British oil major TNK-BP, said the lack of experienced managers was one of the biggest problems his company faced.
"Ruben has a serious vision for this school and we as a company have a real need for management talent at all levels," he said. Managers from TNK-BP, he said, would teach at the school on an ad hoc basis.
Some of the projects' backers are expected to teach at the school full time.
Students from other leading emerging markets such as India, China and Brazil will be encouraged to enroll, while the Russia-based students will take part in six-month exchange programs in these countries as part of the two-year MBA program.
Vardanyan will be the school's president.Staff Writer Valeria Korchagina contributed to this report.

TITLE: Kremlin Capitalism
AUTHOR: By Marshall I. Goldman
TEXT: As Vladimir Putin nears the end of what he insists will be his last term as president, analysts can not help but notice how different the country is today from the one he inherited from his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, in 2000. Most critics have focused on the way the Kremlin has increased its control of the media and eliminated regional gubernatorial elections. There have also been far-reaching changes in the ownership and management of several of the country's largest and richest energy and metals companies, however. Here, too, the Kremlin once again has begun to play a more intrusive role. Not only has the management of several of the richest resource companies been replaced, but the trend today is toward re-nationalization rather than privatization.Given the flawed design of the economic reforms in the 1990s under Yegor Gaidar and Anatoly Chubais, particularly the privatization and "loans for shares" initiatives, it was all but inevitable that sooner of later there would be a backlash. How could there not be when after more than 70 years of indoctrination that national resources belong to the country as a whole, those resources almost overnight ended up as the wholly owned assets of a narrow circle of what came to be called "oligarchs." (At one point Boris Berezovsky boasted erroneously that seven of these oligarchs controlled 50 percent of the country's wealth.) There might have been less resentment if at least some of those oligarchs had been self-made men similar to Bill Gates, who created Microsoft out of nothing, as did Edwin Land with Polaroid. But in almost all cases, the wealth of these new Russian billionaires resulted from their takeover of already existing assets. And once in control, for a time at least, people like Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Berezovsky engaged in stripping, not enhancing assets.
It also did not help that so few of these among the new rich were insiders, from what had been the ruling circles in the Soviet era — the nomenklatura. A disproportionate number were from minority groups, not ethnic Russians nor part of what in the United States we would call "the ol' boy network," or as the Russians say, the siloviki. There was great resentment of these upstarts, an attitude reminiscent of how aristocrats in the tsarist era also viewed the businessmen of their time, few of whom were ethnic Russians.
The oligarchs of the 1990s, and former Media-MOST owner Vladimir Gusinsky in particular, were never entirely accepted by Yeltsin. But since Yelstin was also a rebel and other oligarchs like Berezovsky and Roman Abramovich were sources of financial help to the circle around him, Yeltsin did little to curb their powers. He also felt beholden to them for helping him win the 1996 presidential election.
Putin's reaction was very different. Despite the fact that some of the oligarchs, and Berezovsky in particular, had been instrumental in arranging his appointment as prime minister, Putin warned them early on to stay out of politics. When two of them, Gusinsky and Berezovsky did not, Gusinsky was jailed, Berezovsky was threatened with jail and both were eventually hounded into exile.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky was not so lucky. Seemingly convinced of his invulnerability (a net worth of $15 billion will do that to you), he openly sought to buy up members of the State Duma, provoking the ire of the siloviki. In what was alleged to be a wiretap between Sergei Bogdanchikov, the CEO of the state-owned Rosneft, and Igor Sechin, then- deputy head of the Kremlin administration and soon also to be chairman of the board of Rosneft, Sechin complained about Khodorkovsky's efforts to "to buy the Duma." In a subsequent wiretap before Khodorkovsky's arrest, Bogdanchikov purportedly boasted that once they had succeeded in putting Khodorkovsky in prison, "face down on the floor ... he will then understand who is the master of the forest." The Financial Times did write that it was impossible to verify the authenticity of the recording.
Once many of the original oligarchs had been pushed aside, these siloviki quickly moved into their places. What is unique, however, is that senior Kremlin officials have kept their day jobs while also taking on additional positions in the country's largest state-owned businesses. Russia is possibly the only country in the world where someone like Sechin is not only a senior official in the country's presidential administration but simultaneously the chairman of the board of the country's second-largest publicly traded company, Rosneft. Given that it is difficult enough to perform just one of these jobs well, it is hard to see how anyone can do both effectively. (Holding two jobs in this manner was even banned in the tsarist era).
While this may satisfy those determined to push out the original oligarchs — four of the big seven under Yeltsin have lost control of their business empires — Russia now finds itself with what we can call "Kremlin oligarchs." It is all but inevitable that before long they too will appear on Forbes magazine's list of billionaires. Moreover, when asked how these Kremlin oligarchs can avoid a conflict of interest when an issue comes before the Kremlin concerning their companies and a competitor, Putin insisted at the most recent Valdai Discussion Club meeting that there is no problem; his appointees, he implies, are incorruptible.
By initiating efforts to reclaim majority state ownership of companies such as Gazprom and Avtovaz, both of which had been at least partially privatized, and by staffing these companies with his former comrades from either the KGB or the staff of the late Mayor Anatoly Sobchak of St. Petersburg, under whom he served as first deputy mayor, Putin has restored the role of the state over some of its more important assets while at the same time putting his crowd in control. This must increase anxiety among those few original oligarchs who have yet to experience Putin's wrath. But Putin now has several giant state-owned industrial champions that he can use as instruments of foreign policy. Yet it is hard to see how a return to state ownership and the political patronage that is already evident can enhance industrial productivity or lead to the most efficient use of the country's resources.

Marshall I. Goldman, the author of "The Piratization of Russia," is professor of economics, Emeritus at Wellesley College and senior scholar, at Harvard's Davis Center.

TITLE: Ruble Cuts Both Ways
AUTHOR: By Martin Gilman
TEXT: In the aftermath of the gruesome murder of Central Bank First Deputy Chairman Andrei Kozlov and his driver, this may not be the most appropriate moment to debate the Central Bank's conduct of monetary policy. But calls for the Central Bank to allow nominal ruble appreciation to fight inflation from many corners (notably some investment bankers) are heard fairly regularly. Such a stance tends to simplify the dilemma faced by the Central Bank, which has, in fact, done an admirable job in walking the policy tightrope between allowing gradual ruble appreciation and taming inflation.
In sum, these critics argue that the bank should forget about protecting industry (leave that to the government, as The Moscow Times argued in a Sept. 7 editorial) and let the ruble appreciate in nominal terms. In so doing, less of the current account surplus will be monetized and the inflation rate will fall. The implication is that the Central Bank is not allowing the ruble to rise in order to protect the profits of domestic industrial interests. By printing rubles as the counterpart to its rapidly rising reserves, money-supply growth has accelerated relative to demand, and so the population has borne the consequences in the form of higher inflation.
But it's not that easy. Even if the Central Bank sticks strictly to monetary policy, it still faces a dilemma that has nothing to do with protecting Russian industry from foreign competition.
Along with the huge positive terms of trade shock, an additional complication is that Russia, just prior to the Group of Eight Summit in St. Petersburg in July, removed its last vestiges of currency controls whereby foreign investors were required to operate through special accounts that were subject to taxes. By making the ruble fully convertible, Russia's further integration into the global market should benefit the economy through greater diversification and the development of domestic savings. In the short run, however, it also makes Russia an even more attractive place for foreign investors. For the first time, Russia is running a surplus in both its current and capital accounts (as seen, for instance, by that fact that reserves are growing faster than the current account surplus — reserves grew by $78 billion in the year through August, despite early debt repayments to the Paris Club of $23 billion).
Over the longer run, especially if the terms of trade remain favorable, the ruble is bound to appreciate, at least in real terms (adjusted for inflation differentials). A purposeful policy of nominal ruble appreciation in the short-term as an anti-inflationary stance could be self-defeating, however, as foreign investors perceive the ruble as a safe bet and monetary inflows become even higher. This is what is happening right now. So, simplistic advice, if implemented, could lead not only to a higher ruble but to higher inflation as well. It would be wise for the Central Bank to leave investors guessing. For instance, the IMF, after its most recent mission to Moscow, said the bank "should refrain from stipulating even indicative nominal and real exchange rate targets."
Unfortunately, some at the Central Bank may not be listening. At a UBS conference in Moscow last week, a senior Central Bank official said that he thought investors were right to bet on the ruble as "foreign exchange risks are zero in Russia." He went further to remark that, in dealing with inflation he favored letting the ruble appreciate (the best method, in his view) and raising Central Bank deposit rates and reserve requirements. He noted all of these methods were being used and that he saw inflation meeting the 9 percent target forecast by the government for this year. But by motivating larger capital inflows, he is just making the bank's task more difficult and the inflation target harder to achieve.
Russia does not need to shoot itself in the foot. It can do little to affect the current account, so it should not be adding its influential voice to encourage further capital inflows.
In fact, the Central Bank should be commended for its efforts to contain inflation, as it should also be for the efforts of Andrei Kozlov and his colleagues to reform the banking system. It has conducted monetary policy about as well as could have been hoped for with a current account surplus running at about 12 percent of gross domestic product. Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin's fiscal policy should also come in for praise: The budget surplus, running at almost 7 percent of GDP, and the Stabilization Fund are acting as the main sterilizers of the monetary inflows. By international standards, this performance is rare. As we see in government plans to increase spending by 26 percent in 2007, this kind of performance is also hard to sustain.
The fact is that in the absence of much higher ruble demand the Central Bank's policy dilemma in the short term can only be addressed through even tighter fiscal policy in order to absorb excess liquidity. For its part, the bank, working closely with the Finance Ministry, should exercise restraint in making public pronouncements on exchange rate prospects. They could also demonstrate their resolve to deny speculators an easy bet by keeping the nominal rate unchanged, or even slightly depreciated, for short periods of time.

Martin Gilman is a professor at the Higher School of Economics.

TITLE: Tolerance At Top of Agenda
TEXT: The introduction of classes on Orthodox culture into many public schools raises a fundamental question about the relationship between church and state.On paper, this would appear to be a nonissue. The Constitution establishes the secular nature of the state and guarantees equal rights to people of all faiths.
A 1997 law further stipulates that, in accordance with "the constitutional principle of the separation of religious associations and the state," the government assures the "secular nature of education in state and municipal educational institutions."
In practice, the issue is far less clear-cut. That same 1997 law, for example, enshrined Eastern Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism as "traditional" religions and made it harder — if not impossible — for many other denominations to function in this country.
The role of religion in public life has expanded rapidly since 1992 for a variety of reasons. The Orthodox Church, in particular, was embraced to fill the ideological vacuum left by the downfall of the Communist Party.
At the same time, a more militant brand of Islam developed in the traditionally Muslim North Caucasus. Regional government policy has increasingly been influenced by religious considerations. On Saturday, for example, Ingush President Murat Zyazikov banned smoking in public and the sale and consumption of alcohol in the region during Ramadan.
Supporters of the Orthodox culture classes insist they have more to do with morality than dogma. Unfortunately, the government has yet to issue guidelines that would allow for an objective appraisal. The Education and Science Ministry has passed the buck to regional educators as it waits for a directive from above. Meanwhile, at least one region has made the Orthodox culture class a compulsory part of the curriculum.
Many educators also say the classes are offered in response to demands from parents.
Rather than sitting on the sidelines, the government needs to take a stand on the presence of religion in the schools. In the long run, the public might well support amending the Constitution to allow the introduction of religious education in some form.
The immediate task for education officials is more limited in scope. They must first issue guidelines that draw a clear line between religion and "religious culture," and that apply to all faiths.
Just as importantly, the government should respond to the call for moral instruction in the schools by ensuring that the concept of religious tolerance is central to all such classes.
After attackers vandalized synagogues in Khabarovsk and Astrakhan and a mosque in Yaroslavl over the weekend, religious tolerance should be at the top of the government's agenda.

TITLE: Dating, Global Style
AUTHOR: By Dana White
TEXT: My grandfather Randolph, born in 1896, knew something about the world. So when he spied a black and white couple walking hand in hand in Charlottesville, Virginia, in the mid-1980s and remarked, "They will always live on an island and you can't live life on an island," I took note.Well, grandfather, here I am — living on an island, literally. I've settled into a new job in Hong Kong, a mini, mountainous Manhattan in the South China Sea. People of every race, ethnicity and nationality freely intermingle here. The mixing of the matchmaking market has gone global.
It's all a far cry from my small town in suburban Virginia. Roots ran deep there, and diversity and multiculturalism were nice in theory but rarely practiced — not because of racism or hatred but simply because everyone was firmly set within his own group, either plain old black or plain old white.
Such a group-divided experience may sound odd coming from a member of Generation X. After all, we grew up with music videos that showed Madonna embracing a black man. And we heard the shibboleths about a new, gorgeous cultural mosaic. But day-to-day reality is ever slow to bend. While my 1980s public school was about half black and half white — and I had many white friends — the dating scene rarely involved crossing over from one group to the other. I didn't consider such a move myself until I went off to college in Chicago, where I found myself dating a local Irish-Catholic boy in my first year.
But globalization is dissolving all such hidebound divisions, at least in cosmopolitan centers like Hong Kong. Whereas the typical expatriate here — and elsewhere in Asia — used to be a tired, overworked, married male in his 40s or 50s, today young singles are much more common. GMAC Relocation Services, which tracks the global patterns of corporate workers, found that married male expatriates, at 53 percent, hit at an all-time low last year. Women now account for 23 percent of the expat crowd — the highest figure ever. And well more than half of all expats are of prime marrying age: between 20 and 39 years old.
Sure, I'm living in a part of the world where arranged marriages are still part of local custom and where even romantic relationships are orchestrated under the watchful eyes of parents. Like my grandfather, most people outside the United States believe that marriage is about preserving a culture as much as it is about two people falling in love.
But the whole sense of culture is changing as a new global milieu draws all sorts of people together. On Hong Kong's streets, I've seen an Indian man strolling with a European woman, an Asian woman laughing with an African man, and, far more than once, a white man walking with his arm draped possessively over the shoulder of his (often much more attractive) Cantonese sweetheart. It does not take a familiarity with "Madame Butterfly" to know that white men have lost their hearts to Asian women in earlier generations, but it is undeniably more frequent in our newly globalized world.
People of every background seem to find common ground here. Often conversation begins with commiseration — for instance, over the ordeal of small, closetless apartments. But there is more to friendship and intimacy than strangeness and difficulty. I've worked in the United States and in Asia. I've traveled from Beijing to London. And I speak four languages (not all well, admittedly). I am far more likely to be attracted to someone who can understand my experience and share my interests, and I am more likely than ever before to meet such a person while living an expat life. Here, where nearly 4,000 corporations base their regional offices, I have a decent chance of finding him — or at least I'll have fun looking.
Long-time Hong Kong expatriates laugh at my optimism and sense of heightened possibility. Well, let them. I know that this city, like every other, has its share of lonely singles. Many don't find love at all. But it may just be for lack of trying.
Globalization brings all sorts of benefits: jobs, rising standards of living, liberalizing ideas. But it also — lest we forget — widens the dating pool and complicates the marriage market. Soon the conventional wisdom of generations past — like "stick to your own kind" — will go the way of opium dens and trade barriers. That boy next door may not seem quite so appealing as before.

Dana White is a Staff Writer for The Wall Street Journal, where this comment was published.

TITLE: Be Careful With Firewater
AUTHOR: By Alexei Bayer
TEXT: In 1970, the Soviet government raised the retail price of vodka by around 30 percent. Since inflation was not supposed to exist in a planned economy, the two traditional brands, Moskovskaya and Stolichnaya, one day were simply replaced by two new, costlier varieties. The cheapest brand went up from 2 rubles and 87 kopeks to 3 rubles and 62 kopeks, including a refundable 12 kopek bottle deposit.The nation's grief was captured in a doggerel that began to make the rounds almost immediately: "Have faith, my friend, it will yet return/The former price of vodka..."
Any Russian readily recognized this as a take off on Alexander Pushkin's poem "To Chaadayev." Of course, the poet meant a different hope, prophesizing the rise of the enchanting star of liberty: "Russia will awaken from her sleep/And they will write our names/Upon the ruins of tyranny."
During the Soviet era, such humorous folklore circulating orally and clandestinely in all strata of society contained very accurate political and social insights. The choice of Pushkin's freedom-loving poem was significant because, in my view, the vodka price hike was a turning point, marking the true rollback of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's thaw.
First of all, it set in motion inflationary pressures that reverberated throughout the rigid Soviet economy. Before 1970, if you wanted to get a leaky faucet fixed or were offered a truckload of stolen bricks, all you needed was 3 rubles. Now, the price of those indispensable black-market goods and services jumped to 5 rubles.
For the seller, this created an added headache. A 5 ruble bill bought you a bottle, but it also left you in possession of an odd sum — just short of one-half of what you needed to buy another bottle. Goods and services then crept up to 8 rubles and eventually to 10 rubles.
The national pastime, na-troikh, which meant sharing a half-liter bottle with two partners, also became more complicated. Under the old price structure, each member contributed a ruble. Now, each had to provide 1 ruble and 20 kopeks — and that still left the prospective imbibers 2 kopeks short.
That was more than a nuisance. What it did was shake the nation's belief that the Soviet government provided simple, readily apparent solutions.
Mikhail Gorbachev saw that the degradation of the Soviet Union had something to do with vodka. His solution was to unleash a draconian anti-drinking campaign. Instead, he should have brought the Moskovskaya and the Stolichnaya back at the old price. Perestroika might have failed anyway, but the collapse of the Soviet Union, described by President Vladimir Putin as the greatest tragedy of the 20th century, could have been avoided. And Gorbachev would have been wildly popular.
The recent liquor crisis in Russia has ended, but the consequences of the sudden disappearance of wine may linger. Today's Russia is built on a covenant that allows government officials to enrich themselves by taking bribes and renationalizing natural resource companies.
In return, the ordinary Russian gets an unlimited choice of consumer goods, of which a wide variety of alcoholic beverages is a major component. Now, a basic principle of this covenant has been violated. The example of Soviet leaders teaches that in Russia, you trifle with alcohol at your own peril.

Alexei Bayer, a native Muscovite, is a New York-based economist.

TITLE: Shostakovich Gets Lost in His Own Biography
AUTHOR: By Thomas Rymer
TEXT: Let's hope that those who celebrated the 100th anniversary of Dmitry Shostakovich's birth Monday stuck to playing and talking about his music.Unfortunately, it has been hard to distill Shostakovich's voice from the noise that has surrounded him. True, biographers always run the risk of minimizing, eliding, overemphasizing or otherwise distorting aspects of their subjects in the process of fitting an entire life into a book. Alas, Shostakovich has suffered here more than most.
As one of the main faces of Soviet music, his life has been plumbed for information not only about him, but about the system in which he trained and worked. Shostakovich, the man and composer, has been lost among the competing images of what others wanted him to symbolize.
During his life, Shostakovich was alternately lauded by the Soviet authorities as the proletariat's composer — an exemplar of socialism's commitment to art — and scolded and harassed by the same officials for being an avant-gardist producing music that was "anti-people."
In 1936, while still on the rise, Shostakovich was attacked in an editorial in Pravda titled "Muddle Instead of Music." Reportedly ordered by Stalin himself, the editorial targeted the composer's opera "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District," which had already been performed an estimated 200 times to wide acclaim in the Soviet Union and abroad. "The ability of good music to enthrall the masses has been sacrificed on the altar of petit-bourgeois formalism," charged the editorial, published two days after the Soviet leader attended a performance. "Such games can only finish badly."
Shostakovich was left scrambling. His 4th Symphony — which, like "Lady Macbeth," was infused with the dissonant sound characteristic of much modern music — was already in rehearsal. The piece was quickly pulled, and was not premiered until 1960. In its place, Shostakovich offered the 5th Symphony. With its more classically structured harmonies, the 5th promised not to offend conservative ears.
His rehabilitation appeared complete when, in 1942, his 7th Symphony, "Leningrad" was performed in the Soviet Union, London and New York. The piece, begun when Shostakovich was in Leningrad and completed after he'd been evacuated in the midst of the Nazi siege, became an Allied rallying cry in the battle against fascism.
But Shostakovich again fell afoul of the state when, in 1948, he and fellow Soviet composers Sergei Prokofiev and Aram Khachaturian were attacked by Stalin's cultural commissar, Andrei Zhdanov, for not composing music that could be listened to by the Soviet masses.
Stalin died five years later, and the last two decades of Shostakovich's life saw him take his place as the grand figure of Soviet music. (In a cruel twist of fate, Prokofiev died on the same day as Stalin.) Shostakovich would write another six symphonies, complete his set of 15 quartets and, in 1959, be appointed the first secretary of the Soviet Composers Union. At his death, in 1975, he was buried with full state honors in Moscow's Novodevichy Cemetery. He was described in obituaries in the Soviet Union and the West as a loyal communist.
But if the composer's death brought an end to his personal struggle for artistic freedom, the battle for his legacy had just begun. Depending on whom you believed, Shostakovich had always been a committed communist and Soviet patriot; a secret dissident who took every opportunity he could find to express his disgust with the Soviet system; or an opportunist who did what he had to do to further his career.
More than any other milestone in the debate surrounding Shostakovich, it was the 1979 publication of the English translation of "Testimony: The Memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich" that revealed the composer's contempt for the communist system. The book — based on interviews conducted by Solomon Volkov from 1971 to 1974 and published after Volkov emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1976 — portrayed a secret dissident who scorned Stalin and quietly wove his dissent into his music.
The Soviets immediately launched a public-relations offensive against the book. Shostakovich's son, Maxim, denounced it as a forgery. Less expected, perhaps, was the criticism heaped on the work outside the Soviet Union, with musicologists taking issue with passages they said had been lifted from already published materials, and deriding other sections as pure invention. While Maxim Shostakovich retracted his earlier attack after leaving the Soviet Union, saying "Testimony" accurately reflected his father's thoughts, the composer's true identity is still debated.
Some questions apparently will never be answered. Why did Shostakovich decide, for example, to join the Communist Party in 1960, when artists no longer faced the same danger and pressure from the state that had characterized the Stalinist era? That move has variously been described as an act of commitment to the socialist idea, final surrender or the result of much political harassment. In a 1999 interview, just hours before he was to conduct his father's 4th Symphony in St. Petersburg, Maxim said that the day his father joined the party was one of only two times he ever saw his father cry. (The other came when Nina Varzar, Shostakovich's first wife and Maxim's mother, died.)
And what of all the discussion and speculation surrounding possible subtext in his music? The long-held belief that Shostakovich injected his works with subversive harmonies and motifs has also been questioned. Richard Taruskin, a 20th-century and Russian music specialist at the University of California, Berkeley, went so far as to argue in 1989 that, in fact, Shostakovich had sought to ingratiate the Stalinist authorities with his music. "Lady Macbeth," Taruskin said in a New Republic article, was not a dissonant refutation of the status quo but a "defense of the lawless extermination of the kulaks."
That there are no clear answers here makes sense, in a way. Shostakovich's life was simply too complex, too multifaceted, too shot through with political, cultural and historical meaning and metaphor to organize in any clearly defined, neatly delineated way. He was, or wasn't, a true believer who defended his country during visits to the United States in 1949 and 1959, a terrified sycophant, and a clandestine nonconformist.
On Monday night, in a concert marking the artist's birthday, his friend Mstislav Rostropovich, for whom Shostakovich wrote two cello concertos, conducted a program featuring the 8th Symphony and the 1st Violin Concerto at the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory.
That Rostropovich chose the 8th is a hopeful sign. The second of the composer's "war symphonies," the 8th is widely considered the composer's statement on the terror of war, a sharp contrast with the patriotic anthem to Leningrad in the 7th. It is a much more enigmatic piece, with moments of despair and hope fused together in a way that evokes a sense of doubt and irresolution. It sweeps through peaks and valleys, eventually fading off into an end of sorts without providing any clear or simple answers — like the man himself.

Thomas Rymer is opinion page editor of The Moscow Times and former editor of The St. Petersburg Times.

TITLE: Brown Makes Case For Being PM
AUTHOR: By Adrian Croft and Sumeet Desai
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: MANCHESTER, England — U.K. finance minister Gordon Brown staked his claim on Monday to be the next prime minister with a speech that eased some doubts about his ability to unite his beleaguered party and succeed Tony Blair.Setting out a broad vision in an eagerly-awaited speech to the Labour Party's annual conference, Brown pledged further rises in education spending, more devolution of government powers and support for the fight against global warming.
He said he would keep the party firmly in the political center if chosen to replace Blair when he steps down as party leader and premier within the next year.
"I am confident that my experience and my values give me the strength to take the tough decisions. I would relish the opportunity to take on David Cameron and the Conservative Party," Brown said to cheers and applause.
The youthful Cameron has rejuvenated the opposition Conservatives and put it ahead in the polls, but the next general election is not expected until at least 2009.
Commentators say both Blair and Brown have been damaged by party feuding this month that forced Blair to say he would quit within a year and sparked fierce attacks on Brown's character.
Brown had long been seen as an automatic choice to step into Blair's shoes, but polls show support waning for a Brown premiership and doubts growing about his personality. That could tempt a prominent Labour politician to challenge Brown.
"It was the speech of a prime minister in waiting," said Labour politician John McFall. "Somebody is going to have to be very good to challenge him."
In an attempt to mend fences, Brown heaped praise on Blair for leading the Labour Party to three successive election victories and offered an olive branch to his opponents.
"I would be determined to draw on all the talents of our party and country," he said in a speech that won a long, standing ovation from the audience, including Blair.
The 55-year-old Scot gave a rare insight into his private life, describing how his father, a church minister, told him "you can leave your mark on the world for good or ill."
Many delegates were impressed by the speech.
"It was very, very good. It put to bed the whole issue of the conflict between himself and Tony [Blair]," said Charlotte Atkins, another member of parliament.
Former foreign minister Jack Straw said Brown's speech was "terrific."
One lawmaker, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he believed Brown's performance would put off other Labour politicians from challenging him for the leadership.
"They'll think, if Gordon Brown is going to win anyway, why bother?"

TITLE: Russia Destroys U.S. in Davis Cup Semi
AUTHOR: By Gennady Fyodorov
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: MOSCOW — Substitute Dmitry Tursunov beat Andy Roddick in an epic five-set battle, 6-3 6-4 5-7 3-6 17-15, to seal a Russian victory over the United States on Sunday and send the home team into the Davis Cup final.The California-based Russian, who replaced Mikhail Yuzhny for the first reverse singles, could barely put a foot wrong, building up a two-set lead before the American fought back in the third and fourth to force the deciding set.
The win gave Russia an unassailable 3-1 lead in the three-day tie.
James Blake beat Marat Safin 7-5 7-6 in the fifth, dead rubber for a 3-2 final score.
After wasting three match points in the 24th game, Tursunov finally broke Roddick's serve in the 32nd game to clinch a dramatic victory after four hours 48 minutes.
"I didn't know I was going to play until the last minute. It was only this morning our captain Shamil Tarpishchev told me of his decision," said Tursunov, who was preferred to world number five Nikolai Davydenko.
"I didn't have much time to prepare, to work out a strategy for the match. I had some ideas of how to play him. It worked for the first two sets but not for the next two. In the fifth set I had no strategy, just tried to fight back."
The fifth set equaled the Davis Cup record for the highest number of games since the world group was introduced in 1981.
Safin and Yuzhny had put the Russians up 2-0, beating Roddick and Blake respectively in the opening singles on Friday before the U.S pulled within a point by winning Saturday's doubles.
It was Russia's first victory over their former Cold War adversaries in Davis Cup after they lost two previous ties, including the 1995 Moscow final on a similar clay surface.
The Russians will host Argentina in the final in Moscow in December after the South Americans took an unbeatable 3-0 lead against Australia in the other semi-final in Buenos Aires.
After going two sets down, Roddick found another gear as the momentum seemed to shift in his favor.
When he broke the Russian's serve in the 11th game to nudge 6-5 ahead, it looked like the match was virtually over.
However, the 22nd-ranked Tursunov, urged on by a raucous 11,000-strong home crowd including former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, broke right back to prolong the contest.
Roddick looked to be in trouble several times late in the fifth set but escaped thanks to his booming serve.
Tursunov came out the stronger in the end as he finally secured victory by breaking the U.S. Open finalist in the last game with a clean backhand pass down the line.
"I don't know if it was the crowd that lifted me up in the fifth set or what," said the Russian.
"We both wanted to win and fought hard but I just never gave up and believed in myself.
"Besides, Marat was crying that he didn't want to play the deciding match and asked me to finish the tie," he added with a smile.
Roddick was visibly disappointed. "Being honest, I'm not feeling a whole lot of positive things right now," he said.
"Davis Cup losses are the toughest to take because you're not playing for selfish reasons. You feel like you let your team mates down, your country down. It's tough."
n
In Beijing, Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova won her second title in two weeks with a 6-4 6-0 victory over France's world No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo in a rain-disrupted China Open final on Sunday.
The world No. 5 from St. Petersburg, who also triumphed in Bali last week, claimed her eighth career title when top seed Mauresmo's game fell apart after a two-hour break for wet weather.
"I'm just so happy," said Kuznetsova.

TITLE: Ousted Thai Leader In Corruption Probe
AUTHOR: By Trisanat Kongkhunthian
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: BANGKOK —A graft-busting panel appointed by Thailand's coup leaders will take over probes into alleged corruption by ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his cabinet, which could lead to asset seizures and political bans.Auditor-General Jaruwan Maintaka, who had promised results in some existing investigations by the end of this month, said on Monday she had handed over her findings so far to the panel the military appointed less than a week after taking power.
"I was asked by the coup leaders the other day if I would be upset if the new probe panel would take over the probes being worked out by my office," she told reporters.
"I said no because we are all working for the benefit of the country," said Jaruwan, a member of the new eight-member panel, as the military gave more details of its promise to hand over to a civilian prime minister within two weeks.
The new prime minister would be named once an interim constitution was agreed later this week and the coup leaders would become a National Security Council, General Winai Phattiyakul said.
"We are not the prime minister's boss and the prime minister is not our boss," said Winai, a senior member of the military council that ousted Thaksin last Tuesday.
"We will assist the next government in looking after the country, to sustain the economic and social stability," he said.
The military would appoint a legislative council of an initial 2,000 people to draw a new constitution. The body would reduce itself to about 200, he said without elaboration.
It would take about six months to complete the constitution, which would be subject to final approval by the military.
The constitution would be put to a referendum before elections were held, a process which might take about eight months from now and the generals would return to barracks only after the election, Winai said.
Jaruwan gave no indication of how long it would take to complete investigations into corruption charges which, if they were found guilty, could result in Thaksin and other cabinet members being barred from political office for five years.
The investigations already under way began essentially in February when Jaruwan won a long political battle to stay in a job from which she had been suspended.
Former policeman Thaksin, a billionaire before entering politics, and cabinet ministers, many of them also rich, could also find themselves stripped of assets if found guilty.
Among the main cases for the panel, due to meet for the first time on Wednesday, is a probe into whether Thaksin's family legitimately paid no tax on its $1.9 billion sale of Shin Corp, the firm he founded, she said.
Others include allegations of tax evasion in previous deals and the government's purchase of U.S. bomb scanners for Bangkok's new Suvarnabhumi airport, due to open on Sept. 28. The bomb detector probe would be wrapped this month as promised, Jaruwan said.
The new panel's brief did not include an investigation into whether the sale of Shin Corp to Singapore state investment firm Temasek Holdings breached Thai laws against a foreign company owning more than 49 percent of a Thai firm.
The Commerce Ministry is already looking into whether firms involved in the complicated deal were nominees for Temasek.
The new panel's brief is a broad one, to find out whether Thaksin and his ministers, their wives and children had abused their power "for the benefits of themselves and others," the military council said.

TITLE: Kramnik Defeats Topalov
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: ELISTA — Classical World Champion Vladimir Kramnik defeated World Chess Champion Veselin Topalov on Saturday in the first game of a three-week series of matches being played in the Kalmykia region, which are intended to end the schism that has riven the chess world for 13 years.Russia's Kramnik had White in the first game. He opened by moving the queen's pawn in a Catalan Opening.
By the 12th move, both queens were eliminated and Topalov had seized a psychological upper hand.
Kramnik's position was uncomfortable, but he maintained his composure.
Topalov sacrificed a pawn around the 40th move, securing an opportunity to force a draw at anytime. But the Bulgarian grandmaster preferred to keep maneuvering instead, waiting for Kramnik to make a mistake.
White defended well, and on the 57th move, Topalov made an error that cost him the game.
Black could secure a draw by taking the f2 pawn with a knight, but instead, Topalov moved his bishop's pawn.
"Actually, it was a dream position for any chess player," Topalov said after the match. "Black was clearly better, although I had significant technical difficulties in converting the advantage. Vlad [Kramnik] defended well, and I eventually made a blunder."
Having missed this opportunity, Topalov was forced into an endgame with a two-pawn deficit.
Kramnik showed impeccable technique and won the opening game of the match after 6 1/2 hours of play.
"This is a world championship match, and serious mistakes are important part of the game," Kramnik said. "The struggle is tense, and mistakes are unavoidable. I understand that I was just lucky in this game."
The match is the sixth attempt to reunify the chess world since then-world champion Garry Kasparov broke away from the International Chess Federation in 1993.
The rift in the chess world grew after Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the president of the impoverished Kalmykia region, became president of the federation in 1995. While Ilyumzhinov was praised for pouring millions of dollars into chess, he also introduced numerous controversial changes, including a new knockout format for the world championship (which was later abandoned under pressure from the chess world) and a new, faster time control.
The 12-game match is scheduled to conclude on Oct. 13th.
The two 31-year-old players are to share the tax-free $1 million prize no matter who wins the title.

TITLE: Clinton: 'I Tried to Kill Bin Laden, But Failed'
PUBLISHER: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TEXT: NEW YORK — In a combative interview on "Fox News Sunday," former President Clinton defended his handling of the threat posed by Osama bin Laden, saying he tried to have bin Laden killed and was attacked for his efforts by the same people who now criticize him for not doing enough."That's the difference in me and some, including all of the right-wingers who are attacking me now," Clinton said in the interview. "They ridiculed me for trying. They had eight months to try, they did not try."
Clinton accused host Chris Wallace of a "conservative hit job" and asked: "I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked, 'Why didn't you do anything about the Cole?' I want to know how many people you asked, 'Why did you fire Dick Clarke?'"
He was referring to the USS Cole, attacked by terrorists in Yemen in 2000, and former White House anti-terrorism chief Richard A. Clarke.
Wallace said Sunday he was surprised by Clinton's "conspiratorial view" of "a very non-confrontational question, 'Did you do enough to connect the dots and go after Al Qaida?'"
"All I did was ask him a question, and I think it was a legitimate news question. I was surprised that he would conjure up that this was a hit job," Wallace said in a telephone interview.
Clinton said he "worked hard" to try to kill bin Laden.
"We contracted with people to kill him. I got closer to killing him than anybody's gotten since," he said.
He told Wallace, "And you got that little smirk on your face and you think you're so clever, but I had responsibility for trying to protect this country. I tried and I failed to get bin Laden. I regret it, but I did try and I did everything I thought I responsibly could."
The interview was taped Friday during Clinton's three-day Global Initiative conference.
On NBC's "Meet the Press," also taped Friday and aired Sunday, Clinton told interviewer Tim Russert that the biggest problem confronting the world today is "the illusion that our differences matter more than our common humanity."
"That's what's driving the terrorism," he said. "It's not just that there's an unresolved Arab-Israeli conflict. Osama Bin Laden and Dr. al-Zawahiri can convince young Sunni Arab men, who have — and some women — who have despairing conditions in their lives, that they get a one-way ticket to heaven in a hurry if they kill a lot of innocent people who don't share their reality."

TITLE: Europe Trashes U.S. For Historic Ryder Cup Win
AUTHOR: By Eddie Pells
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: STRAFFAN, Ireland — Darren Clarke stood at the edge of the balcony and gulped down a pint of stout. The stuff never tasted so sweet.He and the rest of the Europeans romped to another Ryder Cup victory Sunday. It was an 18 1/2 -9 1/2 blowout over the Americans that re-emphasized the gap between these two teams and proved that Tiger Woods isn't the only man who can win his sport's biggest events.
Every European player chipped in at least half a point over their commanding three days at The K Club. And peering down these two teams' lineups, there were inklings that things might not change soon.
The European squad is filled with 20- and 30-somethings who play on a European PGA Tour that is growing and getting better. Woods, meanwhile, dominates the PGA Tour, where there is only one American player younger than 30 — former British Open champion Ben Curtis — with even a single victory.
"We could have sent two teams out here," European captain Ian Woosnam said. "I'm not saying that we would have got this result, but it just shows the potential of European golf."
The future looks bright. The present, meanwhile, is a sure thing.
Europe dominated the week from beginning to end. This marked the first time either side had won all five sessions of the competition.
Clarke was the ringleader, both emotional and on paper. He went 3-0, and his celebration was poignant. He was playing six weeks after his wife, Heather, succumbed to cancer. Everywhere he turned, he was embraced — by teammates, opponents, the roar of the crowd.
"This means everything to me," Clarke said.
Meanwhile, Sergio Garcia lost his match Sunday, but he barely cared. He won his first four to set the table for this dominating weekend. Colin Montgomerie beat David Toms 1-up to improve to 6-0-2 lifetime in singles. At 43, he's the oldest player on the team.
Luke Donald, 28, wrapped up the match that secured a tie and guaranteed the Europeans would keep the cup. Moments later, 30-year-old Henrik Stenson sealed it.
The real celebration started a few minutes after that, when Clarke ended his match and the hugs and tears started flowing on the 16th green.
"There's one reason and one reason only," Paul McGinley said when asked for the secret of Europe's success. "It's talent. Nobody understands how good our tour is. The tour is good, the standards are good. We're heading in the right direction. We still don't play for the same amount of money as they do in America, but we'll get there."
The U.S. team came into Sunday trailing 10-6, the same score by which they trailed in 1999, when they pulled off the miracle at Brookline. They won 8 1/2 points to pull off the victory that day and they were hoping for a repeat.
Instead, they got a repeat of 2004 — another 18 1/2 -9 1/2 thrashing.
It could have been worse.
After the cup had been secured, McGinley did the gentlemanly thing by conceding a 25-foot putt to J.J. Henry to end their match in a draw. Had McGinley gone for the extra half, it would have been the biggest blowout in Ryder Cup history.
"I'll have a talk with Paul McGinley later," Woosnam said jokingly.
A streaker dashed across the 18th green just before McGinley made his concession, part of the comic tragedy the Americans endured all day.
Woods played without his 9-iron throughout the middle part of his round after his caddie, Steve Williams, stumbled and dropped it in the River Liffey while trying to rinse it off near the seventh green.
"It was him or the 9-iron" going into the drink, Woods said. "He chose the 9-iron." Scott Verplank made a hole-in-one on the 14th to go 4 up on Padraig Harrington in the last match of the day. An unforgettable moment on most days, except that the match meant nothing. And it wasn't even the best hole-in-one of the tournament — that belonged to Paul Casey, who ended his foursomes match the day before on the same hole with an ace.
"I don't know in the history of the Ryder Cup any European team that has played better than you guys," U.S. captain Tom Lehman told the Europeans at the closing ceremony.
Lehman was hardly perfect as a captain. He left Verplank, one of his wild card picks, on the bench for three matches and did the same with Henry. Neither player lost. And maybe Lehman could've done something extra with the pairings to coax more out of Woods and Furyk, who went 2-2 as a team, or from Phil Mickelson, who didn't win a single match.
But in a blowout this big, all those points feel like mere nitpicking.
Woods said it came down to making putts and playing better on the 18th hole when the matches reached that point. "If you look at the way the matches went for the entire week, the Europeans did better on both occasions," Woods said.
They were better at everything — putting, ball-striking, coming together as a team and, of course, celebrating.
When it was over, sunshine turned what had been a rainy, dreary mess at The K Club into one of those picture-perfect scenes.
David Howell wore a funky clown's wig. Garcia gave the "Number One" sign to the camera. All the players sprayed champagne on each other. Clarke swigged his Guinness. They had good reason to believe they could be doing all this again in two years at Valhalla.
"I think we've got strength and depth for a long time to come," Woosnam said. "And I think the future of the Ryder Cup is going to look great for Europe."

TITLE: Euro Giants Prepare For Battles Ahead
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: LONDON — Most of the big guns who are back in Champions League action this week prepared for their matches with domestic league wins over the weekend.Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool all won in the Premier League while Bayern Munich and Real Madrid also enjoyed victories.
European champions Barcelona, though, were held to a 1-1 draw at the Nou Camp by Valencia, who are also looking for Champions League glory this season.ENGLAND
Champions Chelsea went top of the table for the first time this season after winning 2-0 at near-neighbor Fulham with Frank Lampard scoring both goals, one from the penalty spot.Arsenal, runner-up in last season's Champions League, continued its climb up the standings after a slow start to the season with a 3-0 win over Sheffield United, its first Premier League win at its new Emirates Stadium.
Liverpool took advantage of Tottenham Hotspur's inability to convert two gilt-edged chances as it beat the Londoners 3-0 at Anfield, but Manchester United, which completes England's Champions League quartet, had to settle for a 1-1 draw at Reading.
Portsmouth, the surprise early season leader, can go back on top if they beat Bolton Wanderers at home on Monday evening.GERMANY
Bayern Munich came from behind to beat Alemannia Aachen 2-1 and secure its first league win for three matches as it took over as Bundesliga leader on Saturday night, ahead of its tough Champions League match at Inter Milan on Wednesday.Borussia Moenchengladbach had gone clear on Friday with a 1-0 win over Borussia Dortmund but Nuremberg was close to finishing the weekend top before being held to a 1-1 draw at Energie Cottbus who equalized seven minutes from time on Sunday.
Those two dropped points left Nuremberg in fourth place.ITALY
Inter Milan went top of Serie A on Sunday when it held off a late fight-back by Chievo Verona to win 4-3 at the San Siro.The champions seemed set for an easy win after going 4-0 up but three goals in the last 15 minutes by the visitors ensured a nervy finale and not the best preparation for the Bayern match.
The result gave Inter 10 points from four matches, one point more than AS Roma, who routed Parma 4-0 away.
Palermo, which led the standings for the first time in its history last week, also has nine points but the Sicilian club's hopes of maintaining a 100 percent record were dashed when it missed an early penalty in a surprise 2-0 defeat at Empoli.SPAIN
Real Madrid went top of La Liga on Saturday when it won 1-0 at Real Betis with Mahamadou Diarra scoring his first goal of the season with a bullet header from a sixth minute corner.But Barcelona ended the weekend as leaders after a 1-1 draw with Valencia at the Nou Camp — Valencia's sixth league visit to Barca's home ground without defeat.

TITLE: Islamic Extremists Take Somali Port Amid Strife
AUTHOR: By Sahra Ahmed
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: KISMAYO, Somalia — Islamist fighters opened fire in the Somali port city of Kismayo on Monday toward residents burning tires, throwing stones and chanting to protest against the Islamist takeover of their city hours before.A 13-year-old boy was shot dead while protesting, while two other people were injured, witnesses said, amid sketchy reports from Somalia's third largest city.
"We have been taken over by extremists, the Islamic courts have taken us by force, and now they are firing at us," protester Dahabo Dirie said amid screams and gunshots.
Riding on trucks mounted with machine guns, the Mogadishu-based Islamists poured into Kismayo overnight to extend their grip on south-central Somalia and effectively flank the powerless central government on three sides.
Other than the semi-autonomous northern enclave of Puntland and the self-declared independent enclave of Somaliland, the Islamists now control all Somalia's key ports.
The government, based in the provincial town of Baidoa and with little military strength of its own, denounced the Kismayo takeover as a breach of an agreement both sides reached during peace talks in Sudan to halt further military expansion.
Residents of Kismayo, near Kenya's border, said some arriving Islamist fighters stirred up an already tense mood by burning the Somali flag and raising an Islamic one.
That set off massive protests, after the town had previously been peaceful since the Islamists entered, they said.
"I witnessed the Somali flag being ripped apart and burned. This is unacceptable," said resident Mahad Abdullahi.
A Reuters witness saw thousands of men and women pouring on to the streets, shouting "We don't want the Islamic Courts" and tossing stones at trucks used by Islamist fighters. Roads were blocked with stones and burning tires, she added.
Islamist spokesman Abdirahim Ibrahim Mudey said the movement, which took over Mogadishu from U.S.-backed warlords in June, had moved into Kismayo to prevent African troops using it as an entry point or base under a proposed peacekeeping force.
The African Union (AU) wants to send troops to Somalia in a move supported by the government but opposed by the Islamists and also denounced by al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

TITLE: The Pope Meets Muslim Envoys
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: CASTELGANDOLFO, Italy — Pope Benedict said on Monday that Christians and Muslims must reject violence, in an unprecedented meeting with Islamic envoys to defuse anger at his use of quotes saying their faith was spread by the sword.The Pope expressed his "esteem and profound respect" for members of the Islamic faith in a speech to diplomatic envoys from some 20 Muslim countries plus the leaders of Italy's own Muslim community at his summer residence south of Rome.
He did not specifically mention the quote that angered Muslims, saying the circumstances that made the meeting necessary "are well known." But he called for greater dialogue between the two religions.
"Christians and Muslims must learn to work together ... in order to guard against all forms of intolerance and to oppose all manifestations of violence," the 79-year-old Pope said at the meeting in a frescoed hall of the papal summer palace.
It was the fourth time he has tried to make amends to Muslims, without actually apologizing directly, for a speech at a university in his native Germany on Sept. 12.
The Pope is facing the toughest international crisis since his election in April, 2005, and the severity of some reactions has raised doubts about a planned trip to Turkey in November.
Mario Scialoja, an adviser to the Italian section of the World Muslim League who attended the audience, told Reuters afterwards he thought it was a "very good and warm speech."
"He recalled the differences but expressed his willingness to continue in a cordial and fruitful dialogue, said Scialoja, who added that he "had not been expecting another apology."
The atmosphere at the 30-minute meeting, which was broadcast live on Vatican television and radio, appeared cordial. After delivering his speech the Pope greeted each of the envoys personally and chatted with them briefly.
The leader of more than one billion Catholics has expressed regret at the response to his quoting 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, who said the Prophet Mohammad commanded "to spread by the sword the faith he preached."
The Pope said Christians and Muslims had to learn from the past and work for a better future.
"I sincerely pray that the relations of trust which have developed between Christians and Muslims over several years, will not only continue, but will develop further in a spirit of sincere and respectful dialogue ...," he said.
Iraqi ambassador Albert Edward Ismail Yelda also said he was satisfied with the speech.
"I pray to almighty God the crisis will be behind us," he told reporters. "We need to sit together — Muslims, Christians, Jews and the rest of the world, the rest of religions, in order to find common ground for peaceful coexistence."
The Pope has said his intention in using the quote in Germany two weeks ago was to explain that religion and violence do not go together but that religion and reason do.
His speech to Muslim envoys, delivered in French, but which the Vatican also made available in Arabic, made repeated references to the need for dialogue between faiths.
"I am profoundly convinced that in the current world situation it is imperative that Christians and Muslims engage with one another in order to address the numerous challenges that present themselves to humanity..." Benedict said.

TITLE: Baby Mauled to Death by Rottweilers
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: LONDON — Police investigating how a 5-month-old baby came to mauled to death by two Rottweiler dogs have launched a murder inquiry after a 47-year-old woman was killed in a knife attack and a man seriously injured.Media reports on Monday said the injured 50-year old man was the grandfather of the dead baby girl, named by newspapers as Caydee-Lee Glaze.
"We are attempting to establish whether there was a familial link with the people who were stabbed and the dead baby," a Leicester Police spokeswoman confirmed.
But she added: "there is absolutely no connection with the death of the baby and the stabbings."
Police said a 26-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman have been arrested in connection with the stabbings.
Baby Caydee-Lee was savaged by guard dogs at The Rocket pub in the New Parks area of the city on Saturday afternoon.
Just hours later, early on Sunday morning, emergency services went to an address in Grassington Close in the Beaumont Leys part of the city. They found the dead body of 47-year-old Debra Larn and the badly injured 50-year-old man.
Both had been stabbed.
On Monday neighbours described the two dogs which killed the baby girl as guard dogs and not pets.
"They were very aggressive and known to be vicious. Everybody around here was petrified of them," neighbor Amy Grimbley told the Daily Mirror.

TITLE: British Kill Senior Al Qaida Leader
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: BAGHDAD — British troops in Iraq said on Monday they had killed a senior al Qaida figure who escaped from a U.S. prison in Afghanistan in 2005.Omar Faruq was shot dead while resisting arrest during a pre-dawn raid by about 200 British troops in Iraq's second biggest city, Basra, British military spokesman Major Charlie Burbridge said.
Burbridge called him a "very, very significant man," although he was believed to be hiding inside Iraq, not necessarily operating there.
"The individual had been tracked across Iraq and was in hiding in Basra," Burbridge said.
"Two companies [about 200 troops] launched the operation in the early hours of this morning. The troops returned to base without any multinational force casualties."
Faruq, a Kuwaiti citizen, who was captured in Indonesia in June, 2002, was described by Washington as the most senior al Qaida figure in southeast Asia.
He was one of four men who escaped from the high-security U.S. detainee center at Bagram air base north of the Afghan capital, Kabul, in June last year.

TITLE: White House Slams Report
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: WASHINGTON — A newspaper report that a U.S. intelligence analysis found that the Iraq war gave rise to a new generation of Islamic radicals and made the overall terrorism problem worse was "not representative of the complete document," the White House said on Sunday.The New York Times reported that a classified National Intelligence Estimate completed in April said Islamic radicalism had mushroomed worldwide and cited the Iraq war as a reason for the spread of jihadist ideology.
It was the first formal appraisal of global terrorism by U.S. intelligence agencies since the Iraq war began in March 2003 and represents a consensus view of the 16 spy services.
"The New York Times' characterization of the NIE is not representative of the complete document," said White House spokesman Peter Watkins.
He declined to comment on information contained in the classified document.
U.S. intelligence chief John Negroponte said news reports on the NIE characterize "only a small handful" of the conclusions from a broad strategic assessment of global terrorism.
"The conclusions of the intelligence community are designed to be comprehensive and viewing them through the narrow prism of a fraction of judgments distorts the broad framework they create," Negroponte said in a statement.
Negroponte said the analysis found that if the U.S. effort to establish a stable government in Iraq succeeded, jihadists would be weakened and "fewer jihadists will leave Iraq determined to carry on the fight elsewhere."
President George W. Bush has steadfastly insisted that his decision to invade Iraq was the right action to take to head off a potential threat.
At fund-raisers ahead of the November congressional elections he has been striving to portray his administration as tough on terrorism and the Republicans as the best party to protect Americans.
Democrats, trying to win control of Congress from the Republicans, have focused on the Iraq war, which is increasingly unpopular with the public.
Representative Jane Harman of California, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said she agreed that the Iraq war had caused the spread of jihadist ideology. "Every intelligence analyst I speak to confirms that," she said on CNN's "Late Edition."
"And that is why ... the best military commission proposal in the world and even capturing the remaining top al Qaida leadership isn't going to prevent copycat cells, and it isn't going to change a failed policy in Iraq," she said.