SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #1235 (1), Tuesday, January 9, 2007
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TITLE: Drop In New Year Accidents
AUTHOR: By Galina Stolyarova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: The number of accidents reported in St. Petersburg during the first two days of the year was lower than in previous years as 300,000 Petersburgers reportedly took to the streets during New Year festivities. The week-long national holiday, which ends Tuesday, also saw a number of hoax calls causing public emergencies, the police said.
According to the St. Petersburg police press-office the first night of the year was quiet and there were fewer than average accidents.
However a suspect was detained after a bomb threat at Staraya Derevnya metro station was made on Monday. The caller said a bomb had been planted at the station, while declining to give any more details. The police found nothing after a thorough search.
Another call nearly brought St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport to a standstill on Dec. 31. A caller contacted the airport to say that someone was planning to carry a bag packed with explosives on board a departing plane. The police suspected a hoax but carried out all the necessary precautions including additional checks on aircraft, and the airport’s lounges and passengers. No explosives were found. A suspect has been detained in connection with the phone call.
The city was well-prepared to cope with the holiday-makers who over indulged in alcohol during New Year’s outdoor celebrations: 3,000 police officers were on duty on New Year’s Eve, while ambulances were placed along Nevsky Prospekt, around Palace Square and other areas, where outdoor entertainment and street shows were held. The police detained 154 people on that night.
But in the last two days of 2006, when Petersburgers rushed around looking for last-minute gifts, emptying food stores and visiting friends, the city’s roads were blocked by some of the worst traffic jams of the year.
Thirteen major road accidents were reported on the night from Dec. 31, to Jan. 1. Eight people died and further 11 people received injuries in these crashes.
Forty-four fires were registered in St. Petersburg on Dec. 30 and Dec. 31. One of the most dangerous broke out at around 10 p.m. on Dec. 31 in a residential building on Vasilievsky Island. Nine fire trucks were dispatched but two people died in the blaze before the squad arrived.
Fires continued during the rest of the holidays. Twenty fires broke out on Jan. 1, killing four people and leaving two more with severe burns, online resource Fontanka.ru, reported.
Last Wednesday, a fire broke at the St. Georgy hospital at 1 Severny Prospekt. According to a preliminary investigation carried out by the local branch of the Russia’s Ministry for Emergency Situations, the fire was sparked by a short circuit in a refrigerator at the hospital’s seventh floor. 
Sixty people were evacuated by a rescue team and nobody was hurt. An emergency team stopped the fire within 10 minutes, the ministry’s press-office reported.

TITLE: Long Holiday Bad for Russia, Say Experts
AUTHOR: By Steven Lee Myers
PUBLISHER: The New York Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — New Year has long been the favored holiday, celebrated with champagne and fireworks and gifts under a New Year tree. Then there was Jan. 2, also traditionally a holiday. And then the 3rd and the 4th and the 5th.
There has been, in fact, no official workday this year until Tuesday, a protracted holiday break that began nine days ago. It seems like a deep breath, a really deep breath, before plunging into 2007.
Russia more or less shut down, the government having ceased all but essential functions. The occasion last year prompted a senior official of the upper house of parliament, Ivan Grachev, to declare, “The less they work, the better it is for the country.”
President Vladimir Putin made his traditional New Year’s greeting on Jan. 1 — an address Boris Yeltsin made famous in the first moments of 2000 by resigning and appointing Putin — and then he disappeared until early Sunday morning, when he attended Orthodox Christmas services at the New Jerusalem Monastery in Istra, a town west of Moscow.
There have been no newspapers published since Dec. 29, the last workday of 2006, while most television networks have drastically pared back news programs in favor of treacly variety shows and movies, among them, all three parts of “The Lord of the Rings.”
Some factories have cut production or halted it altogether. FedEx does not deliver. Gazprom, the state energy giant, struck a two-minutes-to-midnight deal with Belarus on New Year’s Eve to supply natural gas, then canceled plans to hold a New Year’s Day news conference to explain it.
Other countries have long holidays, at least unofficially. August in Europe comes to mind. Russia’s, though, is exceptional, and, in a way, a mirror of the country it has become: confident, indulgent and unforgiving.
Since the January holidays, as they are called, came into being with the arrival of 2005, sociologists, psychologists and economists have chronicled what they call disturbing consequences of an extended period of leisure. They include an economic slowdown and seasonal spikes in fires, domestic abuse and deaths by alcohol poisoning.
“The number of crimes committed during these 10 days increases dramatically,” the newspaper Noviye Izvestiya warned in December. “The country plunges into an unrestrained binge.”
In Moscow, officials have reported more fires than normal so far this year, but a drop in reported crimes. A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Emergency Services, reached at home, noted that there were not yet hard statistics since, of course, no one was in the office to collect them.
Sergei Klyuchnikov, a psychologist in Moscow, said his experience with patients proved “the negative effect on people” the holiday has had. He, like others, noted that most Russian cities, even Moscow, offered very little for people to do, at least inexpensively, especially in winter.
The old Soviet department store GUM, unrecognizable from its former days of empty shelves, opened a skating rink on Red Square, for example, but it charged an entrance fee — $11.50 during the day, $19 in the evenings — that is expensive for most Russians. The rink is completely enclosed by grandstands, shutting out even those who might just watch. On New Year’s Eve, when Russians traditionally gather on Red Square, the rink charged 2,007 rubles, about $76.
“After three or four days of holidays, they run out of money,” said Dr. Klyuchnikov, an author whose recent self-help books include “In Search of Silence” and a title unthinkable in Soviet times, “Money in Your Life.” “The problems start after that.”
Inevitably, perhaps, the holiday has become another measure of the widening gap between rich and poor in Russia, one that at times can be jarring.
On New Year’s Eve, the British pop singer George Michael flew into Moscow to perform an hour-long concert at a private party, reportedly given by Vladimir Potanin, the metals and media tycoon.
Michael’s agency, Connie Filippello Publicity, said in a statement that he earned $3 million for the performance, adding that that made him “the highest paid entertainer in modern Russian history” but declining to identify who hired him.
A man who answered the phone at Potanin’s company, Interros — the call having been rerouted to his cellphone — would neither confirm nor deny the reports. He added that no one could until, of course, after the holidays.
Indeed, for many the holidays have become a popular time to escape the Russian winter, making it hard to reach anybody.
The richest Russians have turned resorts like Courchevel, France, into teeming hubs of Russian wealth. Even those whose fortunes are more modest flock to less expensive places like Egypt and Thailand, charter flights and tour packages having come within the grasp of a growing middle class that not long ago could only dream of foreign travel.
Others stay closer to home. Malls, like the glistening new European Shopping Center next to Kiev Station, are full these days, as are cinemas, museums and theaters (though fortunately Moscow’s notorious traffic has disappeared). Consumer spending is skyrocketing, part of the energy-fueled boom that is trickling down, albeit unevenly.
Still, it’s hard to shop for 10 days.
“I have studied this matter,” Dr. Klyuchnikov said. “Most of the couples who visit a big shopping center start quarreling within an hour and a half.”
The holiday on Sunday officially recognizes what became an unofficial practice after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the state resumed official celebrations of Russian Orthodox Christmas, Jan. 7, which is observed far more solemnly than the commercialized Christmas celebrations of the West.
Since Jan. 1 and 2 were already official holidays, few bothered to work in the days in between. Jan. 7 was a Sunday this year, so the end of the official holidays was pushed back to Jan. 8. Unofficially, many keep celebrating to the “old new year” under the Julian calendar, Jan. 14.
“Call me after the 15th,” Andrei Lugovoi, a businessman and former K.G.B. agent at the center of the investigation into the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko in London, said when reached on Friday and asked about the status of the case. “We expect nothing to happen until after the 15th.”
The legislation that created this annual lull was proposed and approved in an unexplained rush in December 2004, only days before the first holiday took effect. It prompted an unusually vigorous debate.
Valery Fedorov, a member of the upper house of parliament, warned at the time that such a long break would hurt the country’s development, presciently as it turned out. Last January, industrial production dropped 27 percent and investment 71 percent compared with the month before, according official statistics cited by Goldman Sachs.
“I would like to do everything possible, and we shall do everything possible, so that the results which we have achieved in developing our economy will lead to serious positive changes in the life of each specific person,” Putin said in his New Year’s address.
Only, after the holidays.

TITLE: Belarus Blocks Transit of Russian Oil
AUTHOR: By Yuras Karmanau
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MINSK, Belarus — Belarus has blocked the transit of Russian oil through its territory to European countries including Germany and Poland, news reports said Monday, raising the stakes in a bitter energy dispute between Russia and the neighboring former Soviet nation.
EU energy chief Andris Piebalgs said Monday the cuts pose “no immediate risk” to energy supplies in the EU, but that he was seeking an “urgent and detailed explanation” of the cuts from authorities in Belarus and Russia.
The head of the Russian state pipeline operator Transneft, Simon Vainshtok, accused Belarus of siphoning off Russian oil through the Druzhba, or Friendship, pipeline that was destined for Europe since the weekend.
“On Jan. 6 the Belarusian side, without warning anyone, unilaterally started illegally siphoning off oil from the Druzhba pipeline designed solely for the transportation of oil to consumers in Western Europe,” Vainshtok was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
The Transneft chief said that Belarus had diverted 79,000 tons of oil so far and called on Minsk to ensure the uninterrupted transit of oil. He added that Russia was doing everything it could to boost oil exports to Europe via other routes.
The 2,500-mile-long pipeline has the capacity to ship over 1.2 million barrels a day to eastern and central Europe and generally works at or close to its full capacity.
Belneftekhim, a large state Belarusian industrial and energy holding company, ordered the suspension of transit of oil through Druzhba to Germany, Poland and Ukraine, the Interfax and Itar Tass news agencies quoted unidentified officials from the pipeline’s Belarusian section as saying.
Officials from Belneftekhim declined to comment.
In Warsaw, the Economics Ministry said Monday that Poland was suffering disruptions in oil deliveries from the pipeline that crosses Belarus, the result of the dispute between Moscow and Minsk.
“This shows us once again that arguments among various countries of the former Soviet Union, between suppliers and transit countries, mean that these deliveries are unreliable from our perspective,” Poland’s deputy economy minister, Piotr Naimski, told TVN24 television.
The German government confirmed that the pipeline, which supplied two refineries in Germany, had been shut down. “I can confirm the Druzhba pipeline has been closed,” said Economic Ministry spokesman Hendrik Luchtmeier. “We are trying to ascertain the reasons.”
The impact of a short-term stoppage in Poland and Germany is likely to be minimal, as refineries maintain strategic oil stocks.
In a statement read by his spokesman, Piebalgs said he was trying to find out if Slovakia and countries in southeastern Europe were also affected. He said he was considering calling a special meeting of energy experts from the 27 EU nations to discuss the situation, in case they had to draw on oil stocks.
Piebalgs spokesman Ferran Tarradellas Espuny said Poland had 70 days of reserves and Germany 130 days.
The suspension of oil deliveries comes just days after Belarus and Russia reached a last-ditch agreement on gas prices that avoided a New Year’s cutoff of natural gas for Belarusian consumers that threatened a repeat of last year’s energy dispute between Moscow and Kiev.
Belarus grudgingly accepted a doubling of the price it pays for imports of Russian natural gas, on which it depends for industry and home heating.
But the two countries are now locked in a dispute over oil duties, with Russia determined to stop Belarus from re-exporting petroleum products made from processing Russian oil bought cheaply.
Jason Schenker, an economist with Wachovia Corporation in Charlotte, North Carolina, who covers the oil and gas industry, said that if the dispute is not contained soon, it could cause overall oil prices to rise as sellers from other markets could take the opportunity to raise their own prices.
“If this situation is not resolved with relative expediency, the market may interpret it as a repeat of the Ukraine situation from last year, which would have bullish energy price implications,” Schenker said. “The magnitude of the reaction of energy markets will be directly dependent on how protracted this situation becomes or appears likely to become.”
Several countries in the European Union, which depends on Russia for 25 percent of its gas supply, suffered a brief disruption in early 2006 after Moscow suspended gas deliveries to Ukraine because of a pricing dispute. Ukraine and Belarus are the transit route for Russian gas to Europe.
The inefficient, Soviet-style state-dominated economy in Belarus and leader Alexander Lukashenko’s popularity has depended heavily on subsidized Russian energy — but analysts say the Kremlin has grown impatient at supporting his regime while receiving little in return.
Last week, Belarus announced it would charge an import duty of $45 per metric ton of Russian oil shipped to Western Europe in pipelines that cross Belarus. The move followed Russia’s imposition of an export duty of $180 a ton on oil sold to Belarus.

TITLE: Acting President of Turkmenistan Promises Changes After Election
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan — Turkmenistan’s acting president, in his first campaign statement for next month’s election, called for wider Internet access in the country and for improving pensions that were slashed last year, state-controlled media reported last Thursday.
Under the late President Saparmurat Niyazov, who ruled Turkmenistan for two decades, access to the Internet was tightly restricted to state and officially approved groups, embassies, accredited foreign journalists and international organizations.
The authoritarian leader also stripped more than 100,000 elderly Turkmens of their pensions last year under a law that canceled sick leave and maternity leave payments.
Deputy Prime Minister Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov, who became acting president after Niyazov’s death on Dec. 21, told voters at a campaign meeting on Wednesday that “Internet should be accessible to every one of our citizens” and that the pension system should be re-examined “to help those in need,” state newspapers reported.
However, the reports said Berdymukhamedov also said it was necessary to “steadfastly follow the bidding of the great Saparmurat Turkmenbashi,” using the title meaning “Father of All Turkmen” that Niyazov bestowed on himself.
Berdymukhamedov is one of six candidates for the Feb. 11 election. All candidates were chosen by the country’s highest legislative body. Turkmenistan has only one legal political party.
Those conditions have raised doubts among foreign observers about how free and fair the election will be.
But Berdymukhamedov promised voters that the balloting will be “just, honest and open,” the reports said.
“I want to be president of a democratic country, where rich people live and work,” he was reported as saying.

TITLE: City-Tallinn Rail Link
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: ST. PETERSBURG — The rail connection between St. Petersburg and Tallinn is planned to be restored this year, Fontanka.ru news agency reported quoting Ekho Moskvy radio station and the Itar Tass news agency. 
The exact date of the service’s start and the timetable is yet to be decided, Itar Tass reported.

TITLE: Petting Zoo With Wolf
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: ST. PETERSBURG — St. Petersburg’s Zoo will open a new children’s section this year, Rosbalt reported Thursday. 
Situated by the zoo’s central square alongside the Kronverg canal, the new section is said to open its doors in the end of May, coinciding with City Day. 
Kids will be able to “directly communicate” with ponies, goats, guinea-hens, pigs and other animals, the agency reported. 
A caged wolf will also be a part of the display to help youngsters to change their perception of the predator, which is often depicted as evil in Russian fairytales, the organizers said.

TITLE: Tram Centenary
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — The city will celebrate 100 years of its trams in 2007, NTV reported on Friday.
The history of St. Petersburg’s tram system will be depicted in the form of models on show at Central Museum of the Railway Transport, one of the oldest technology museums in the world. For decades, St. Petersburg had the biggest tram infrastructure in the world, NTV said quoting Itar Tass news agency.

TITLE: Church Praises Growth
AUTHOR: By Jim Heintz
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW — The head of the Russian Orthodox Church praised the growth of the church in a Christmas Eve message Saturday, and later presided over services at a Moscow cathedral that symbolizes the faith’s revival after Soviet rule.
The Russian Orthodox Church, like some other Orthodox churches, including the one in Serbia, observes Christmas on Jan. 7 because it follows the Julian calendar for its liturgical schedule instead of the Gregorian calendar, adopted by Roman Catholics and Protestants and commonly used in secular life around the world.
Patriarch Alexy II, dressed in golden robes and an elaborate miter, presided over Christmas Eve services at Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral, which was torn down in 1931 under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin and reconstructed in the 1990s.
In a message released earlier in the day, Alexy expressed satisfaction with the growth of the church.
“Ever more people are returning to the homeland faith, churches are filled with parishioners of all ages, millions of people are reading spiritual literature and taking part in church affairs,” Alexy said.
The Russian church has seen a strong revival since the collapse of the officially atheist Soviet Union in 1991. It now claims more than 27,000 parishes and 700 monasteries throughout the former U.S.S.R.
During Soviet rule, the church continued to operate under tightly constrained conditions. Many Russian Orthodox believers overseas considered the Moscow-based church essentially a Kremlin pawn and formed a splinter denomination, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.
But those two churches reconciled last year, and in May plan to sign a formal reunification.
In his message, Alexy also expressed concern about tensions in the Middle East.
“The tragic events in the Holy Land have caused great pain in the hearts of all believers. There, where 2,000 years ago the angels announced ‘Glory to God in the highest and peace on Earth,’ the blood of the innocent has been spilled anew,” he said.
Serbian Patriarch Pavle, meanwhile, urged Serbs to overcome “senseless” internal divisions, and called on Serbs in Kosovo to be steadfast amid tensions.
Orthodox Serbs consider Kosovo, although today predominantly ethnic Albanian and Muslim, the heart of their ancient homeland. Since the end of a 1998-1999 war between ethnic Albanian rebels and Serb forces, Kosovo’s minority Serbs have lived in guarded enclaves under fear of attack at the hands of Albanians, and many Orthodox churches and monuments there have been destroyed or vandalized.
“In the end, the oppressed will defeat the oppressors,” Pavle said. “We pray for our enemies so they see that doing evil can bring no good.”

TITLE: 2006: Divas, Tractors and a Giant Dinosaur
AUTHOR: By Kevin O’Flynn
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: There are always those stories — funny, poignant, touching, outrageous — that never make it onto the front pages but stick with readers long after the big, blaring, five-column headlines have receded from memory.
Looking back on 2006, there are plenty of these buried gems worth recalling, if only briefly.
It was, perhaps above all, the year of singers paying homage to high-paying oligarchs, who doled out hundreds of thousands, even millions, of dollars for over-the-top birthday bashes.
Jennifer Lopez, Robbie Williams, Shakira and Christina Aguilera were among those who reportedly came to croon for the super rich. Whether any of them were made to sing in a dimly lit dining room with a screeching microphone and speakers turned up to 11 — as has been reported — remains unknown. No one we know was invited.
Not so strangely, no one’s ever thought of sending a double to perform on their behalf for gun-toting capitalists. That was not the case earlier this year, when an imposter dared to provoke the wrath of fans of Maxim Galkin, Russia’s most beloved impersonator.
Having paid up to $45 for tickets, fans expected to see the impersonator impersonate, not an impersonator impersonating an impersonator. When audience-goers noticed the performer slipping into a strange voice, they stormed the stage. Police say they will interview the would-be Galkin once he is released from the hospital.
Cynical newsmen are fond of saying there are no new stories, just old ones that reappear again and again. There were a couple of moments in 2006 when it looked like the rule would be broken.
You would think a slow-speed tractor chase ending in a shootout, for instance, was a first.
The unidentified, Leningrad-region tractor driver had spent the night slumped behind his tractor, presumably after a night on the village, when he was waved down by police. The man, whose tractor didn’t have any license plates, headed off the road toward a forest; the patrol car followed.
Police fired two warning shots into the air but the tractor didn’t stop. Finally, the officers pumped nine bullets into one of the tractor’s tires. The tractor driver managed to limp along for another 350 meters before his vehicle finally came to a stop and he was arrested.
Sadly, the story was not new. Two years before, police were forced to fire 31 bullets into the tire of a tractor to stop a similarly inebriated tractor operator.
Ditto with man-bites-policeman stories. A drunk Karelia man was fined 3,000 rubles earlier this month after he bit a police officer’s thigh. That was one of at least three similar incidents in December alone.
Of course, police haven’t been afraid to use their mouths either. A Ukrainian traffic cop swallowed $400 of a $1,200 bribe he’d accepted after being arrested. The evidence was later retrieved from his stomach.
The police officer was luckier than the Novgorod man who had the misfortune to phone in a complaint about a policeman to a local help-line service.
The call was traced by police and the man arrested. He was then forced to eat a condom and epaulets, helpfully sliced into small pieces to make them go down easier. When he asked for water, he was given a bottle of urine. The police officer was sentenced to three years in prison.
As the Putin era enters its final stretch, the adulation for the president persists. Indeed, the younger generation seems to have learned from its elders. In a competition this year, children were asked to draw pictures of the president. One child portrayed President Vladimir Putin as a superhero conquering the moon and Mars; another had him brushing his teeth in a bathroom featuring a shiny, gold toilet.
The State Duma, meanwhile, debated whether to grant faux-lesbian pop-music duo Tatu a state medal and considered sending Madonna to the international space station.
Madonna, for her part, made news in Moscow this year, performing for the first time in Russia. But it was a group of older musicians that drew the country’s political elite.
Rockers Dmitry Medvedev and Sergei Ivanov, otherwise known as the deputy first prime minister and defense minister, respectively, turned up for a Deep Purple show. Both presidential hopefuls claimed — weakly — they simply applauded and did not shake their heads or otherwise get down on it when “Smoke on the Water” was played.
Meanwhile, two unknown young men scared Moscow State University workers when they filmed themselves climbing (almost) to the top of the the Stalin-era building, entering what appeared to be a library and jumping out the window. As onlookers gasped, the two jumpers’ parachutes opened, and they floated down to earth unscathed, posting their hijinks on YouTube.
The 2006 Most Talentless Thief Award went to Alexei Ashurin, who really, really tried to steal cars but always managed to screw up. One time, he passed out drunk in a car he’d just snagged. Another time, he stole a car parked at a mechanic’s garage; unfortunately, Ashurin picked a car that had yet to be repaired, which may explain why the brakes failed and he crashed.
Ashurin made a final go at it — only to run out of gas in rush-hour traffic. When the police came to help, they noticed a screwdriver that had been used to jump-start the car sticking out of the ignition.
Too bad for Ashurin the police weren’t distracted by the sight of Marusya the dinosaur riding through Moscow on the back of a truck. Built in the apartment of ex-Moscow Times reporter Nick Allen, the beast was donated to the Darwin Museum.

TITLE: The Mariinsky Plays on the Shores of the Red Sea
AUTHOR: By Matthew Brown
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: EILAT, Israel — The orchestra of St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theater wrapped a short tour to Israel on Saturday with a stunning performance of Verdi’s “Requiem” featuring soprano Yekaterina Semenchuk and basses Alexei Tanovistsky and Eduard Tsanga, among others, in the Red Sea resort of Eilat in country’s far south.
The orchestra and chorus, under the baton of artistic director Valery Gergiev, traveled to Eilat on Wednesday to give three evening concerts and two afternoon chamber performances as part of the 2007 Red Sea International Music Festival.
At a reception held in honor of the visiting musicians on Thursday, Gergiev said that he was pleased to support the festival — now in its second year — with a program of “Russian, French and Italian music” and he pledged to return with the orchestra for the event in 2008. 
A concert version of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “The Golden Cockerel” and a performance of Hector Berlioz’s “Benvenuto Cellini” rounded out the program.
Semenchuk achieved international recognition when she performed Russian liturgical music at the British royal wedding reception of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles at Windsor Castle in April 2005. 
Still in its infancy, the festival hopes to attract Israeli and international music lovers to Eilat during its low season when temperatures at the resort town fall to a relatively chilly 20 deg C. 
The St. Petersburg visitors clearly relished the balmy conditions and the tour was a relaxing counterpoint to the orchestra’s otherwise backbreaking international tour schedule.
Gergiev joked that the engagement gave him and his musicians a chance to go swimming in the coral-filled waters of the Red Sea.
An unusual feature of the festival was its venue. With no concert hall large enough to accommodate the 200-plus member orchestra and chorus, the town of Eilat converted a hangar at its port into an performance space.
Among trucks, loading cranes, an oil terminal and hundreds of new cars straight off the boat from South Korea, members of Eilat’s high society gathered in gowns and tuxedos to sip red wine in a marquee erected next to the hangar. 
One woman commented that she and her husband had driven from Jerusalem — some four hours’ drive across the Red Sea Desert north of Eilat — to attend the concert series. 
Although the acoustics of the venue were unsuited to the orchestra and singers, and unintended sound effects included the loud whirring of air conditioning fans and the occasional buzz of light aircraft coming into land at Eilat’s nearby domestic airport, the enthusiasm of the audience made the event lively and exciting. 
The concert program kicked off a big year for Gergiev who took up the position of chief conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra from Jan. 1, Interfax reported last week. He replaced Sir Colin Davis who had headed the orchestra since 1995. 
In London, Gergiev will supervise 12 symphony programs each year, including LSO performances at London’s Barbican cultural center, Interfax said. Gergiev, also a guest conductor at the New York Metropolitan Opera and with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, will oversee a global tour by the LSO that may take the orchestra to Japan and the United States. 
The 53-year-old Russian conductor is also slated to conduct the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in Toronto, Canada, in mid-February in a program of music by Claude Debussy and Igor Stravinsky, the Toronto Star reported. 
The newspaper reported last week that the tireless maestro is due to conduct a half-dozen North American orchestras during the next 18 months.

TITLE: Oil Nears $57 Due To Halt
AUTHOR: By Simon Webb
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: LONDON — Oil prices climbed to $57 on Monday as Russian crude supplies halted through a pipeline that meets a fifth of demand from Europe’s largest economy Germany and top exporter Saudi Arabia detailed February supply cuts.
U.S. crude was up 60 cents at $56.91 by 0949 GMT, after falling by nearly 8 percent last week. London Brent crude rose 79 cents to $56.43.
Russian crude supplies through the 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline to Poland and Germany stopped overnight, Polish officials said on Monday.
Russia is the world’s second largest exporter and about two-fifths of its shipments go through the line.
“As far as we know it has to do with a dispute between the Russian Federation and Belarus over export duties on the one hand and transport fees on the other,” Poland’s Deputy Economy Minister Piotr Naimski told news TV channel TVN24.
The Druzhba pipeline to Central Europe passes through Belarus, which is locked in a tit-for-tat row over energy supplies with Russia.
Belarus slapped a duty on transit shipments of Russian crude oil through the pipeline last week in retaliation to Russia imposing duties on oil sales to Belarus and doubling the price to Minsk of Russian gas imports. The row escalated at the weekend.
The interruption to Russian supplies added to a gain of 72 cents on Friday after unexpectedly upbeat U.S. jobs data, which eased fears of a sharp economic slowdown in the world’s top consumer.
The world’s largest oil exporter Saudi Arabia will cut oil output by 158,000 bpd from Feb. 1 in line with OPEC’s latest production cut, a Saudi source told Reuters on Monday.
The source confirmed that the kingdom’s total cut, including curbs made to supply in November, would equal 538,000 bpd. That would take Saudi supplies to 8.5 million bpd.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed last month to cut 500,000 bpd from supplies from February 1, adding to a 1.2 million bpd cut that came into effect on Nov. 1.
But a Reuters survey showed on Friday that OPEC had made little further progress in December in lowering supply to bolster prices, as higher output from some members offset continuing cutbacks by Saudi Arabia and others.
Supply from the 10 countries bound by output targets was 26.96 million bpd, up 60,000 bpd from Nov. 1, the survey found on Friday. December supply was 680,000 bpd less than in October, just over half the cut OPEC pledged from Nov. 1. Oil is still down over $4 since the start of the year as warm weather in the U.S. Northeast curbs demand in the world’s largest heating oil market and oil stocks rise.
Heating demand in the region was forecast to average much below normal for the next five days, with the six-to-10-day forecast for temperatures to average above normal, private forecaster DTN Meteorlogix said.
Goldman Sachs, among the most bullish investment banks on oil, has cut its 2007 forecast for the second time in almost as many weeks due to mild weather, but still expects U.S. crude to recover from current weakness to average $69 this year.

TITLE: Elections and Oil Hold Key for Business in 2007
AUTHOR: By Simon Shuster
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: It has been a banner year for Russian stocks, but analysts expect to see that banner waver in 2007, when volatility picks up on local markets and the looming State Duma and presidential elections shake up the ties between business and power.
The giants of the local markets reigned this year as Russia became the 10th-largest economy in the world, reaching a gross domestic product of $960 billion this month.
Electricity utility Unified Energy Systems, pushing ahead with a breakneck program to spin off 73 subsidiaries and liberalize the energy market, saw its share price soar by 136 percent this year.
State-run monopoly Gazprom has added 56 percent to its stock since January 2006, making it the highest-valued company outside of the United States, worth $274 billion.
“This was the year of the blue chips,” said Kim Iskyan, head of research at MDM Bank, adding that next year, “the second tiers, assuming sufficient liquidity, are going to outperform.”
The odds of finding that liquidity look good, analysts said, especially with Russia’s entry into the World Trade Organization all but guaranteed after a deal with the United States was signed in November, ending 13 years of tough negotiations.
Many analysts called the deal the greatest step forward for the country’s economy in 2006.
“It will give a lot of confidence to a lot of direct foreign investors,” said James Beadle, head of research at Pilgrim Asset Management. “It will support and continue to attract money into the country.”
But with more than 40 initial public offerings slated for 2007, to be valued at around $30 billion, there will be almost twice as many companies vying for that money, and some analysts said there might not be enough interest from foreign investors to go around.
In such a case, local strategic investors are expected to step in, with the bulk of them linked — to a greater or lesser extent — to the government. The balance, therefore, that will be reached between strategic and free-floating stakes may end up making all the difference in an economy still shedding the skins of state control.

WEATHER AND WAR
Oil exports have been the lifeblood of the country’s economy since it took its first steps on the free market. Since 1999, it has been widely seen as the main force behind the economic growth rate topping 6 percent each year.
This year, Brent crude prices were especially buoyant, averaging $67 per barrel after a historic peak of more than $73 in July. In recent months, however, the price has leveled off. Brent was trading at $60.90 per barrel in London on Thursday morning, and most economic forecasts for next year, including those written into the federal budget, are based on the assumption that it will stay above $60 per barrel.
Alfa Bank strategist Erik DePoy said this assumption hinged on a pair of highly unpredictable factors — “the two Ws: weather and war.”
On both fronts, analysts expect local investors to indulge in more than a little schadenfreude over the oil price, hoping for fierce weather to raise demand and international conflict to hinder supply.
“There are indications that the Israeli Defense Force is just lying low,” DePoy said. “They still might go really full force. It’s something that the oil traders have got to be thinking about.”
“But if nothing happens, that could take some steam out of the market,” he said.
The continuing standoff over Iran’s nuclear ambitions will put regular upward pressure on oil prices. In April 2007, all eyes will be on the Nigerian elections. Africa’s largest oil producer has already been forced to cut about one-quarter of its daily output after repeated rebel attacks against foreign-owned refineries and pipelines. Pre-election violence in the country could force further export cutbacks ahead of the U.S. summer driving season, when oil prices usually peak.
For every dollar increase in oil prices, Russia’s export revenues grow by $3.6 billion and the federal budget jumps $1.7 billion, Renaissance Capital said in a report this month.
This month’s meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, had a pleasant surprise in store for Russia: a supply cut of 500,000 barrels per day, beginning in February.
But analysts doubt OPEC’s ability to follow through on its pledge, and mild weather combined with an easing of Middle East strife, however unlikely, could knock the crutch of oil exports out from under the Russian economy.
“We cannot entirely dismiss a potential return to $20 to $30 per barrel,” the report said.

REGIME CHANGE
The upcoming State Duma and presidential elections will be the single-biggest source of volatility on Russian markets, said Roland Nash, head of research at Renaissance Capital.
“We will have a regime change,” Nash said, “and that involves a great deal of potential volatility. There will be a great deal of reshuffling both in the personnel and management structures [of Russian companies].”
But even if the status quo is maintained, perceptions of chaos in the Western media may nevertheless spark a downturn.
“As an investor, I am not only concerned about real risk but also perceived risk,” said Beadle of Pilgrim Asset Management. “And so far, it seems the real risk is coming from vocal opponents in the media of the way that Russia is developing.”
Fears that links of influence will be broken between business and power are also largely unfounded, Nash said, as outgoing officials and politicians will more likely be reassigned than kicked out of the power circles completely. “The job of politics is a job for life in Russia, one way or another.”
In the eyes of investors, Duma elections will mainly be viewed as an indicator of how the presidential elections will unfold in early 2008, when President Vladimir Putin is slated to step down. But more than likely, he will only step backstage, Nash said.
“The assumption is that Putin will be able to manage both elections without producing a government entirely different from the one we have now.”

THE ALMIGHTY RUBLE
In 2007, the ruble is expected to continue gaining on the dollar after appreciating 8.3 percent in real terms this year.
The greenback is now valued at 26.38 rubles after a November drop, and analysts expect it to be worth between 24 rubles and 25 rubles by 2008.
Appreciation of the ruble goes hand in hand with lower inflation levels, which are on track to stay below 9 percent, the first single-digit yearly inflation rate since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Some volatility in the ruble will come after the implementation of the Euroclear system, which will expose the ruble to the effects of the global FX market and weaken the Central Bank’s powers to check volatility, Alfa Bank chief strategist Chris Weafer said in a research note.
Because the ruble is pegged to a dollar-euro currency basket, a sharp downturn in the dollar would be buffered by the more stable euro.
But not everyone is rooting for the ruble to gain. Exporters incur costs in rubles and earn most of their profits in dollars, so they stand to suffer the most if the appreciation trend continues.
Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, the leading fiscal hawk in the government, warned last week that further strength in the ruble would be “a serious blow for the economy,” and called on the Central Bank to stop letting the ruble appreciate now that inflation has been curbed.
Natural pressures against inflation will be enough to meet the 8 percent target for next year, Pilgrim’s Beadle said.

TITLE: Liquid Gas Sale
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: ST. PETERSBURG — Polish gas distributor CP Energia acquired Kriogaz, a St. Petersburg-based liquid gas producer, Interfax reported on Dec.  29. The prior agreement was signed in August.
CP Energia also signed an agreement with Gazprom Export to supply 1.34 million cubic meters (1,000 tons) of liquid gas to Europe in 2007.

TITLE: Beer Merger Complete
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: ST. PETERSBURG — Baltika brewery has completed acquisition of Pikra, Vena and Yarpivo plants, the company’s press service said on Dec. 29.
The merger was announced on Jan. 18, 2006 in order to consolidate Russian assets of Baltic Beverages Holding.

TITLE: Transneft Profits
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: ST. PETERSBURG — Transneft’s net profit increased by 24 percent in the first nine months of 2006 compared to the same period of 2005, Interfax reported on Dec. 29.
The company reported net profit at 50.8 billion rubles ($1.9 billion), according to IFRS. Revenue accounted for 147 billion rubles ($5.6 billion) — a 12.4 percent increase on the previous year.

TITLE: Money Comes In
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: ST. PETERSBURG — Net capital inflow to Russia last year accounted for about $40 billion, according to prior data, Interfax cited Russian president Vladimir Putin as saying on Dec. 29.
In previous years the Central Bank reported net capital outflow of $15 billion to $25 billion.

TITLE: Housing Charges Up
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: ST. PETERSBURG — Tariffs for housing services increased by 17.9 percent during 2006, Interfax reported on Dec. 29 citing a report issued by Federal State Statistics Service.
Although tariff increases slowed by the end of the year, growth through the whole year was twice the inflation rate, which was reported at 9 percent.
In 2005, inflation was 10.9 percent while tariffs for housing services grew by 32.7 percent.

TITLE: Google Stock Boosts Californian Coffers
AUTHOR: By Aaron Davis
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: SACRAMENTO, California — Someday, this era may simply be known as The Google Years. California, whose budget revenue slides up and down like a yo-yo with changes in capital gains and stock options, is once again counting on outsized income tax filings from a handful of tech executives to help balance its budget.
For this wave, California can largely thank Google Inc.
After cashing in more than 9 million shares valued at $3.7 billion last year, 16 Google insiders will owe the Golden State as much as $380 million in taxes — enough to cover the salaries of more than 3,000 state workers.
Taxes paid by Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page account for nearly half the amount. There is virtually no way for them or other California billionaires to escape a 9.3 percent state capital gains tax or a recent voter-approved 1 percent tax on the wealthy to underwrite the state’s mental health programs.
“On behalf of a grateful state, I’ll be happy to wash their windows or mow their lawn,” said H.D. Palmer, spokesman for California’s Department of Finance.
In the often slippery world of state finance, the wildly successful Google has had an unusually tangible effect on California’s budget. It has become the face of an extraordinary two-year resurgence in state capital gains and stock-options revenue, much of which can be traced back to the tech sector.
Mega-sized tax filings from Google executives began flowing into state coffers in earnest in 2006, two years after the company went public. The receipts helped fuel a multibillion dollar tax windfall last spring that allowed Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to pour money into roads, classrooms and other popular programs, pleasing political enemies and helping smooth his path to re-election.
Schwarzenegger’s good fortune, it turns out, did not end there.
As Google’s stock topped $500 in 2006, company executives continued to sell hundreds of thousands of shares each month, according to an analysis of insider transaction data provided by research firm Thomson Financial.
The analysis makes clear that California will reap big benefits from a rebounded tech economy for the budget year that will begin in July. The revenue even might allow Schwarzenegger to avoid painful cuts to a budget that ballooned 11 percent last year, to $131.4 billion.
Google insiders are on pace to pay a cumulative $1 billion by 2008 in state income tax since the company went public. Combined, that’s about 1 percent of the state’s annual general fund budget.
Although the company is helping push capital gains revenue above historical averages, state finance experts say they are not overly concerned that the latest tech boost is another bubble ready to burst and wreak havoc with the state budget.
According to the state’s latest figures, capital gains and stock options accounted for nearly 14 cents of every tax dollar collected in California in the fiscal year that ended last summer. Similar numbers are expected this year. That’s nearly double the percentage two years ago, following the dot-com bust.
But that’s still less than the heady days of the Internet boom in 2000, when capital gains and stock options accounted for a whopping 40 percent of all personal income in California and a quarter of the state’s tax revenue.
Nonetheless, state officials say they are closely monitoring the income.
“I admit, I’ve been looking at those insider trading sheets almost daily. It’s amazing; day after day, millions and millions of shares,” said Brad Williams, senior fiscal forecaster for the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office. “It’s not all attributable to one company, but Google is a big sign that we’re going to see capital gains again this year and that the budget won’t be as bad as it could be.”
Last month, the analyst’s office released its fiscal outlook for the budget year beginning in July. It predicted capital gains and stock options would help lift California’s current-year bank balance $1 billion above earlier forecasts.
California also will receive a bounce from the 2006 stock sales of other leading high-tech CEOs.
That includes nearly $17 million from the sale of shares by Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Larry Ellison and nearly $10 million from shares sold by Cisco Systems Inc. Chief Executive John Chambers, according to figures provided by Thomson Financial.
The state also will receive about $3.5 million in unexpected tax revenue from a million shares of Hewlett-Packard Co. stock that company insiders sold during the spying scandal that rocked the computer and printer maker last year.
The news, however, is not all good for the state.
California faces a $5.5 billion budget gap in the next fiscal year, and billions in revenue the state is counting on could evaporate overnight with a drop in the stock market.
Economists say California’s increasing dependence on tech stocks underscores the state’s unusually high reliance on such volatile revenue sources. It also exacerbates the state’s structural budget imbalance by providing bursts of money that lawmakers have been eager to spend on new or expanded programs, rather than setting it aside in reserves.
That money can dry up in down years and leave the state facing massive spending deficits.
Lawmakers drove up state spending nearly 40 percent during three years of the dot-com boom, a spree that has left the state’s spending needs perched above its revenue. The state has largely balanced its budget since then with a combination of borrowing, cuts and deferred payments.
Schwarzenegger has opened a reserve fund and with the help of Google ensured the state has $3.1 billion to put toward next year’s shortfall. But fiscal watchdogs point out that the governor also has allowed many costly state programs to grow, and the tech windfall is masking a drop in tax revenue from a depressed housing market.
Last week, Schwarzenegger bet that by spending more he might help prevent another tech bust. Schwarzenegger proposed spending $95 million to pump up biomedical, nanotech and other research programs at California universities.
“It’s money that has a very direct impact on this state. It’s where you’re going to find the next Oracle, next Google or next eBay,” said Palmer, the finance spokesman. “It’s not only about being on the cutting edge of nano, bio or what have you, but about job creation in the state and the revenue the state takes in. The benefits are pretty obvious.”

TITLE: Microsoft Opens New Vista in Vegas
AUTHOR: By May Wong
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: LAS VEGAS — For more than a decade, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and others in the tech industry have touted a vision of a connected lifestyle, in which digital content can move across devices throughout the home and be taken on the go. It’s been a slow march. But as Gates kicked off the International Consumer Electronics Show late Sunday, the industry has come further than ever in delivering on that concept.
“Every year represents a lot of progress,” he said in an interview Sunday with The Associated Press.
The improvements have taken many forms.
Building the underlying networks. Developing the technologies to get devices to communicate. Creating the hardware that can handle the digital data. Returning to the drawing board when there were flops. And finally, getting the backing of entertainment sources to embrace this new era of media consumption.
But more work remains, Gates said.
“There’s still a lot to be done there, especially when you get into rights-oriented content and how simple that can be made so the creative people are happy with it and yet the flexibility (for consumers) is there,” he said.
In his 11th annual speech headlining the world’s largest tech convention, Gates highlighted how Microsoft’s latest creations and partnerships aim to make it easier for people to navigate, consume, share and manage different kinds of content, whether they are games, movies, family photos, sports or work.
The keynote came as the software titan heads into one of its most significant periods of attracting consumers to its widening portfolio of computing, gaming and entertainment products. Its software has pervaded not only computers, but also cell phones, portable media players, home media centers and even cars.
The consumer launch of Windows Vista later this month is the company’s first major overhaul of its operating system since Windows XP was launched in 2001.
Gates discussed some additional features not yet disclosed. Among them is a new “sports lounge” area so users tapped into Microsoft’s MSN Soapbox online site can simultaneously view additional sports information, up-to-date fantasy sports data and the latest sports videos.
Microsoft has also teamed with the Nickelodeon and Showtime television networks and Starz Entertainment’s Vongo subscription movie service so their Web-based content will be directly available through Vista. Movies downloaded from Vongo can also be played on the TV using Microsoft’s Xbox 360 game console.
Sharing the stage with Gates was Robbie Bach, head of the company’s entertainment and Xbox division, to highlight how the machine is becoming a home entertainment hub that does more than just play games.
More than 10.4 million Xbox 360 consoles have been sold since the system launched in November 2005. The Xbox Live online marketplace now sells downloadable movies and features more than 1,000 hours of TV and movie content.
During the keynote, Gates also unveiled how Microsoft’s computer-making partners have designed new PCs to take advantage of Vista’s software advances.
Hewlett-Packard Co. is set to have a new all-in-one computer and touch-screen display designed to fit into a kitchen nook or a family room, letting users scribble messages on the screen or watch a movie. Toshiba is debuting a high-end tablet notebook that has a secondary display on the front edge so users can read incoming e-mail or calendar alerts even while the laptop lid is closed.
Sony is planning a new Windows Vista media center that is white and round, meant to look more like an entertainment electronics device than a computer.
Gates also announced Windows Home Server, a software platform that can serve as a beefy repository for a household’s mushrooming collection of digital photos, videos, music and documents. The server also provides automatic data backups and allows family and friends to access some files remotely over the Internet.
To some, however, the most interesting announcement by Gates might be the addition of Texas Hold ‘Em in its preloaded selection of games in Vista.
How appropriate in Vegas.

TITLE: U.S. Hiring, Wages Up Strongly in December
AUTHOR: By Jeannine Aversa
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: WASHINGTON — Ending 2006 on a positive note, employers boosted hiring and fattened workers’ paychecks in December, capping a year in which the country’s unemployment rate averaged a six-year low of 4.6 percent.
The latest snapshot of the nation’s employment climate, released Friday by the Labor Department, suggested that most businesses held up pretty well as the real-estate bust caused the economy to lose momentum last year.
Employers added 167,000 new jobs to their payrolls in December, and the unemployment rate held steady at 4.5 percent.
That showing was “rock solid,” said Nigel Gault, economist at Global Insight.
The tally of jobs was the most since September. Employment gains also turned out to have been stronger in both October and November with 29,000 more jobs being created in those two months combined than the government had estimated.
Sharing in last month’s gains were architectural and engineering outfits, hospitals and doctors’ offices, banks, computer design firms, bars and restaurants, hotels and motels, and schools. Those increases swamped job losses in construction and manufacturing that reflected fallout from the troubled housing and automotive sectors. Retailers also cut workers.
“The economy seems to be weathering the storm clouds in the auto and housing industries. Employers are putting out the hiring signs — though they are not being overly aggressive — and workers are earning more money,” said Lynn Reaser, chief economist at Bank of America’s Investment Strategies Group.
For all of 2006, the economy added 1.8 million jobs, or an average of 153,000 a month, which was down from an average of 165,000 a month in 2005. The job creation was sufficient to help pull down the unemployment rate to 4.6 percent last year.
With the economy losing momentum, many economists predict the jobless rate will climb this year and average around 4.9 percent.
Paychecks grew briskly last month.
Workers saw their average hourly earnings jump to $17.04 in December, a 0.5 percent rise from the prior month.

TITLE: What 2006 Promised For The Coming Year
AUTHOR: By Anna Shcherbakova
TEXT: We always have high hopes in the New Year period. But let’s take a look at the year that has just come to an end. Did 2006 meet expectations? It was record-breaking in many ways. The stock market grew by 70 percent. But this is too global to influence the St. Petersburg economy directly. Golden rays did, however, also shine down on our city, or, at least, they’re expected to shortly. 
First of all, the decision to erect the monster building that will be Gazprom City was taken in 2006. This 320-meter tall skyscraper, at a cost of $2 billion, should only be ready only by 2016, but it is already attracting international attention to the city and has divided its citizens, with many against a tower that, they claim, will spoil the historical landscape. 
Another big plan from 2006 — City Hall and UES (United Energy Systems) agreed to invest about $10 billion to improve and develop the city’s energy system over the next five years. Nothing nearly as brave has been undertaken in the last 20 years, so the energy deficit is currently increasing by 10 percent a year. It’s only the entirely atypical warm weather that has saved us from massive shortages in electricity and heating this winter. 
Infrastructure projects — the Western High-Speed Link Road and the Orlovsky Tunnel under the River Neva, both having been left idle on shelf for over a decade were given a new wave of support by the federal Investment Fund, which will co-invest in both undertakings. Their total cost is 83 billion rubles ($3.15 billion) and 26.5 billion rubles ($1 billion) respectively, with investment return periods running over 10 years. No doubt, then, private investors will feel more secure now that the projects will have state financing to the tune of 36 billion rubles ($1.36 billion). 
The abovementioned examples promise a lot of money for the city, but are for the most part the result of the political connections of the city authorities and the fact that many high level federal officials, including President Putin, have St. Petersburg origins. However, infrastructure development will allow for many other projects that will be brought about by market forces, rather than political intrigue. 
2006 brought excellent examples of those market forces at work. In December, Ikea opened two huge malls in the North and South outskirts of the city. Mega-malls, with investment of about $250 million and up to 150 ,000 square meters of premises in each, broke records for the local real estate market. Thanks to these openings and the fearless developers currently working on the construction of yet more malls, St. Petersburg got used to projects costing $100 million and over in 2006. 
The Mega-malls have accommodated retailers which are new to the St. Petersburg market. Most dangerous for local players seems to be the Auchan hypermarket, what is known as a category killer, and German electronic chain Media Markt. 
The latter has already got its Moscow-based competitors quaking in their boots by advertising breath-taking prices for plasma-TV screens and other items that are popular among consumers whose prosperity is blossoming. Increasing buying power encouraged developers to launch complete city districts instead of sole buildings. Several projects for huge residential complexes, ranging from 750, 000 to 1.6 million square meters in size, were announced last year. The developing infrastructure for roads and electricity should allow these plans to come true. So, expectations for 2007 are flying even higher than a year ago. 

Anna Shcherbakova is St. Petersburg bureau chief of business daily Vedomosti.

TITLE: A New Law for Major Investors
AUTHOR: By Pavel Andreyev and Tatyana Rybina
TEXT: As promised, St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko has recently approved a new law providing special concessions for major investors in the city’s economy. 
The Law, effective from Jan. 1, provides relief from property tax and a 4 percent reduction in the regional portion of the profits tax rate for companies investing 3 billion rubles ($113 million) or more. 
For the purposes of the law, investment means commissioning fixed assets (including the results of reconstruction and/or modernization). The time period taken into account in determining the eligibility of investment projects is limited to three consecutive years. 
In order to be eligible for the concession, an investor must not only invest the required amount, but accomplish the investment project within the maximum timeframe allowed and put the assets into operation. In this case, the right to the concession arises from Jan. 1 of the year following the year of completion of the qualifying investment and lasts for five years.
The right to the concession arises if the investor meets the following criteria: a) is a payer of property tax and the regional portion of profits tax in St. Petersburg; b) its activities relate to manufacturing; c) it has invested an overall amount of 3 billion rubles or more in its own fixed assets (including those received as contribution to charter capital).
In addition, the fixed assets should: a) be put into operation in St. Petersburg; b) not have been used in St. Petersburg before; and c) be used for production and/or production management purposes.
When starting to use the concession an investor should provide the tax authorities with information confirming its eligibility thereto. This is to be confirmed by a calculation disclosing the substance of the investments and their value, which is to be provided to the tax authorities along with the tax return for the first accounting period in which the concession is applied.
The amount invested should be accounted for based on the historic cost of the relevant assets. Investment in the modernization and/or reconstruction of assets is to be valued in the amount of the increase in their historic cost due to the modernization and/or reconstruction. 
The law addresses the risk of abuse by providing a number of specifically tailored constraints whose aim is to ensure benefits are restricted to genuine investments which contribute to the development of the city’s economy. 
These limitations include: a) assets received without consideration or under a lease agreement do not qualify; b) assets owned and alienated before entitlement to the concession (i.e. within the three preceding years) are not taken into account; c) alienation of an asset or its transfer from St. Petersburg before the end of the 5-year term in which the concession is in effect leads to cancellation of the concession and obliges the investor to recalculate and pay to the budget the respective taxes for the entire period of the concession (unless the reduction in the value of the qualifying assets takes the total below the qualifying threshold of 3 billion rubles).
Like any piece of newly introduced legislation, the new law does not avoid creating areas of uncertainty. One such confusing point is that an investor loses the right to the concession if the overall amount of its taxes payable to the budget of St. Petersburg in the year the concession applies becomes lower than in the preceding year. This provision of the law requires particular attention, as there is a relief from property tax during the term of the benefit; profit tax during the first years of operating a new production facility is usually very low (if any at all) due to the losses accrued in the period of their construction. 
At the same time, the amount of property tax paid for the year preceding the application of the concession can be significant taking into account that fixed assets are subject to tax almost immediately after they are commissioned.
The idea behind the provision was to allow investors to retain a greater share of the incremental economic benefits generated from investment in production assets, not to allow the payment of less taxes. However, most of major investors may find themselves ineligible for the concession in spite of significant capital spending.
All investments stipulated by the law should be affected starting from Jan. 1. If a company meets all essential criteria during 2007, it may start using the concession in 2008 and arrive at its prohibition in 2009. So, there are still two years to modify the provisions that are unclear to investors and provide for the effective implementation of the law.

Pavel Andreyev is a senior tax consultant and Tatyana Rybina is a tax consultant with Ernst & Young St. Petersburg.

TITLE: More Transaero Planes
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: ST. PETERSBURG — Transaero will buy 11 Boeing aircraft in 2007 using a leasing scheme, Interfax reported Monday.
The airline currently operates six Boeing-747s, seven Boeing-767s and eight Boeing-737s. This year Transaero will buy six long-range Boeing-747s and Boeing-767s and five mid-range Boeing-737-500s to add to its 21-strong fleet.
Transaero also signed an agreement in September with Airbus for eight long-range A330s.

TITLE: NW Telecom Auction
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: ST. PETERSBURG — The Russian Federal Property Fund will sell its stake in Northwest Telecom at an auction on March 15, Interfax reported on Dec. 29.
The starting price for 3.34 percent of shares of the major landline operator in the Northwest region is 1.124 billion rubles ($42.6 million).
Other shareholders of the company are Svyazinvest (39.5 percent), UBS Nominiz (13.5 percent), Deposit and Clearing Company (8.9 percent) and ING Bank (12.2 percent).

TITLE: Keep an Eye Out for Reform’s Second Phase
AUTHOR: Christopher Weafer
TEXT: The year ahead represents an important transition for investors in Russia. Not because it is the last full year of Vladimir Putin’s presidency, but because it is the last in an eight-year preparation phase during which the state has established a dominant role in so-called strategic sectors and has built up a substantial financial reserve base. The hope is that under the next president, beginning in March 2008, the government will start to use these inherited conditions to pursue economic and industrial reforms more actively. This could finally establish a new platform for sustainable growth in the country beyond the current dependency on oil and other extractive industries.
In his first annual address to the joint houses of parliament in early 2000, the newly elected Putin declared that among the key goals for his presidency would be the creation of the infrastructure for a new economic model that could sustain long-term growth, lead to a diversification of drivers for that growth and, ultimately, allow for much broader wealth distribution across the population. In that inaugural speech and in a number of policy speeches delivered during his first term, Putin acknowledged that this was the only way the country could break away from the debilitating economic and social structures of the past and take its place among the world’s most important economies.
But Putin also made it very clear that he was not in favor of pursuing major economic or industrial reforms until he was sure the state could control the process. He wanted to avoid a repeat of the inefficiencies and waste of the 1990s. Over the past seven years, therefore, we have seen the Kremlin prioritize the recovery of its previously unchallenged political role in the country and, since 2004, in the economy via the creation of national champions in the strategic industries that the government identified. While pursuing these objectives, the Kremlin has not only withheld support for major reform initiatives, but in many instances has blocked progress until its national champion was in place to lead the reform. So today, for example, several vast deposits of oil and gas that were identified more than a decade ago remain snugly underground while the country faces a potential gas shortage and oil export growth is negligible.
There is no question that the state has ridden its luck with regard to oil and gas revenues during the seven years of Putin’s presidency. This has paid off handsomely so far, by virtue of the approximately $600 billion in export earnings from this source since 2000. Today, the Kremlin has at its disposal almost $300 billion in financial reserves, including almost $100 billion in the stabilization fund. In 2007, the plan is to add another $80 billion to the fund from a projected budget surplus of $120 billion.
Despite the very healthy and enviable position the economy is in today and almost certainly will continue to enjoy in 2007, the clock is ticking ever louder. If, for example, the geopolitical concerns that are helping support the oil price were to be resolved in early 2007 and the expected internal squabble over quota adjustments within OPEC prevented that organization from effectively dealing with the rapidly rising supply of crude from other countries, then the price of oil could easily dip by $10 or $15 per barrel. Of course, given Russia’s substantial fiscal reserves and the fact that the price required to fully finance federal expenditures requirements is less than $40 per barrel, a price drop of this magnitude would not cause any real crisis. But because oil and gas revenues currently account for over 60 percent of federal budget revenues and a similar share of the value of all Russian exports, a large portion of investment inflows, monetary growth and spending confidence is still very dependent on high oil prices. The major concern for investors should be that if budget oil revenues start to dip below the planned level then, despite healthy reserves, the process of economic, industrial and social reform could easily stall as the government moved to preserve its savings base rather than increase investment spending.
As Putin begins his last full year in office, there has been relatively little progress in achieving some of the key goals identified in early 2000. The economy remains very dependent on and vulnerable to fluctuations in oil and gas revenues, most of the government’s major initiatives, to date, have centered on extractive industries, and the average income of the richest 10 percent of the population is much higher than the unsustainable 15 times that of the poorest 10 percent set as the boundry in some studies. On the positive side and despite having taken far too long, most of the preparation phase is now complete, and the indications are that it is with the arrival of the next president that we will start to see this combination of financial strength and political control being used by the Kremlin finally to move more aggressively toward realizing these long-term goals.
One of the critical issues for both portfolio and strategic investors is whether the Kremlin can define more clearly what role it sees the state playing in this next phase of economic renewal. Is the state’s role intended to be industry-, event- and time-specific, as the more liberal elements of the government are calling for, or is it to be a more wide-ranging, non-defined and permanent role? The more defined approach offers the attractive scenario of substantial state financial and political support for industries to help them move ahead into a new productive phase, followed by a more orderly privatization process. The less defined scenario offers the longer-term prospect of the increasing politicization of strategic investment decisions and continued inefficiencies. In 2007, the debate will also center on issues such as how the stabilization fund should be formally structured and used, and how the government should adapt its fiscal management policies to an oil price that is unlikely to keep rising beyond budget expectations. The coming year may well be the first during Putin’s presidency in which the actual price of oil might fall below that forecast by government planners.
Another important factor if the economy is to have the best chance to achieve the stated long-term goals is Russia’s ability to reach agreement with the European Union on bilateral trade issues. As we enter 2007, it is very clear that the on-and-off skirmishing between both sides on energy and trade has now come to a head and will have to be resolved. The main issue for the EU is that of energy security, while for Russia it is economic partnership, meaning the clarification of the rules of the game for both sides. This is just as critical for Russia’s economic future as energy is for economic prospects in the EU. Companies are outgrowing the domestic market in increasing numbers and need access to international markets to continue their growth. Increasingly, that means being able to form trade relationships and, more often than not, acquire strategic equity stakes in EU companies. The equation is simple enough: energy access for investment opportunities. But reaching an agreement will be much more complicated. Establishing the rules of the game with the EU on bi-lateral trade issues will be just as critical in 2007 as clarifying the state’s role in the domestic economy.
The coming year should be the final one in the preparation phase and lead into the start of the implementation phase that should open in March 2008. If this time next year we are still debating the same unresolved issues and facing the same uncertainties, then investors and participants in the economy will again have to hope for higher oil prices and hope that the country’s luck holds out for yet another year. So, how lucky do you feel?

Christopher Weafer is chief strategist at Alfa Bank.

TITLE: The Year of the Flying Pig
AUTHOR: By Michele A. Berdy
TEXT: Óñïîêîèòåëüíûå ñðåäñòâà: tranquilizers

I love New Year’s resolutions. Every year, I enjoy the utterly ludicrous belief that I can improve myself. Despite decades of proof to the contrary, this year for sure I can banish bad habits, exercise four times a week, back up computer files regularly, and become a kind, generous,and loving soul whose Russian is perfect.
Yeah, right. When pigs fly!
All the same, 2006 was such a tough year for Russia politically, socially and linguistically that I feel I ought to make an effort. Åñëè õî÷åøü èçìåíèòü ìèð, ñíà÷àëà èçìåíèñü ñàì (If you want to change the world, change yourself first.) That’s the theory, anyway. Here goes:
1. When I come across a word in Russian I don’t know, before I get out four dictionaries and spend an hour on an Internet search, I resolve to say the word out loud. Then I will recognize êîïýêèíã as co-packing, ìîë as mall, and ñåêâåñòð as whatever the Duma wants it to mean.
2. I will embrace descriptive grammar. No more will I mentally red-pencil Russian news reports, changing òàêèå ñëó÷àè ÿ íå çíàþ to òàêèõ ñëó÷àåâ ÿ íå çíàþ (I don’t know any cases like that), because I accept — truly I do! — that language changes and you don’t need the genitive case with a negated verb anymore. Äîëîé ïðåñêðèïòèâíóþ ãðàììàòèêó! (Down with prescriptive grammar!) I shout, not even mentally correcting it to ïðåäïèñûâàþùàÿ ãðàììàòèêà (which is the same thing, only in real Russian).
3. I resolve to stop making up Russian words. I won’t call an alarm clock ðàçáóäèëüíèê because Russians already call it áóäèëüíèê, even though clearly the point of an alarm clock is that it ðàçáóäèò òåáÿ (will wake you up) instead of áóäèò òåáÿ (tries to wake you up).
4. I will stop indulging in faulty folk etymology and asserting that äååïðè÷àñòèÿ are signs of Divine Intervention (from Deus — God — and ïðè÷àñòèå — communion), and instead, accept that these are adverbial participles and master their formation and use. How proud I will be to announce in dulcet tones: Æåëàÿ ñêîðåå óåõàòü äîìîé, ÿ áûñòðî ðàáîòàëà. (Wishing to go home as soon as possible, I worked fast.) And how embarrassed I will be if I continue to try to form participles out of the words that cannot be made into adverbial participles, like æäàòü (wait), ïåòü (sing), ïèñàòü (write), and ïå÷ü (bake).
5. I resolve never to ask why æäàòü, ïåòü, ïèñàòü and ïå÷ü can’t be made into adverbial participles. They just can’t be.
6. I will be a good girl and take my medicine every day, and stop demonstrating my remarkable facility with Russian obscenity on Moscow roads. When the jerks in jeeps cut me off, missing my fender by a millimeter, I’ll smile and say Òàê íå íàäî (You shouldn’t do that), instead of what I usually scream, which is: @#*(&@#*%&@(#.!
7. I will stop shouting at the television news, adding the 15 aspects of the story that the newscasters are leaving out. Îíè æå íå âèíîâàòû. (It’s not their fault). Besides, they can’t hear me. But the neighbors can, and they’re getting tired of it.
8. When I go to the United States and discuss Russia with friends and colleagues, I will stop arguing the point of view I don’t believe in only because they are arguing an extreme and un-nuanced version of the point of view I do believe in, because somehow I end up sounding like the people I scream at when I see them on television news shows.
9. I will stop worrying that, if my government does something the Russian government doesn’t like, I will have my visa revoked, my registration torn up, and my taxes for the last 25 years audited. I mean, that just couldn’t happen, right?


Michele A. Berdy is a Moscow-based translator and interpreter.

TITLE: Bush, Blair Are ‘War Criminals’
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia — U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are war criminals with more Iraqi blood on their hands than Saddam Hussein, former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad said on Monday. 
Mahathir, one of the developing world’s most strident and veteran critics of the West, launched a shrill attack on Bush and Blair, telling reporters at his Malaysian peace foundation that Bush should face the same “sham” justice as Saddam.
Saddam, ousted by U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, was hanged nine days ago for crimes against humanity for killing Shiites. Guards filmed and taunted Saddam on the gallows.
“He [Bush] should resign straight away and be tried by the same kangaroo court,” Mahathir told a news conference called to promote a peace conference he is hosting in Malaysia next month.
Mahathir also branded Blair a war criminal.

TITLE: Hingis Stumbles Down Under
AUTHOR: By Brad Ven Wely
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: SYDNEY, Australia — Martina Hingis is out of the Sydney International after just one round. 
Unseeded Jelena Jankovic upset the fifth-seeded Hingis 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 on Monday. 
The 21-year-old Serbian won the second title of her short career in Auckland last week and moved her Swiss opponent all around the court during the two-hour match. 
“I just came from Auckland so I didn’t have much time to recover, I was quite proud of how I managed to pull through,” Jankovic said. 
Hingis was a finalist in her first tournament of 2007 on the Gold Coast last week, losing to Dinara Safina in three sets. 
With seven of the top 10 women in the world playing the traditional Australian Open warmup tournament, Hingis knew she was in for a tough week. 
She will now focus on winning a fourth title in Melbourne. 
“At least Ill be fresh and ready to go (for the Australian Open). I always take the positive,” Hingis said. 
Jankovic will play Australian wild card Samantha Stosur in the second round. Earlier, Stosur and Tatiana Golovin of France advanced with straight-set victories. 
Stosur beat Vera Zvonareva of Russia 6-1, 6-4 and Golovin defeated Chinese qualifier Peng Shuai 6-4, 7-5. 
Serving for the match, Stosur saved two break points before pushing Zvonareva into an unforced error on the Australian’s second match point. 
“I think I definitely came into the net pretty well today,” Stosur said. “I like the courts here, I think they work kind of in my favor with my good serve.” 
Australian veteran Nicole Pratt also beat Safina 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the first round. 
Defending Australian Open champion Amelie Mauresmo is the top women’s seed in Sydney in the absence of Justine Henin-Hardenne, who pulled out of Sydney and the Australian Open last week due to undisclosed personal reasons. 
In men’s play Monday, Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus made a successful return to Australian courts with a straight-sets victory over Latvian qualifier Ernests Gulbis. 
It was Baghdatis’s first match in Australia since losing to Roger Federer in last year’s Australian Open final. With more than a dozen Sydney-based relatives watching, Baghdatis won 7-6 (3), 6-1. 
Baghdatis will play Jan Hernych for a place in the quarterfinals after the Czech qualifier upset last year’s runner-up, Italian Andreas Seppi, 6-4, 6-2. 
Fifth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych also advanced, downing Australian qualifier Robert Smeets 6-2, 7-5. Fernando Verdasco of Spain upset eighth-seeded Sebastien Grosjean of France 6-4, 6-4. 
Russian Yevgeny Korolev beat Lee Hyung-taik of South Korea 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-2. 
Korolev gained a late start as a lucky loser from qualifying when seventh-seeded Dmitry Tursunov withdrew after suffering a wrist injury warming up Monday. 
Second-ranked Rafael Nadal of Spain is the top men’s seed at Sydney and is scheduled to play his first-round match Tuesday against Australian Chris Guccione. 
Federer is using the Kooyong exhibition tournament in Melbourne this week as his final preparation for defense of his Australian Open title.

TITLE: Arsenal To Meet Bogey Team Bolton in FA Cup
AUTHOR: By Mike Collett
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: LONDON — Arsenal and Bolton Wanderers will face each other in the FA Cup for the third successive season after being paired in the fourth round draw on Monday. 
Arsenal beat Bolton 1-0 in the sixth round en route to winning the Cup in the 2004-05 season but Bolton won last season’s fourth round tie by the same score at the Reebok Stadium. They have become something of a bogey side for Arsenal, having lost only once to the north London side in their last seven league and cup meetings. 
They now face each other again at the Emirates Stadium at the end of the month. 
Arsenal reached the last 32 after knocking out holders Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday, while Bolton won 4-0 at Doncaster Rovers. 
Manchester United, who beat Aston Villa 2-1 on Sunday, face another all-Premier League tie after being drawn to play Portsmouth at Old Trafford where Portsmouth have not won against United since 1957. 
Chelsea were handed another relatively easy home tie after beating fourth division Macclesfield Town 6-1 on Saturday. They now face third division promotion hopefuls Nottingham Forest, who knocked out Premier League Charlton Athletic on Saturday. 
Swansea City’s reward for their 3-0 win at Premier League Sheffield United is an away tie at either second division Ipswich Town or fourth division Chester City. 
West Ham United face Watford in the only other definite all-Premier tie while Wolverhampton Wanderers could face West Bromwich Albion in a Black Country derby for the first time since 1961-62 if Wolves win their replay against Oldham Athletic.

TITLE: Anfal Trial Continues Without Saddam
AUTHOR: By Ahmed Rasheed
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: BAGHDAD — The trial of six former Iraqi officials accused of trying to wipe out ethnic Kurds resumed in Baghdad on Monday with the chair once occupied by Saddam Hussein in court empty. 
Nine days after Saddam was hanged for crimes against humanity for killing Shiites, the former president’s cousin, “Chemical Ali” Hassan al-Majeed, and five other Baath party officials were back in the dock.
Judge Mohammed al-Ureybi, in his first order of business, formally dropped charges of genocide and crimes against humanity against Saddam. 
He cut off the microphones when Majeed stood up and started to read the Koran in tribute to his former chief.
“In virtue of the confirmation of the death of defendant Saddam Hussein, the court decided to finally stop legal procedures against defendant Saddam Hussein according to the Iraqi Penal Procedures Law,” Ureybi told the court.
Looking tired and sporting an unusual white stubble, Majeed refused to take his chair and insisted on reading a line from the Koran as he stood behind Saddam’s empty chair.
“Make him sit down, make him sit down,” Ureybi ordered the bailiffs.
Many Kurds regret the chief suspect can no longer face justice for his role in the Anfal campaign against them, thanks to an earlier trial for killing 148 Shi’ites in the 1980s, but they hope others share his fate on the gallows.
Majeed, who faces genocide charges, is considered the main enforcer of Anfal, or Spoils of War, a 1988 military campaign against ethnic Kurds in which prosecutors say 180,000 people were killed, many of them gassed.
“Saddam is dead but the ‘hero’ of the Anfal operation is still alive,” said Abdul Ghani Yahya, a man in his 60s in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil.
Prosecutors presented documents they said linked Majeed and other defendants to Anfal.

TITLE: Blatter Says Sorry to Italy
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: ROME — World soccer supremo Sepp Blatter apologized to Italy on Monday for not awarding the team with the World Cup trophy in 2006.
“History will say it was an error that the FIFA president did not award the Azzurri as world champions, and in effect it was an error,” Blatter said. “I had already apologized to Italian officials right after the final.”
Blatter said his decision to skip the award ceremony after Italy beat France on penalties on July 9 in Berlin was planned before the game started.
“I wanted to avoid creating an ugly scene because the Germans had shown they would whistle at the word FIFA,” Blatter said after arriving in Rome for a ceremony with the World Cup champions.
“Any other hypothesis is pure imagination,” Blatter added, according to the ANSA news agency.
Italy was insulted that Blatter did not present the World Cup trophy. He  instead delegated the duty of awarding soccer’s top prize to Italy to UEFA president Lennart Johansson.
Blatter also sought to clarify a statement he made in October, when he suggested in an interview with Australian TV that Italy was lucky to reach the quarterfinals.
Italy advanced with a 1-0 win over Australia, decided by a controversial penalty called with only a few seconds remaining in injury time.

TITLE: Polish Catholics in Disarray Over Bishop’s Past
AUTHOR: By Vanessa Gera
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: WARSAW — Poland’s top Roman Catholic leader faced criticism Monday for defending an archbishop who resigned over ties with the communist-era secret police — a stance that put him at odds with the Vatican and many Polish faithful. 
The Dziennik daily wrote that it was a “huge mistake” for Cardinal Jozef Glemp, the country’s primate, to defend Stanislaw Wielgus, the Warsaw archbishop who resigned Sunday amid revelations that he cooperated with the hated secret police of the communist era.
Wielgus yielded the archbishop’s throne during a Mass in Warsaw Sunday that was supposed to have been his installation as the retiring Glemp’s replacement. The dramatic turn of events came only two days after Wielgus was formally made archbishop in a closed-door ceremony.
Glemp will hold the office until another successor is found.
Vatican spokesman, the Reverend Federico Lombardi, said Wielgus was right to go because his past actions had “gravely compromised his authority.”
But Glemp, who has served as Warsaw archbishop for the past 25 years, delivered a homily defending Wielgus. He called him “God’s servant” and warned of the dangers of passing judgment based on incomplete and flawed documents left behind by the communist authorities.
“The primate stood before the faithful to tell them clearly that ‘if it were up to me, Wielgus would have become archbishop,’” Dziennik’s editor-in-chief Robert Krasowski wrote on the paper’s front page.
“He presented Wielgus as a victim of an assault, an innocent, hunted person. He didn’t even mention that the archbishop lied to the last minute. That he lied to the pope, bishops and faithful.”
Allegations that Wielgus was involved with the secret police were first raised by a Polish weekly on Dec. 20. But the case blew up into a crisis Friday when a church historical commission said it had found evidence that Wielgus had cooperated. 
Wielgus initially denied that, but then acknowledged that he did sign an agreement in 1978 promising to cooperate with the security force in exchange for permission to leave Poland to study in West Germany.
However, he stressed that he did not inform on anyone or try to hurt anyone, and he expressed remorse for both his contacts with the secret police and his failure to be forthcoming from the start.

TITLE: Life Begins at 40, Says Champ Singh
AUTHOR: By Mark Lamport-Stokes
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: KAPALUA, Hawaii — Vijay Singh closed the door on a frustrating 2006 campaign by winning the opening event of the 2007 PGA Tour season on Sunday. 
Hard work to rectify swing problems toward the end of last year paid dividends for the Fijian as he sealed a two-shot victory at the Mercedes-Benz Championship. 
“Life doesn’t stop at 40, it just begins I guess,” Singh, 43, told reporters after holding off a late challenge by Australia’s Adam Scott with a three-under-par 70 at the Kapalua Resort. 
“It hasn’t been easy. Once I’ve turned 40, I’ve probably picked up my training and my practice even more. My physical training has been a lot more intense.” 
Known for his workaholic approach to the game, Singh believes he has never been in better shape.
“I’m feeling pretty good,” he said after clinching his 30th PGA Tour title. “I’m very, very comfortable with not only my body but my golf swing. 
“A little bit more aches and pains than I had two years ago, but I’ve been going at it very, very hard. That’s why I’ve got to be very, very careful in what I do. I cannot overdo myself. 
“I’m not looking that far ahead. I’m trying to be fit, keep my body in shape and be injury-free as much as possible. I’m just going to try to keep going.” 
Although Singh moved past Sam Snead as the Tour’s most prolific winner after the age of 40 with his 18th title, that record means very little to him. 
“It’s going to happen sooner or later,” the three-times major champion said. “I don’t know what it means. 
“It really does not mean much. There are no trophies for doing it, you know what I mean. It’s just numbers out there.” 

ELUSIVE GAME 
Far more significant for the former world number one is how elusive the game can be at the highest level. 
Singh ended Tiger Woods’s five-year reign at the top in September 2004 before ending that season with a remarkable haul of nine victories. Before this week, he had slipped to seventh in the rankings. 
“You know, it’s so easy to fall off the top,” he said. “Once you’re sliding down, you’ve got to have something to hold on to. 
“My physical condition probably kept me there. If I wasn’t strong enough, once you mentally get a little frustrated, you can just slide off so quickly.” 
Singh gave the example of the 2006 season which, by his lofty standards, was a little disappointing. 
Although he clinched his 29th PGA Tour title at last year’s Barclays Classic, he was not at his best for much of the campaign. 
“It was a tough year, and I thought I played better than what I did,” he said. “But the scoring didn’t show and I was having problems with the driver all year.  
“But I cleared it all up, and the good thing is I’m fresh and I’m really looking forward to this season. I’m quite happy with the way I’m feeling right now.”

TITLE: Survivors Found Nine Days After Indonesian Ferry Sinks Killing 400
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: JAKARTA, Indonesia — Fourteen survivors of a ferry sinking survived for nine days on a life raft, drifting almost 370 miles before they were rescued, an official said Monday.  
The survivors were scheduled to arrive in Makassar, a port city on Sulawesi island, on Monday evening, said Ketut Purwa, head of the search and rescue agency on Bali island.
A 15th person died soon after being rescued by a passing cargo ship late Sunday, said Purwa, who spoke to the captain of the ship by radio.
Indonesia’s tropical waters are generally between 72 degrees Fahrenheit and 84 degrees Fahrenheit, and officials said people have been known to survive days at sea.
About 245 people have been found alive since the ferry sank, but around 400 are either dead or listed as missing. Only 10 bodies have been recovered.
“We presume hundreds of bodies remain trapped on board,” a Navy spokesman said.
Head of the National Search and Rescue Agency Bambang Karnoyudho said authorities plan to locate the wreck and remove the bodies.
The Senopati Nusantara was sailing from Borneo Island to the country’s main island of Java when it sank just before midnight on Dec. 29 after being pounded by waves of up to 12 feet high for several hours.
A government investigator said Thursday she suspected the waves washed into the car deck and became trapped there, causing the vessel to capsize.

TITLE: Prime Minister-In-Waiting To Pursue New Iraq Policy
AUTHOR: By David Stringer
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: LONDON — Treasury chief Gordon Brown, expected to succeed Tony Blair as prime minister by September, suggested Sunday that he will pursue an Iraq policy that is more independent of Washington than the current government.  
Brown acknowledged that mistakes were made in the aftermath of the invasion and promised to be “very frank” with U.S. President George W. Bush. He also said that Britain is likely to scale down its commitment of troops to Iraq over the next year — even as the White House is considering dispatching thousands more, at least temporarily.
Brown’s comments, aired on the BBC’s Sunday “AM” program, seemed intended to distinguish himself from Blair, who has been criticized in Britain for his strong support for Bush and the war, both unpopular here.
“I look forward, if I am in a new position, to working with the president of the United States, George Bush,” Brown said. “Obviously, people who know me know that I will speak my mind. I will be very frank. The British national interest is what I and my colleagues are about.”
A spokesman for the U.S. State Department declined to comment on Brown’s interview.
Blair has said he will step down as prime minister and leader of the governing Labour party before September. Brown, who is credited with helping Blair reinvigorate the Labour party, is unlikely to face any credible challenge when the party elects a new leader, who will automatically become Britain’s new prime minister.
Brown, in the BBC interview, also said that Saddam Hussein’s execution — in which Saddam, a Sunni Arab, was taunted with the name of a radical Shiite cleric — had done nothing to help stem Iraq’s sectarian violence.
“Now that we know the full picture of what happened, we can sum this up as a deplorable set of events,” Brown told the BBC. “It is something, of course, which the Iraqi government has now expressed its anxiety and shame at.”

TITLE: Hiddink to Stay On
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: MOSCOW — Russia’s soccer chief on Sunday denied press reports that the country’s Dutch coach Guus Hiddink may quit early to take over from Jose Mourinho as manager of English side Chelsea. 
“He [Hiddink] has a contract, he is the current manager of the national side, and while his contract is in force no one can consider him as a candidate for another post,” Russian Football Union President Vitaly Mutko told Ekho Moskvy radio station. 
Hiddink signed a 2-1/2 year contract to coach the Russian team in April last year. 
Britain’s Sunday Mirror newspaper quoted unnamed sources at Chelsea as saying Mourinho may leave the London club at the end of the 2006/7 season. The newspaper said Hiddink was the favorite to take over. 
Chelsea is owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. The tycoon also pays a portion of Hiddink’s wages and helped bring the Dutchman to Moscow.

TITLE: Democrats: No Blank Check For Iraq War
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: WASHINGTON — Democrats now running the U.S. Congress will not give President George W. Bush a blank check to wage war in Iraq, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday, suggesting they could deny him the money should he call for additional troops. 
Yet Pelosi’s second-in-command and a Senate leader on foreign affairs questioned the wisdom and legality of using the power of the purse to thwart the White House as Bush prepared to announce his revised war strategy this week — perhaps on Wednesday.
Pelosi made clear that her party supported boosting the overall size of the military “to protect the American people against any threats to our interests, wherever they may occur. That’s different, though, from adding troops to Iraq.” She also said Democrats would not cut off money for those troops already in Iraq.
But dollars for a further buildup in Iraq — Bush’s expected plan could send as many as 20,000 more U.S. troops — will get the strictest of scrutiny, she said.

TITLE: Warne Mulls Academy
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: LONDON — Shane Warne is thinking of setting up a cricket academy for children in England, the Australian spinner disclosed on Monday. 
In his regular column in The Times, Warne repeated that Australian cricket was his priority and that his manager had been talking to Cricket Australia about a possible role. 
But he also said he wanted to “make sure that cricket stays healthy worldwide.”
“I would not have any problem with helping in England, New Zealand, South Africa or anywhere else,” Warne wrote. 
“One idea I have is for a Shane Warne Cricket Academy for kids in England. 
Warne retired from international cricket after the final Ashes test which ended on Friday in a 5-0 series victory for the Australians.

TITLE: Dakar Second Stage
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: LISBON, Portugal — Carlos Sainz won the second stage of the Dakar Rally on Sunday, ahead of Nani Roma and Luc Alphand, as the race prepared to move into Africa.
Sainz, driving for Volkswagen, clocked 59 minutes, 26 seconds, while Roma and Alphand both timed 59:55 in Mitsubishis to finish second and third.
Volkswagen driver Carlos Sousa, who won Saturday’s opening stage, retained the overall lead. Sousa finished ninth in the second stage.