SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #1343 (7), Tuesday, January 29, 2008
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TITLE: Davos Sees ‘Best Side Of Russia’
AUTHOR: By Andrew McChesney
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: DAVOS, Switzerland — Troika Dialog brought Russia to Davos — and the invitation-only party offered a lot more than five Moscow chefs sending meat pies and blini out of the kitchen.
Simply put, the glitzy gathering with Olympic stars at the Valliant Arena Ice Stadium on Thursday night was the place to be for investors wishing to see Russia’s best side. For investors with lingering reservations, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin sat down with them at a private meeting the next day.
Worries about Russia’s future were far from people’s minds Thursday night. Kudrin, the highest-ranking Russian official to attend this year’s World Economic Forum, which ended Sunday, joined at least 200 guests in enthusiastically applauding from the bleachers as 17 champion skaters twirled on the ice below. Among the skaters were Yevgeny Plyushchenko, Tatyana Navka, Roman Kostomarov and Irina Slutskaya.
“Spectacular,” VTB board member Olga Dergunova said.
After the show, which included a fireworks display, guests got a chance to skate with the stars and rub shoulders with Russia’s most influential people in a rink-side tent, including billionaires Viktor Vekselberg, Sergei Pugachyov, David Yakobashvili and Vladimir Yevtushenkov. Rabbi Berl Lazar and Google co-founder Sergey Brin also joined the party.
Russia’s turnout this year was the largest-ever for the annual meeting of business leaders and politicians, and the Russians faced investors brimming with questions.
The one-hour private meeting Friday with Kudrin, IT and Communications Minister Leonid Reiman and Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister Kirill Androsov was filled to capacity, said Christophe Weber, the forum official who moderated the discussion.
“The room was absolutely full,” Weber said. “There was huge — huge — interest in Russia, not only from European companies but Indian companies and other companies. Everybody wants to know what will happen next in Russia.”
Weber said investors’ main questions were linked to the presidential election in March, inflation and other economic issues, and how to connect with Russian government officials.
Fifty-one Russian participants had been scheduled to attend the forum, but Weber said even more showed up. He could not immediately provide a figure. One person who did not attend, however, was Economic Development and Trade Minister Elvira Nabiullina. Weber said she canceled at the last minute because of a pressing engagement with Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov.
Despite the high turnout, Russia’s participation was lower profile than last year, when First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev stole the spotlight as the head of the Russian delegation. Medvedev skipped the forum this year to focus on the presidential election, which he is expected to win. Forum officials hope he will return next year as the first Russian president to visit Davos.
The Troika Dialog party far outshone the Russia reception last year, which was organized by the Economic Development and Trade Ministry and featured conductor Valery Gergiev and soprano Anna Netrebko. One U.S. journalist, who has worked in Moscow for over a decade and has attended five Davos forums, admitted to being left speechless. “It was quite an effective way of giving a good image to Russia,” she said. “It gave you a positive feeling about the things that are right about Russia.”
Before the ice-skating show, guests gathered in the stadium’s third-floor Nordside restaurant for dinner. Russian vodka and French wine flowed as a guitarist-violinist duo played hopped-up versions of Russian folk music. Waiters dressed in Russian folk garb rushed out appetizers of kholodets, olivier, vinegret, herring, blini, red caviar, assorted pies and pickled cabbage.
Ruben Vardanyan, chairman and CEO of Troika Dialog, declined to say how much the evening had cost. “It cost a lot of money, but it is worth it,” he said. “We want to show the new Russia.”

TITLE: Civil Rights Groups Unite at Protest Event
AUTHOR: By Sergey Chernov
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Twenty five political and social organizations gathered peacefully on Saturday to protest against Kremlin policies, and those of its ally City Hall, as well as to “demonstrate both the autonomy and cooperation of the members of social movements,” as the Movement for Civil Initiatives (DGI), the local NGO that coordinated the rally, put it in a statement. 
With the motto “For Civil Rights and Social Justice,” the rally’s slogans were “Rights Are Not Given, Rights Are Taken” and “Stop the Bear Reforms” (a bear is the symbol of the Kremlin-backed United Russia party). 
Sanctioned by the local authorities, the rally, which drew an estimated 400 participants, was part of the World Social Forum’s Global Day of Action campaign, in which many movements around the world took part. The date was chosen to coincide with the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, which closed on Sunday. Such rallies were held in 24 Russian cities.
Several activists were detained by the police. But although the site of the protest near the Finland Station was tightly surrounded by OMON special forces police officers and trucks, detentions were made covertly, before and after the rally — without the aggressive crowd-control measures taken at an anti-Gazprom Tower protest earlier this month. The OMON policemen wielded batons, but were not equipped with shields and helmets, which have been a frequent sight at recent rallies.
The event started with presentations by various groups and movements and was followed by a meeting. 
To comply with the Russian Social Forum regulations, political parties could not act as the rally’s co-organizers, but could take part via individual representatives and social organizations. Apart from the liberal party Yabloko and the Communists, it was mostly representatives of pressure groups such as the Living City (Zhivoi Gorod), Okhta Bend (Okhtinskaya Duga) and ZOV (Defend Vasilyevsky Island) who spoke at the rally. Labor was represented by trade unions from the local Ford Plant and dockers.
While speakers raised objections to Dmitry Medvedev, President Vladimir Putin’s declared “successor” in the upcoming presidential elections, and criticized the State Duma elections in December as rigged, most speeches were devoted to local problems, such as the planned Gazprom Tower, or Okhta Center as it is now officially known, and multiple violations of the city’s planning code.
“During the rule of [Governor] Valentina Matviyenko, there have been a lot of conflicts over in-fill construction; there have been protests, lawsuits and letters to the prosecutor’s office,” said Tatyana Kuchurina of DGI.
“It is the same situation with the chopping down of parks and public gardens: it looks like after a couple more years of the city mistress’ stormy behavior, there won’t be a single living bush or tree left.
“The governor’s decrees often override federal laws and the constitution. [...] But we understand that the city’s residents are not the cattle that the authorities think them to be. Residents have become expert, intelligent, active, and more and more people are coming out to defend their rights,” she said. 
Living City, a group that fights for the preservation of the cultural and architectural heritage of St. Petersburg, held a performance using papier-mache models of classical buildings that were attacked by an activist wearing an “I Love $Pb” helmet. But his attempts to erect a skyscraper made of cardboard boxes and destroy the city’s historical landscape were stopped by protesters.
Many speakers urged all the groups to unite in their struggle and coordinate their actions. 
However, The Other Russia, the pro-democracy coalition behind the past year’s most visible marches and meetings and often suppressed by the OMON police, did not take part. Coordinator Olga Kurnosova said she was not informed about the event by the organizers.
“There are two reasons, one essential and one formal [why the Other Russia didn’t take part],” she said.
“The essential one is that under the current political situation where democratic institutions have been destroyed, there’s no sense discussing social issues. Everybody should unite and demand the restoration of basic civil liberties, first and foremost. When there are normal elections and a normal media, then social issues can be dealt with in a normal way.”
“As to the formal reason, we only learned about the event from the media. I think the organizers should inform everybody, and then actions will be broader and more effective.”
Meanwhile, charges against Kurnosova for taking part in an unsanctioned march and for refusal to follow police orders at the suppressed Dissenters’ March on Nov. 25 were dropped by a court on Monday. Police witnesses for the prosecution failed to appear.
At Saturday’s protest event the police’s attention was drawn to a group of anarchists and left-wing activists from the newly-formed Association of Libertarian Initiatives (ALI), who stood shoulder to shoulder wrapped with banners, some with their faces covered with scarves, and chanted slogans. Their banner — reading “The Only Way Is Resistance” — was disapproved of by a police colonel, who, after an argument with the demonstrators, brought in a dozen police officers to form a line covering the slogan from public view with their backs.
“They tried to detain the group of DSPA [the left-wing Pyotr Alekseyev Resistance Movement, part of ALI], who stood up for radicalism in their slogans and behavior, but as the organizers we interfered and managed to prevent the police’s action against them,” said Yevgeny Kozlov, the chairman of DGI’s coordinating board by phone on Monday.
However, an unidentified man was taken away by two policemen as protesters gathered at the site at about 12.20 p.m. More detentions took place after the event as protesters headed to the metro. Several activists from Food Not Bombs, who had been offering free warm boiled buckwheat to protesters at the rally, were detained in the metro.
“We were carrying a pan with some food left in it, in a bag, and near the metro we were approached by three plain-clothed men who told us to go with them — they didn’t introduce themselves, but it was obvious that they were from the police,” said Dmitry, a Food Not Bombs activist who asked that his last name be withheld. 
According to Dmitry, the activists were searched, had their photos taken and were interrogated at the metro police station. One was held at the police station for three hours, he said.
“We were asked why we were distributing the food in the sector where the Association of Libertarian Initiatives stood, anarchists and the like, if we knew anyone out of them. I asked them what the reason for the detention was. They said, ‘A document check. And maybe you were carrying something [illegal] in your bag.’”
The head of DGI Yevgeny Kozlov said the rally was a success.
“Sometimes one can judge the importance of our events by the reaction from the authorities, which was evidently inappropriate considering the number of OMON policemen present,” he said.
“More people came than we had counted on, despite the bad weather. Despite some organizational problems, the first attempt at a city social forum was a not a flop.”

TITLE: Last Battle of Siege of Leningrad Re-Enacted
AUTHOR: By Irina Titova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: St. Petersburg on Saturday celebrated the 64th anniversary of the complete end of the Siege of Leningrad perpetrated on the city by Adolf Hitler’s army during World War II.
To mark the date, residents laid flowers at the places connected to the 1941-1944 blockade, including a memorial at 14 Nevsky Prospekt; on Victory Square (Ploshchad Pobedy); and the Piskaryovskoye and Serafimovskokye cemeteries where many of the hundreds of thousands of city residents who perished in the Siege are buried. 
Near the village of Nikolskoye outside St. Petersburg, more than 200 people took part in a re-enactment of the battle between Soviet and German soldiers that freed Leningrad from the siege. About 2,000 people gathered to see the performance.
First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who visited the city on Sunday, also took part in events dedicated to the celebration of the date. Medvedev, who is a native of St. Petersburg, said the government would allocate 2 billion rubles ($81.2 million) to provide siege survivors with apartments.
The Siege of Leningrad by German troops lasted for 872 days beginning Sept. 8, 1941 through Jan. 27, 1944, although in popular memory this has been rounded up to 900 days. The blockade was broken on Jan. 18, 1943, but it took another year before the Germans were forced to retreat. It is thought that about one million people died as a result of the siege — around 3 percent in bombings, and 97 percent of starvation. The courage of the people of Leningrad which helped them to survive the siege is one of the most remarkable episodes of World War II and the event is honored with respect in Russia today. 
The German army’s blockade cut food supplies to the city and on Sept.15, 1941, a week after it had begun, the city first cut rations. By November people began to experience real hunger. At that time the first cases of people fainting from hunger were registered — and the first deaths.
At that time it was very hard to deliver food by air, and a connection with the rest of Russia across Lake Ladoga to the east ended as it froze for winter. All transport links were under the constant fire of the enemy.
On Nov. 20, 1941, city authorities reduced the ration to 250 grams of bread for working people daily and 125 grams for children under 12, white-collar workers and the unemployed. At the same time 50 percent of the bread was made of waste, and the bread was almost impossible to eat.
By December, death from hunger had become widespread. People died in the streets. A siege survivor described the time in the following way.
“They now die so easily: first people lose interest in everything, then go to bed and they never wake up,” she said.
Dead bodies laid on the ground for a long time because often there was nobody to take them away.
The mortality rate increased with severe winter weather in 1941-42 when fuel supplies also almost came to an end, and there was no heating in apartment buildings. 
In January 1942, more than 4,000 people died every day. On some days as many as 7,000 people died.  Men died more quickly than women (for every 100 deaths 63 were men and 37  women).
However, when the ice on Lake Ladoga became thick enough, supplies were transported across it from the rest of Russia. In February the situation in the city improved slightly.  In May all the people who were able to do anything came out to clean the streets. In the first year of the blockade about 780,000 people died. 
In 1942 the situation improved and trams even began running in the city again.
In January 1943 the Red Army broke the ring of the blockade and built a railway and road link into the city, and in January 1944 the Soviet Army drove the German Army back to a distance of 100 kilometers.

TITLE: Armed Police Arrest Mogilevich
AUTHOR: By Natalya Krainova, Nikolaus von Twickel and Max Delany
PUBLISHER: Staff Writers
TEXT: MOSCOW — Semyon Mogilevich, a suspected organized-crime boss who is wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigations for alleged fraud and racketeering, has been arrested along with Arbat Prestige owner Vladimir Nekrasov.
A posse of about 50 armed police commandos detained Nekrasov and Ukrainian-born Mogilevich near the city’s World Trade Center, the Interior Ministry said Friday.
The Ukrainian security service, the SBU, has investigated the purported involvement of Mogilevich with RosUkrEnergo, the controversial gas trader that acts as a middleman in Russian gas exports to Ukraine.
Mogilevich, 61, was using the name Sergei Shnaider when detained.
Mogilevich’s lawyer, Alexander Pogonchikov, confirmed in a Friday interview that his client was born in Ukraine as Semyon Mogilevich, but has changed his name to Sergei Shnaider.
The Ostankinsky District Court placed Mogilevich and Nekrasov under arrest on suspicion of large-scale tax fraud late Thursday, Moscow City Court spokeswoman Marina Malygina said.
Mogilevich, has been wanted by the FBI on racketeering, fraud and money-laundering charges since 2003. He is believed to have been living in Moscow for several years.
State television showed footage Friday of Mogilevich as police held him and some bodyguards up against a car. It also showed footage of the seldom-photographed Mogilevich in custody wearing jeans, a leather jacket and a cap.
Both Pogonchikov and Nekrasov’s lawyer, Alexander Dobrovinsky, said they would appeal the arrests Monday.
Pogonchikov said his client had no relation whatsoever to Arbat Prestige.
The two suspects “‘are not business partners, just good acquaintances,”’ Pogonchikov said.
The arrest of Mogilevich comes as newly appointed Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is stepping up calls for Gazprom and Ukraine to cut out RosUkrEnergo from its role as middleman in Russian gas exports.
The SBU in 2005 investigated the trader over possible ties to Mogilevich. The probe was dropped, however, following a change of leadership at the SBU.
Tymoshenko is scheduled to visit Moscow next month for talks with Russian officials, and is expected to push for the contract with RosUkrEnergo to be canceled, a December pricing agreement to be ditched and transit fees for Russian gas to be raised.
In Davos last week, however, President Viktor Yushchenko opposed calls for higher tariffs.
The Ukrainian investigation into RosUkrEnergo, during Tymoshenko’s previous term as prime minister, was closed after she was fired by Yushchenko in September 2005.
The head of the SBU under Tymoshenko, Oleksandr Turchynov, later claimed in an interview that the order to close the investigation had come directly from Yushchenko.
No one at Tymoshenko’s press office answered calls Sunday.
In January 2006, RosUkrEnergo, jointly owned by Gazprom and billionaire Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash, emerged as the major beneficiary of the bitter gas-price dispute between Russia and Ukraine, winning control over the flow of Russian and cheaper Central Asian gas to Ukraine.
Robert Shetler-Jones, chief executive of Firtash’s holding company, Group DF, on Friday denied any business links between Mogilevich and companies connected to RosUkrEnergo.
Since RosUkrEnergo was handed the export monopoly in 2006, Tymoshenko has repeatedly vowed to end RosUkrEnergo’s role in the Russian-Ukrainian gas trade, which she has dubbed “‘criminal,”’ and pledged to start buying gas directly from Gazprom.
In October, Dmitry Medvedev, first deputy prime minister and Gazprom chairman, seemed to back the demands, when he said Gazprom could move to “‘give up”’ the opaque intermediary structures involved in gas exports to Ukraine.
On Friday, state energy firm Naftogaz Ukrainy abruptly pulled out of talks with RosUkrEnergo and Gazprom over gas prices and debt, a RosUkrEnergo spokesman said, Bloomberg reported.
Zeev Gordon, an Israeli lawyer who has represented Mogilevich in the past, said by telephone Sunday from Tel Aviv that Mogilevich had always denied any links to RosUkrEnergo and Firtash.
Gordon confirmed that he had personally worked previously for Firtash in 2003, when he acted as a trustee for several months to help him set up RosUkrEnergo’s predecessor as middleman in Russian-Ukrainian gas supplies, Eural Trans Gas, in Hungary.
Gordon insisted that this coincidence in no way meant that there were any ties between Mogilevich and Firtash.
Firtash’s representative, Shetler-Jones, also denied reports in the Russian and Ukrainian media that identified Firtash as a major stakeholder in Arbat Prestige.
“‘Neither Group DF nor Mr. Dmitry Firtash personally has any interest in or affiliation with Arbat Prestige. Dmitry Firtash also does not directly or indirectly own shares in this company,”’ Shetler-Jones said in a statement.
Dobrovinsky, the lawyer for Arbat Prestige owner Nekrasov, also denied that Firtash had any stake in the cosmetics firm.
The U.S. indictment against Mogilevich dates back to a 2003 case in Philadelphia in which he and two associates were accused of manipulating stock of the Pennsylvania-based company YBM Magnex.
The FBI notice on Mogilevich says he set up a “‘complex network of corporations”’ to “‘create the illusion that YBM was engaged in a profitable international business, primarily the industrial magnet market.”’
He and the two other suspects were charged with 45 counts of racketeering, securities fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering, according to the FBI web site, which states that Mogilevich “‘should be considered armed and dangerous.”’
A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman said the United States was “‘not involved in the recent investigations and arrests in Russia.”’ The two countries do not have an extradition treaty.

TITLE: Kasyanov Complains Of ‘Totalitarian Deadlock’
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW — The most outspoken Kremlin opponent in Russia’s presidential contest was denied a spot on the ballot Sunday by election authorities who said tens of thousands of signatures on his nominating petitions were forgeries.
Former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov angrily rejected the official claims and accused President Vladimir Putin of ordering his removal from the March 2 election.
Kasyanov, a liberal politician who was running as an independent, urged voters to boycott the vote.
“The country is moving deeper into a totalitarian deadlock,” he said at a news conference Sunday. “This election without choice is a mockery of citizens of Russia.”
Opinion polls showed support for Kasyanov hovering between 1 and 2 percentage points, giving him little chance of posing a significant challenge to Putin’s hand-picked successor, Dmitry Medvedev. However, Kasyanov could have brought an element of unpredictability to a campaign carefully orchestrated by authorities, embarrassing the Kremlin with his criticism.
“He could have advertised his views and conducted active campaign in the regions,” analyst Alexei Makarkin of the Center for Political Technologies said in the online newspaper gazeta.ru.
Another political analyst, Dmitry Oreshkin, said the Kremlin wanted to avoid letting Kasyanov into the election limelight: “It was dangerous to let him into the race: No one would know in advance what he might want to say in a live TV broadcast.”
The White House on Sunday said the disputed barring of Kasyanov from the presidential contest was a matter for the people of Russia to work out.
Medvedev’s approval ratings soared after Putin named him as his preferred successor last month, boosted by positive coverage by national television stations, all controlled by the Kremlin. Three other candidates have attracted little attention from state television.
The Central Election Commission ruled Sunday that Kasyanov should be kept off the ballot because more than 13 percent of the signatures in two large samples that were checked were counterfeit.
Commission member Elvira Yermakova said that more than 80,000 signatures were found to be bogus. She also pointed to other flaws in Kasyanov’s documents.
“We made this decision based on the norms of law,” Yermakova said.
Presidential aspirants not affiliated with political parties must submit 2 million signatures supporting their bid to get on the ballot. Kasyanov’s campaign said it turned in 2,067,000 signatures.

TITLE: In Brief
TEXT: <b>Wrong Home Destroyed</b>
MOSCOW (AP) — Returning home after an absence can mean unpleasant surprises — a leaky roof, a pet’s mess, even a break-in.
But a Nizhny Novgorod woman got a nastier surprise when she returned from her dacha.
Her home was gone, torn down mistakenly by construction workers clearing a site, NTV television reported Thursday
“There was nothing left, not even a log,” Lyudmila Martemyanova said.
A local prosecutor, Nikolai Govorkov, said a construction company tore down the wrong building — Martemyanova’s, instead of one nearby that was marked for demolition.
Many Russians have faced what they say are unfair and inadequately compensated evictions from older housing being torn down amid the country’s oil-revenue-fueled construction boom.
Martemyanova’s case is extreme, however, and she has taken it to court. She refused the builder’s offer of money, saying it was not enough even for a room on the city outskirts, and has sued. 

<b>Latvian Expelled</b>
MOSCOW (AP) — The Foreign Ministry said Friday that it would expel a Latvian diplomat in apparent retaliation for Latvia’s expulsion of a Russian diplomat this week.
The unidentified Latvian was ordered to leave Russia within two days for “activities incompatible with his diplomatic status and which are damaging for Russia’s security interests,” the ministry said in a statement.

TITLE: Kudrin To Tackle Inflation
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: MOSCOW — The government on Thursday assigned Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin to set up a body to combat inflation as it seeks tools other than ruble appreciation to rein in price rises, which soared again in January. 
The government said in a statement that Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov had asked Kudrin, the country’s chief economic policymaker and advocate of prudent budget spending, “to work out effective market tools to stabilize prices.” 
The Cabinet will meet Jan. 31 to debate measures, which may include caps on foreign borrowings by large state firms. 
The move comes as consumer prices jumped steeply in the first three weeks of January, putting new pressure on the government and the Central Bank to let the ruble appreciate — one of only a few tools they have to fight inflation. 
A government source said Thursday that the consumer price index rose 1.8 percent in the first three weeks of January, against an expectation of 1.8 percent in the whole month and compared with 1.7 percent in January last year. 
State monopolies are allowed to raise prices such as gas prices or oil transportation fees in January to compensate for inflation in the previous year. 
In 2007, the government missed its target of 8 percent for CPI growth as inflation accelerated to 11.9 percent.

TITLE: Glavstroi to Reconstruct Apraksin Dvor
AUTHOR: By Yekaterina Dranitsyna
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: City Hall will sign a contract for the reconstruction of the Apraksin Dvor complex with Glavstroi-Spb, after the tender committee chose a project designed by Chris Wilkinson over that of Norman Foster.
“St. Petersburg should live and develop, combining traditional and modern elements harmoniously. The tender for the reconstruction of Apraksin Dvor is another step in the implementation of our town-planning policy and preservation of the city’s cultural heritage,” 
St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko said Friday in a statement.
The tender required minimum investment of $400 million, and the winning company will receive exemptions from profit tax and property tax.
Two companies competed for the contract — Glavstroi-Spb, controlled by billionaire Oleg Deripaska, and Renaissance Apraksin Dvor, founded by Moscow developer Shalva Chigirinsky and Ruric AB investment and development company.
Glavstroi-Spb will invest $1.15 billion into the project. The company will reconstruct existing buildings, demolish several buildings in the inner areas of the complex and construct new premises.
Presenting his project in St. Petersburg last week, Wilkinson stressed that he aimed to make Apraksin Dvor a multifunctional center that would appeal to visitors, and would look “not like a modern shopping mall, but more like traditional St. Petersburg areas.”
According to Wilkinson’s project, the complex would include 70,000 square meters of residential areas, 80,000 square meters of shopping areas, 70,000 square meters of office areas, two 4-star hotels and one 5-star hotel (40,000 square meters), as well as restaurants and a central promenade covered with a glass roof.
The residential areas will be concentrated along Ulitsa Lomonosova, while the shopping areas will be along Sadovaya Ulitsa with the office areas closer to Apraksin Pereulok. The total construction area is 347,500 square meters. Two levels of underground parking for 2,500 cars will occupy 78,500 square meters.
Shopping areas will not dominate the complex. “Residential apartments will add a new quality to the territory of Apraksin Dvor, bringing it alive. They will also improve the economic performance of the project and diversify risks for the developer,” said Oleg Barkov, general director of Knight Frank St. Petersburg, the project’s consultant.
“Most of the buildings cannot be demolished or completely reconstructed, and only very minimal reconstruction is allowed in existing buildings. The main changes are planned for the inner areas of the complex and will not affect the classical appearance of nearby streets and squares,” Barkov said.
Construction should be completed by 2012. The tender committee requested that Wilkinson elaborate the concept with respect to new requirements — in particular, the committee limited residential areas to 50,000 square meters.
Glavstroi-Spb will spend 8.76 billion rubles ($357.2 million) on buying out property and expects to solve property disputes within two years.
The other competitor, Renaissance Apraksin Dvor, proposed the construction of 400,000 square meters of shopping, residential and office area, including hotels, a spa-center and square. Investment was planned at $1.4 billion.
“We called in respected experts to judge our project, though such discussions are not common practice. The reconstruction of Apraksin Dvor requires the combined efforts of all interested parties. If we fail to come to an agreement, we will not be able to do anything, and the plans for the revival of this territory will remain on paper,” said Igor Yevtushevsky, managing director of Glavstroi-Spb.

TITLE: Carlsberg, Heineken Buy Scottish & Newcastle at Last
AUTHOR: By Amy Wilson and Meera Bhatia
PUBLISHER: Bloomberg
TEXT: LONDON — Carlsberg and Heineken agreed to buy Scottish & Newcastle for £7.8 billion ($15.4 billion) after a three-month battle that hinged on control of the British brewer’s fast-growing Russian assets.
Carlsberg and Heineken said Friday that they offered 800 pence per share in cash for Edinburgh-based S&N, the maker of Foster’s beer and Strongbow cider. That is 26 percent more than the closing price on Oct. 16, the day before the largest Danish and Dutch brewers said they were considering an offer. Carlsberg is paying 54.5 percent of the total and Heineken the remainder.
The bidders raised their offer three times, driving their own shares lower on concern that they would overpay. S&N and Carlsberg co-own Baltic Beverages Holdings, whose earnings are expected to surge by one-third in two years on Russian demand for Baltika and Nevskoye beer. Carlsberg and Heineken will split the company, with the Danish brewer taking control of BBH and its Dutch counterpart getting S&N operations in Britain and India.
Carlsberg, which unveiled a $6 billion share sale to help pay for the deal, sank 4 percent in Copenhagen. It “probably paid a little bit too much,” said Andy Lynch, who helps run about $10 billion at Schroders Investment Management in London.
Retail sales in Russia will climb by an average 22 percent annually through 2011 as disposable incomes increase, according to Renaissance Capital.
Heineken, which said Friday that it would save £120 million per year by buying S&N’s British assets, declined 28 euro cents, or 0.7 percent, to 40 euros ($58.9) in Amsterdam. Carlsberg declined 23 Danish kroner to 535 ($105.70). They’ve tumbled about 13 percent and 30 percent respectively since unveiling their pursuit of S&N in October.
S&N, whose Kronenbourg beer is the market leader in France, rose 17 pence, or 2.2 percent, to 783 pence in London.
Carlsberg is gaining S&N’s operations in France, Greece, Vietnam and China, as well as BBH. In addition to Britain, Heineken gets units in Ireland, Portugal, Finland, Belgium, the United States and India. S&N owns 37.5 percent of United Breweries, the owner of Kingfisher, India’s largest beer brand.
Kronenbourg, which will be made by Carlsberg in France, will continue to be sold by Heineken in Britain under license, the Danish brewer said.
“This acquisition will make us the world’s fastest-growing brewer,” Carlsberg CEO Jorgen Buhl Rasmussen said in the statement. He said it was “too early” to discuss potential job cuts and brewery closures or the costs to integrate the S&N assets.
S&N on Friday won disclosure of forecasts for BBH, announcing the venture’s earnings before interest and taxes will rise 34 percent to 990 million euros ($1.5 billion) by 2010. The Russian beer market is expected to grow 5 percent this year, falling to a 3 percent rate by 2010, it said.

TITLE: In Brief
TEXT: <b>Sberbank Looks East</b>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, aims to expand into China and India and will begin talks on opening branches in the world’s two most-populated countries this year, Chief Executive Officer German Gref said.
State-run Sberbank also wants to expand into Vietnam and through the former Soviet republics, Gref told reporters Friday at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“It is one of the tasks in our strategy,” Gref said. “These markets are interesting, however the process of entering them is a lengthy one.”

<b>Bank Assets Secure</b>
NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — Switzerland’s Noga has not blocked any of the Russian Central Bank’s assets, the Russian Finance Ministry stated Friday. The recent ruling of the Swiss court confirms Noga’s right to keep bank accounts that were preliminary frozen in 2002, prior to the respective Swiss court’s decision. However, Noga has no right to block new assets, the ministry noted, adding that there were no money in those accounts anyway.
On Thursday, the Swiss Supreme Court in Lausanne sustained Noga’s claim against the Russian government. This could potentially lead to the freezing of the Bank of Russia’s accounts in UBS, Credit Suisse, and BNP Paribas banks. Russia’s accounts in these banks were already frozen in May 2007 as a preliminary measure.

<b>Europe Needs Russia</b>
MILAN (Bloomberg) — European Union Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said Europe is too dependent on Russian natural gas, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported.
Piebalgs is concerned that Gazprom is a monopolistic entity that is also subject to political decisions, Corriere said, citing an interview. About 26 percent of natural gas consumed in Europe is supplied by Gazprom, Russian’s state-run natural gas producer, Corriere said.
“What is worrisome is to be dependent on a single, monopolistic provider,” Corriere quoted Piebalgs as saying.

<b>Russia to Cap Stakes</b>
LONDON (Bloomberg) — Russia wants to alleviate concern in Germany, the U.S. and elsewhere about its influence by capping the stakes it holds in key foreign companies at 5 percent, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing an interview with Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Kudrin said fear arises when sovereign wealth funds take controlling stakes, the newspaper reported.
Russia wants to put $31 billion of its almost $160 billion of energy revenue in a national fund, which will be invested overseas, starting next month, the Journal said.

<b>Tea Prices Set to Soar</b>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Russia’s retail prices for tea may soar 25 percent after the country banned imports of plant products from India, Kommersant reported, citing Roman Chanturia, head of the Russian Tea and Coffee Association. Coffee prices may soar 95 percent, the newspaper said.
Russia banned the import of all plant products from India starting Jan. 28 after the country’s hygiene watchdog found trogoderma granarium bugs, or khapra beetles, in Indian imports, the newspaper said.
Russia imports about $200 million of Indian tea and coffee a year, the newspaper said, citing customs data.

<b>Gaz Production Date</b>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — GAZ, Russia’s second-largest automaker, will start the production of the Siber sedan, a model based on Chrysler LLC’s Sebring, on March 28, Vedomosti reported.
The Nizhny Novgorod-based company will keep the first 500 cars for training its personnel and using them for the company’s needs, Vedomosti reported. The Siber, priced at between $18,000 and $25,000, will go on sale in June.
GAZ expects to produce 20,000 sedans in 2008 and recoup its investments in five to six years, Vedomosti said, citing Dolgov.

<b>Gazprom Eyes Britain</b>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Gazprom, Russia’s state-run natural-gas producer, plans to sell natural gas and power directly to consumers in Europe, with an initial focus on Britain, the Wall Street Journal said, citing Vitaly Vasiliev, head of Gazprom Marketing and Trading.
Vasiliev forecast that the company will have 14 percent of the U.K. commercial and industrial gas market in three years, a rise from the current 1.5 percent, the newspaper said. Gazprom already supplies a quarter of Europe’s gas on a wholesale basis, the Journal said.
The European Union is seeking to open its electricity and gas market to give customers more choice, the newspaper said. Yet officials are also concerned about monopoly companies such as Gazprom, which controls gas field, pipe lines and other parts of the system, the Journal said.
SG Tender Threatened</b>
KIEV (Bloomberg) — Societe Generale SA may be forced to pull out of a tender for Ukrainian lender Kreditprombank OJSC after it reported a 4.9 billion-euro ($7.2 billion) loss by one of its traders in France, Economicheskie Izvestiya newspaper reported.
Societe Generale won the tender to acquire a 75 percent stake plus one share in Kiev-based Kreditprombank for $660.42 million, the newspaper said, citing a person with knowledge of the transaction.
Erste Bank AG, National Bank of Greece SA and Piraeus Bank SA participated in the tender, according to Ekonomicheskie Izvestiya.

<b>Alfa Group to Invest</b>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman’s Alfa Group may buy half of St. Petersburg-based builder IVI-93 and invest $1 billion into property development in the city and surrounding region, Kommersant reported.
Alfa’s A1 unit may pay as much as $300 million for the stake and complete the deal as early as next week, the newspaper said Friday, citing IVI-93.
IVI-93 plans to invest $1 billion in residential and commercial property in the former capital and surrounding Leningrad oblast over the next two years, Vedomosti said.

<b>Pipeline Leak Reported</b>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — A pipeline in central Russia leaked nine cubic meters of oil (56 barrels) into the environment early Sunday morning, Itar-Tass reported.
The pipeline sprang a leak after a loss of pressure, polluting 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres) of land in Russia’s Bashkortostan region, the news agency reported Monday, citing a local emergency official.
Nobody was hurt and no water sources were affected, Itar-Tass reported. The leak occurred around 1 a.m. on a trunk pipeline in Bashkortostan’s southern Salavat district, the news agency said.

<b>Russian OPEC Planned</b>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Russia plans to unite with other countries in the former Soviet Union to increase its clout in an OPEC-style natural-gas cartel, Kommersant reported.
Russia will make a formal proposal in April to establish an organization bringing together the national gas companies of countries such as Kazakhstan and Belarus, the newspaper reported Monday, citing the body’s draft charter.
Russia will then be able to use the group to increase its weight within the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, Kommersant said. Iran wants to turn the forum into a cartel similar to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the newspaper reported.

<b>Forecasts Unchanged</b>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Russia’s government will maintain its forecast for growth and inflation in 2008, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said.
“Russia, as planned, aims for growth of at least 6.6 percent this year, maybe more, and inflation must be slowed, so our forecast is 8.5 percent,” Kudrin said in a Jan. 25 interview with Bloomberg TV at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Russia has entered its 10th consecutive year of economic growth. The $1.1 trillion economy expanded about 7.6 percent in 2007, according to the government’s preliminary calculations, fueling inflation.

TITLE: Easy Visa Regime is Finnish Consul’s Priority
AUTHOR: By Irina Titova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: The new Finnish Consul General to St. Petersburg says his main goal is to ease the mobility of people between Russia and Finland as much as possible.
“No doubt, the first aim for my time as a consul will be to improve the visa issuing procedures for people traveling to Finland,” said Olli Perheentupa, 60, who was appointed to St. Petersburg from Jan. 1.
In order to do so the Consulate will need to work on improving the implementation of an EU-Russia agreement on the matter,” the Consul said. 
“People should be more mobile,” he said. 
“It is our policy to develop a flexible connection between Russia and Finland and the whole European Union to the best possible degree,” he said.
Although currently the most frequently obtained Finnish visa is valid for six or twelve months, certain categories of citizens, such as journalists, students, businessmen or cultural representatives can already get a visa that lasts for up to two years. 
However, in the future the Consulate would like to issue visas  that are valid for longer than they are now to Russians in other categories, Perheentupa said.
Perheentupa said he was happy wish his appointment.  He said he always considered the position of Consul General to St. Petersburg as the most important in diplomacy between Russia and Finland. 
“There has always been a lot of work for our diplomats in this region,” Perheentupa said. He said that work includes dealing with the very active flow of tourists between the nations, close trade links with 500 Finnish firms operating in St. Petersburg, and cultural ties.
Perheentupa is known as an expert on Russia thanks to his previous work experience in the country. 
Born in the Finnish town of Turku, he studied social and political science at Helsinki University where he later also taught sociology. Then Perheentupa worked at the Academy of Finland to organize a collaboration with the Soviet Academy of Sciences. In 1982 he began service with the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Finland.  
Between 1994-1997 he worked as a deputy for Consul General in St. Petersburg, and between 1997-2000 he was a counselor of the Finnish Embassy in Moscow. In his last position Perheentupa headed the Unit for Russia at the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Finland.
Perheentupa said he has always felt very comfortable in St. Petersburg.
“People here respect and like Finns, and therefore it’s pleasant to work here,” he said in an interview with The St. Petersburg Times.
It’s a surprising sentiment from a man who has a very good reason to harbor a grudge against St. Petersburg — while working as a vice-consul in 1996 Perheentupa and his wife were caught up in shoot-out near the Grand Hotel Eurpe and he was shot five times with a sawn-off shotgun. The Consul still has a piece of shrapnel in his left arm.
Perheentupa said the case remained unsolved. 
“It was my wife who had the biggest psychological shock at the time: she saw my face covered in blood.  However, I always understood that the shots weren’t aimed me — I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said.
“The only consequence of the incident was that for several months afterward I would jump when someone opened a bottle of champaign,” Perheentupa said.
Perheentupa said even during Soviet times, when the West was to a certain extent afraid of the Soviet Union, Finnish people never felt like that and had many contacts with the U.S.S.R.
“Even during Soviet times we had large numbers of tourists traveling from Finland to Russia. Finns came here for cheap vodka or cheap entertainment, for instance. Those were probably not the best reasons for both of us, though,” he said.
Today the direction of tourist traffic has changed, and now Russian people travel to Finland, Perheentupa said. 
Of 7.2 million crossings over the Russian-Finnish border each year, more than 70 percent are made by Russian citizens.
“Finns treat Russian tourists with a lot of respect,” Perheentupa said.  
Perheentupa also said that Finland welcomes the business it gets from Russians investing in tourism on the coasts of Finnish lakes.
The Consul said Finland has “the most unique relations” with Russia of all European Union countries and that Russia is also a very profitable neighbor for Finland.
“Russia is getting wealthier every year now, and it’s always good to have a rich neighbor because it results in successful trade,” Perheentupa said.
“In fact, Russia is currently one of our three major partners including Germany and Sweden,” Perheentupa said, adding that Russian tourists spend more money in Finland compared to tourists from the two other countries.
Therefore the mutual facilitation of the issuing of visas is one of the Consulate’s priorities.
“And I always say that the easing of the visa regime is the only way to go in the direction of a visa-free regime with the EU that Russia wants to obtain. It’s a very gradual process,” Perheentupa said.
“We shall do all we can during this process to shorten the lines as well as the time needed for issuing visas” the Consul said, adding that the Consulate has about 100 employees working on issuing visas.
“We can increase this number up to 120 people, but then we’ll also need to train more staff, improve the technical base, and exploit the present premises more efficiently,” Perheentupa said.
The Consul, who is currently working on his plan for the following four years, said assistance to business and cultural projects will be one of his other priorities. 
Among the problems that the two countries share, Perheentupa named the traffic jams at the Russian-Finnish border, problems with ports, the presence of customs crime and the smuggling of drugs across the border.
Perheentupa said both sides currently put a lot of effort in solving those issues but there is still more to be done.
“For instance, to solve the problem of traffic jams at the border we should introduce an electronic means for the declaration of goods. It could significantly speed up the processing of trucks through the border,” he said.
“More attention should also be paid to the development of Russian ports on the Gulf of Finland,” he said.
Meanwhile, Perheentupa said Finns currently working in or traveling to Russia, and St. Petersburg in particular, feel comfortable here in spite of the problems faced by all foreigners.
A separate project that Perheentupa plans to dedicate his time to is the House of Finland.  Currently Finns are renovating a building on the city’s Bolshaya Konyushennaya Ulitsa to house a Finnish nursery school, secondary school, the Finland’s Institute in St. Petersburg and some other national organizations that already operate in the city or are planned to open.
The Consul said Russians are more emotional and warm, and compared to Finns, but “I wouldn’t make any stereotypes. My international experience shows that all nations have different people with different characters.” 
Perheentupa said that after his time in Russia he has learnt the art of making a toast, something that is not traditional in Finland.
“The procedure of toasting can be endless in Russia,” the Consul smiled, adding that in Russia he always offers a toast.
“According to an outdated saying, true Finns don’t talk, they just drink,” he joked.
Perheentupa and his wife Pirkko, who is an expert on the tourist business, have a son who lives in Helsinki and works in genetic research. The Perheentupas have three grandchildren who have visited St. Petersburg to visit their grandfather — and liked the city a lot.
Perheentupa said his wife, who hasn’t yet come to St. Petersburg since he took up his new post, has asked him to find a pedigree kitten for their home in St. Petersburg before she arrives.

TITLE: City Officials Ponder Parking Problems
AUTHOR: By Yekaterina Dranitsyna
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: St. Petersburg has a deficit of 300,000 car parking spaces, and the number of cars in St. Petersburg increased by 28 percent last year up to 1.35 million cars, the press service for the city governor said last week in a statement.
Local officials plan to improve the situation by developing multistory car parks, for which purpose Governor Valentina Matviyenko has ordered district authorities and City Hall committees to analyze available land plots and find opportunities for new developments.
“We need an effective system of secure storage for motor transport. We need an intelligent policy to solve this problem,” Matviyenko said in the statement.
About one in three St. Petersburg residents now owns a car. But according to the last transport planning scheme approved in 2002, this was the number of cars forecast for the year 2010. The largest deficit of parking space is in the city center, and in the near future the city will need parking space for 500,000 cars to meet European standards.
Local officials have suggested the construction of modern car parks using land plots currently occupied by outdated box garages. The new parking centers would be financed by private investors, according to government plans.
A large number of the old garages should be demolished, while their owners will be offered participation in the construction of new multistory car parks on preferential terms, Matviyenko said.
The new transport planning scheme will be approved by July 1, 2008 and will provide guidelines and principles for the development of new car parks in 2008-2010.
The city plans to retain about 20 percent of parking spaces in private car parks, which will be distributed among people entitled to social privileges. The number of open parking spaces will also increase, including municipal parking spaces with fixed tariffs. The City Center for Parking and Garages is responsible for the construction of those parking spaces.
Local experts were skeptical about the attractiveness of car parks for investors. One developer indicated that car park construction is expensive but provides low return on investment.
“The city government tried to introduce a program for the redevelopment of vacant land plots into parking spaces, but so far I have not seen any interest from investors in such projects. We are not considering car park construction at the moment,” the developer said on condition of anonymity.
According to real estate experts, car parks could be interesting if combined with other commercial areas. “Parking spaces as such are less profitable than shopping centers or office centers,” said Nikolai Kazansky, director for investment consulting at Colliers International.
“The state bodies could stimulate the development of parking spaces by granting land plots and tax concessions. One of the options could be establishing more profitable commercial areas on the upper level of multistory car parks. It would make the venture more profitable and more attractive to investors,” Kazansky said.
According to City Hall, in St. Petersburg there are 63 multistory car parks and 13 underground car parks. Forty four new centers are being planned and constructed at the moment. 
Last year, according to the committee for construction, 24 new garages were completed and the city government approved the construction of 32 new car parks, while four land plots were auctioned for car park construction.
By the end of 2007, about 43 percent of private cars were provided with parking spaces and garages. Out of this number, 5-6 percent of cars were kept in multistory and underground parking spaces, 65 percent in box garages and 25-30 percent in open guarded parking spaces.

TITLE: Russneft Told To Pay Back Taxes
AUTHOR: By Tai Adelaja
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW — The Moscow District Federal Arbitration Court on Friday ordered beleaguered oil company Russneft to pay 20 billion rubles ($800 million) in back taxes. 
The amount includes 17 billion rubles in tax debts for 2005 and 3 billion rubles for 2003 and the first half of 2004.
Friday’s decision could open the door for Basic Element, owned by Kremlin-friendly tycoon Oleg Deripaska, which is bidding for Russneft, to acquire the company cheaper, analysts said.
Russneft vice president Eduard Sarkisov said Saturday that the company would consider this week whether to appeal the court’s decision.
Mikhail Zak, senior analyst at Veles Capital, said that while the tax demand was big, it would not bankrupt Russneft.
“The revenues generated by Russneft are sufficient to pay off the amount,” Zak said. “The only drawback is that these funds will no longer go into expansion and development as previously planned by the company.”
“This is more about political, rather than legal issues,” said Timur Khairullin, oil and gas analyst at Antanta Capital. “Bearing in mind what happened to Yukos, there is no guarantee that the authorities will not slap more tax claims on the company to take control of it.”
Russneft, established in 2002 by Mikhail Gutseriyev and his partners, quickly rose to become one of the country’s top 10 crude producers.
Tax authorities have brought a total of 11 lawsuits against shareholders in Russneft.

TITLE: Keeping Up With The Joneses
AUTHOR: By Anna Shcherbakova
TEXT: There are situations when weaknesses can be converted into advantages. While the international banking sector is weathering a storm, Russian banks, whose involvement in international business is not very extensive, are still feeling brave. Last week I sent a short questionnaire to eight banks with a significant retail portfolio, asking what they expect for the retail market in 2008 and what factors could slow its development.  Bankers are cautious in their forecasts for 2008, but none of them had any doubt that the amount of retail banking will grow — perhaps not as fast as in 2007, when it doubled in some sectors such as mortgages and increased by a good 50 percent in general, but 30 percent growth is generally expected, according to my small survey. Clients may feel the breeze of the financial crisis in increased interest rates and stricter requirements for borrowers.  
Demand for borrowing is fueled by increased incomes. People’s salaries are increasing, but their demands are growing even faster, and the easiest way to satisfy the desire for a new car and larger apartment is a bank loan. Young people determined to impress are borrowing money to buy the latest models of mobile phones. This keeping-up-with-the-Joneses fever that has enriched banks and made people more dependent on financial institutions will probably subside. Banks’ access to western financial resources will be reduced due to the crisis that follows higher rates, and smaller banks frightened by possible risks should increase their rates too. The only institutions that will benefit from the situation are state-owned Sberbank and VTB, who are supported by national funding. In order to reduce the possible losses from unpaid loans, banks will switch from risky loans to consumer goods to issuing credit cards. 
However, only a small part of the population is playing these games. Only 28 percent of Russians have borrowed money from banks, and the penetration of mortgages is just 6 percent. There is enough space for retail banking to grow, some industry players say. 
But most people who have already borrowed money from the banks should repay old loans before taking out new ones. The most watchful among them will take into consideration the new increased rates, and wait a while and save some money instead of purchasing a new phone or furniture immediately, and this is why retail banking will grow modestly this year. 
So what are the banks doing to win their share of the competition? Participants of the survey claim to be taking better care of their clients, for instance by making all the procedures from filling in forms and receiving approval up to repaying the money faster and more convenient. They plan to introduce new proposals, such as loans in Japanese yen, which would help to lower rates, or to share high rates with carmakers or construction companies who are also interested in selling their products. 
They are certainly eager to find new clients, I can say from my own experience. I’ve been offered a credit card from two banks within the last two weeks, and been invited to become a client of the private banking department of another two. 

Anna Shcherbakova is the St. Petersburg bureau head of business daily Vedomosti.

TITLE: Davos’ Impotence
AUTHOR: By Dominique Moisi
TEXT: The annual World Economic Forum is rightly perceived as a global barometer. But the superb sunshine in Davos these days cannot avoid the shadows of the financial crisis that have enveloped the world, casting an atmosphere of gloom and doom on this year’s meeting. Today, more than ever, the forum’s proud motto, “Committed to the improvement of the world,” seems disconnected from reality. It is not confidence that dominates Davos 2008, but rather a sense of impotence, if not bewilderment, at the world’s growing complexity. 
In fact, Davos is less a barometer that helps us to understand the deep trends that are shaping the world than a mirror that reflects trendy ideas, worries and perhaps gossip. From formal debates and informal schmoozing with fellow members of the Davos crowd, one gets a sense of who the U.S. establishment favors to win the next presidential election (Hillary Clinton), predictions for the upcoming referendum in Ireland on the European “simplified” treaty (it will be very close), and French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s international image (not good). 
You do not need to go to Davos for this, but in the Swiss mountains these ideas acquire an aura of legitimacy — call it the “I-was-told-in-Davos” imprimatur — which explains why political and economic analysts and commentators keep coming back, despite the forum’s combination of pomposity and intellectual vacuity. The eminent people who pass through are given opportunities only for sound bites, not for developed thoughts. 
As for business leaders, despite the hefty fees they must pay to become members of the “Davos Family,” they too keep coming because for them the forum ultimately represents a time- and money-saving investment. Where else in the world could they meet so many of their potential partners or customers, including heads of emerging states, in one place? 
Of course, the danger of Davos lies in this concentrated commingling of the chattering classes with the real world of politics and business. Conformism flows naturally from these encounters and creates a world in which everybody tends to think alike, as if a truly global community could create a global way of thinking, even if positions on how to address the current financial crisis are varied. 
What is trendy at Davos this year is to view the crisis as reflecting the declining clout of the United States. After the war in Iraq and Washington’s slow reaction to Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis is perceived by many as simply accelerating the irresistible rise of Asia and the shift from a unipolar to a multipolar world, even if the wider financial crisis will equally affect Asia’s growth. 
For countries like China or India, the scaling down of growth from 8 percent to 5 percent is nearly the equivalent of a recession in the West. Yesterday, when the United States sneezed, the world caught a cold. Today, when the United States catches pneumonia, can Asia only sneeze? 
The second trend underlined at Davos is the return of the state. In the latest issue of Foreign Affairs, the World Economic Forum’s founder and president, Klaus Schwab, asks, “How can business help save the world?” But with the financial crisis hanging over Davos participants’ heads like the sword of Damocles, the question is becoming, “Can states and international institutions save business?” 
The return of the state, even when it is the power of the European Commission to sanction Microsoft, is the issue on everyone’s lips. Such a return further underlines a growing skepticism about the market and its key actors’ infectious and dangerous greed. 
This trend, if it is confirmed by reality, could signify the end of what Davos stands for — an open, global and transparent world. But is the world ready for a return to protectionist policies and nationalist reflexes? Will today’s freedom and transparency, having led to undesired results, result in a return to restrictions on movements of goods, people and capital? 
In Davos this year, great hopes have given way to great apprehensions. How can you pretend to be acting to change the world if you no longer understand it? 

Dominique Moisi, a founder and senior advisor at the French Institute for International Relations, is currently a professor at the College of Europe in Natolin, Warsaw. © Project Syndicate.

TITLE: A Rogue Trader Truly In a Class Of His Own
AUTHOR: Financial Times
TEXT: Modern banking is peppered with tales of rogue traders blowing holes in their employers’ balance sheets. The case of Jerome Kerviel, the rogue trader at France’s Societe Generale, is, however, in a class of its own. 
When Nick Leeson brought down Barings Bank, in 1995, risk management became a more serious business. Banks installed sophisticated blackbox technology to prevent a repeat disaster. While lacking Leeson’s star status, the backroom boy turned “vanilla” futures trader who lost 4.9 billion euros ($7.2 billion) for Societe Generale shows just how easy it is to dupe these sophisticated systems.
Still, it is hard to believe that such a large trading loss could be concealed for any length of time. It goes without saying that executives should have known what was happening under their noses. But what protection are compliance controls and watchful management against a geek with intimate knowledge of back-office computer systems and reportedly secret passwords?
At one level, the abuse at Societe Generale is another example of a European bank trying to emulate Wall Street’s finest, but coming unstuck because of a failure in risk control. But it is also true that as long as human nature remains what it is — and dealers are rewarded for making profits and fired for failure — then deception will always be a risk. 
That risk is usually contained by computer software codes and the deterrent of prosecution. 
In this case, the Societe Generale trader, like Leeson, probably knew from his earlier backroom role how to hide his positions.
For the bank, which was founded in Napoleonic times and survived two world wars to become a pillar of France’s business establishment, this is a humiliating episode that could yet prove terminal. A takeover attempt by one or more of its rivals must be a possibility.
For investors, it is an ominous reminder during a dramatic week for the world’s battered financial markets that the banking system is wide open to a catastrophic failure. 
Just as the volatility in asset prices since the start of the year added to Societe Generale’s problems, other banks may well be nursing similarly large trading losses from poor judgment. 
The big question is what else is out there. Few guessed the far-reaching effects of the credit squeeze. Nobody believed monoline insurers, the ultimate guarantors of security, could be at risk. Compliance systems were foolproof. Now human failure has proved their undoing. As Lehman Brothers chairman and chief executive Richard Fuld put it, “Nothing stuns me, nothing really surprises me these days.”

This appeared as an editorial in the Financial Times.

TITLE: Time To Fear Bubbles
AUTHOR: By Alexei Bayer
TEXT: In my bi-weekly Vedomosti columns, I’ve been expressing alarm about turbulence in global financial markets and the weakness of the U.S. dollar, with particular attention paid to what it could mean for the Russian economy. In particular, I have warned that Russia could become a weak link in the global economic system — just as it was in 1998. It is heavily dependent on raw materials and has become spoiled by record high commodity prices. Its economic structure is both inefficient and nontransparent and, most important, its neo-Soviet political system, for all its outward solidity, may prove brittle when stressed by an economic downturn.
The online edition of Vedomosti has a forum where registered readers can sound off and discuss articles. Granted, those who take part in public discussions may not be fully representative of the paper’s readership, but those discussions nonetheless leave a grim impression. Almost all participants declare gleefully that the U.S. is weak and irrelevant to the rest of the world and that Russia has now become a key economic player — whereas articles like mine, perhaps funded by sinister forces in Washington, are meant to diminish Russia’s role.
That an active portion of Russian business executives and finance professionals  hold such primitive views, which seem to come straight from a Soviet-era political education lecture, is yet another reason to fear for Russia’s well-being in a global recession.
Now may be a good time to start being afraid. The U.S. Federal Reserve cut its interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point on Jan. 22, an almost unprecedented act of desperation to stop the hemorrhaging on global securities exchanges, reverse the worldwide credit crunch, prevent a drop in U.S. consumer spending and right the wobbling U.S. residential property market.
There may be various explanations why the Federal Reserve acted so urgently. Ben Bernanke, who replaced the almost mythical Alan Greenspan as the central bank’s chairman two years ago, has not yet proved his mettle and therefore wants to take no chances on a recession. There may also be political considerations. The United States is in the middle of a presidential election, which would certainly be influenced by an economic downturn. 
But there may also be a genuine panic at the Federal Reserve. Bernanke has inherited a world thriving on excess liquidity. The ability of the United States to print dollars at will and to buy goods, services and commodities from the rest of the world spurred an investment boom to sate this demand. While massive investment, combined with technological progress, kept the prices of basic goods and services low, bubbles developed everywhere else, wherever supply was limited: in real estate, art, commodities and stocks. These multiple bubbles are now starting to burst.
Those who hope that Russia will emerge from a global downturn unscathed should take a look at the Moscow stock market. Its RTS index lost some 20 percent of its value in a few trading sessions last week. After a rise over the past two years, it has plenty more room to fall.
The Federal Reserve may slash interest rates and Washington could add another dose of tax cuts, preventing a recession. But this will merely ensure that later this year or sometime during the next, the bursting of the bubble will be even more spectacular. In any case, interesting times lie ahead. To quote a Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times.”

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

TITLE: The Genocide Olympics
AUTHOR: By Nicholas D. Kristof
TEXT: The Beijing Olympics this summer were supposed to be China’s coming-out party, celebrating the end of nearly two centuries of weakness, poverty and humiliation.
Instead, China’s leaders are tarnishing their own Olympiad by abetting genocide in Darfur and in effect undermining the United Nations military deployment there. The result is a growing international campaign to brand these “The Genocide Olympics.”
This is not a boycott of the Olympics. But expect Darfur-related protests at Chinese embassies, as well as banners and armbands among both athletes and spectators. There’s a growing recognition that perhaps the best way of averting hundreds of thousands more deaths in Sudan is to use the leverage of the Olympics to shame China into more responsible behavior.
The central problem is that in exchange for access to Sudanese oil, Beijing is financing, diplomatically protecting and supplying the arms for the first genocide of the 21st century. China is the largest arms supplier to Sudan, officially selling $83 million in weapons, aircraft and spare parts to the country in 2005, according to Amnesty International USA. That is the latest year for which figures are available.
China provided Sudan with A-5 Fantan bomber aircraft, helicopter gunships, K-8 military training and attack aircraft and light weapons used in Sudan’s proxy invasion of Chad last year.
China also uses the threat of its veto on the United Nations Security Council to block UN action against Sudan so that there is a growing risk of a catastrophic humiliation for the UN itself.
Sudan feels confident enough with Chinese backing that on Jan. 7, the Sudanese military am-bushed a clearly marked UN convoy of peace-keepers in Darfur. Sudan claimed the attack was a mistake, but diplomats and UN professionals are confident that this was a deliberate attack ordered by the Sudanese leaders to put the UN in its place.
Sudan has already barred units from Sweden, Norway, Nepal, Thailand and other countries from joining the UN force. It has banned night flights, dithered on a status-of-forces agreement, held up communications equipment and refused to allow the UN to bring in foreign helicopters. 
The growing fear is that the UN force will be humiliated in Sudan as it was in Rwanda and Bosnia, causing enormous damage to international peace-keeping. Another possible sign of Sudan’s confidence: U.S. diplomat John Granville was ambushed and murdered in Khartoum early this month. Many in the diplomatic and intelligence community believe that such an assassination could not happen in Khartoum unless elements of the government were involved.
Chinese officials argue that they are engaging in quiet diplomacy with Sudan’s leaders and that this is the best way to seek a solution in Darfur. They note that Sudan has other backers and that China’s influence is limited.
It is true that since the start of the “Genocide Olympics” campaign a year ago, China has been more helpful, and it is only because of Chinese pressure on Khartoum that UN peacekeepers were admitted to Darfur at all. But the basic reality is that China continues to side with Sudan — it backed Sudan again after it ambushed the UN peacekeepers — and Sudan feels protected enough that it goes on thumbing its nose at the international community.
Just a few days ago, Sudan appointed Musa Hilal, a founding leader of the Arab militia known as the Janjaweed, to a position in the central government. This is the man who was once quoted as having expressed gratitude for “the necessary weapons and ammunition to exterminate the African tribes in Darfur.”
Other countries also must do much more, but China is crucial. If Beijing were to suspend all transfers of arms and spare parts to Sudan until a peace deal is reached in Darfur, then that would change the dynamic. President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan would be terrified — especially since he is now preparing to resume war with South Sudan — and would realize that China is no longer willing to let its Olympics be stained by Darfur blood.
Without his Chinese shield, Bashir would be more likely to make concessions to Darfur rebels and negotiate seriously with them, and he would no longer have political cover to resume war against South Sudan. That would make long-term peace more likely in Darfur and also in South Sudan. I’m a great fan of China’s achievements, and I’ve often defended Beijing from unfair protectionist rhetoric spouted by U.S. politicians. But those of us who admire China’s accomplishments find it difficult to give credit when Beijing simultaneously underwrites the ultimate crime of genocide.
China deserves an international celebration to mark its historic re-emergence as a major power. But so long as China insists on providing arms to sustain a slaughter based on tribe and skin color, this will remain, sadly, The Genocide Olympics.

Nicholas D. Kristof is a columnist for The New York Times, where this comment appeared.

TITLE: The Lessons Of 1968
AUTHOR: By Boris Kagarlitsky
TEXT: 1968 was truly a momentous year. Polish students staged protests, and the communist intellectuals of Czechoslovakia, who led the reform movement called the Prague Spring, attempted to build “socialism with a human face.” 
The demonstrations by Parisian students in May were the climax of 1968. We saw the unarmed uprising with its barricade of the Sorbonne and President de Gaulle’s hasty exodus from the city. These events inspired left-wing movements for decades to come. 
Unfortunately, the political outcome of this remarkable year turned out to be less substantial than might have been expected. A column of Soviet tanks brought the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia to an abrupt halt. Afterward, the East European intelligentsia, which had so enthusiastically supported the communist reformers, quickly switched its political views. 
People who had glorified the student revolts in France now returned to their bourgeois lives. They were determined to pursue new careers, armed with new ideals.  Thirty years later, a new generation started the next wave of rebellion — this time, it was aimed at those who led the 1968 revolutionary movements.
Europe not only survived the 1968 revolutions, it was able to reform itself fundamentally thanks to the infusion of new ideas and novel approaches to old problems. But if you look at today’s world from the point of view of the 1968 protesters, it would be hard to imagine anything more at odds with their original hopes and expectations. 
Does that necessarily mean that the events of 1968 hold no value or meaning for us today? No — the valuable experiences that the world gained from 1968 serves as a lesson to which we will return time and time again. As Jean-Paul Sartre once said in an interview, “The progress of mankind moves forward from defeat to defeat.” 

Boris Kagarlitsky is the director of the Institute of Globalization Studies.

TITLE: Djokovic, Sharapova Are Wizards of Oz
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MELBOURNE, Australia — Novak Djokovic withstood a first-set barrage from Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, then powered his way to his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open on Sunday. A day earlier, Maria Sharapova capped off her dream run in this year’s tournament to beat Ana Ivanovic in the women’s final.
No. 3-ranked Djokovic fended off Muhammad Ali lookalike Tsonga 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6, ending a sequence of 11 straight majors won by either Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal since Marat Safin’s triumph here in 2005.
Djokovic, 20, had not lost a set in six matches leading into the final, including his semifinal win over two-time defending champion Federer. But with unseeded Tsonga coming out swinging like he did in his straight-sets upset over No. 2 Nadal in the semifinals and three other top 14 players, that streak came to a sudden end.
Djokovic rebounded in the second and third sets and after saving a crucial breakpoint in the fourth, dominated the tiebreaker to clinch his first major at his 13th attempt.
“You feel the expectations and pressure, so I’m very happy with the way I dealt with the pressure,” Djokovic said. “Coming on against a player with nothing to lose — he was going for the shots and he was very dangerous, especially in the first set — I was pretty nervous.”
Djokovic was the youngest player since Stefan Edberg defeated Mats Wilander in 1985 to win the Australian Open title and the first man from Serbia to win a major. 
Tsonga, who had been so aggressive earlier in the tournament, seemed more content to rally from the baseline, especially after getting passed several times.
Both players had to fight off cramp.
Djokovic got treatment on the back of his left thigh while holding for a 3-2 lead in the fourth set, then fended off a break point while serving at 5-5.
Wanting to finish it off quickly, he raced through the tiebreaker — with some help from Tsonga, who double-faulted to make it 5-1 and then sent a running forehand long to give Djokovic four championship points.
He only needed one as Tsonga hit a forehand wide.
Djokovic fell on his back, then got up to shake hands with Tsonga and put his arm around the Frenchman. He got on his knees and kissed the court, shook hands with his family, then tossed two rackets into the stands before burying his face in a towel.
“First, before I thank everybody in this world, I want to thank everybody in my box, who’ve supported me all the way through, not just these two weeks, all the way in my life,” Djokovic said. “Thank you very much, I love you.”
His father, mother and two younger brothers wore white tracksuits and sat in order with letters on the front spelling out Djokovic’s nickname, Nola.
“Second of course Jo. Unbelievable tournament and you should be proud of yourself — if he won tonight it would be absolutely deserved, so well done for his success.”
Djokovic, who has had a hot and cold relationship with the Melbourne Park crowd, won them back over again in his post-match speech.
“I know the crowd wanted him to win more,” he said of Tsonga. “That’s OK, it’s all right. I still love you guys, don’t worry.
“I’m very, very happy that I won my first Grand Slam here, so hopefully we’ll see you here on this stage a lot more often in the future.”
A year after being on the wrong end of one of the most-lopsided losses in a Grand Slam final, Sharapova wrapped up her third major title Saturday with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over fourth-seeded Ana Ivanovic.
The Russian didn’t drop a set in seven matches at Melbourne Park, including wins over three of the top four ranked players, erasing 12 months of painful memories in the wake of her 6-1, 6-2 loss to Serena Williams last year.
After Ivanovic sprayed a forehand wide on match point, Sharapova dropped to her knees and appeared to be fighting back tears as she waved and blew kisses to the crowd.
Then she dropped her racket in her chair before heading to shake hands and exchange high-fives with her father and supporters.
She told the Rod Laver Arena crowd that she’d received a text message from tennis great Billie Jean King telling her that ‘Champions take chances and pressure is a privilege.’
“I took mine,” Sharapova said.
Sharapova, 20, wished her mother, Yelena, a happy birthday and told her how she planned to spend some of her 1,370,000 Australian dollars ($1,207,790) prize money.
“With this big fat check, I’m going to send you a bunch of roses,” she said. “Last year I lost on her birthday and this year I said I’m going to make it up to her, and I did.”
Ivanovic is projected to rise to No. 2 in the rankings despite the loss, while Sharapova will remain at No. 5 when the new list is released next week.
Sharapova leads their head-to-heads 3-2, avenging a straight-sets loss to the Serbian player in the French Open semifinals last year.
Ivanovic, also 20, is 0-2 in Grand Slam finals after losing the French Open championship match to Henin.
“I’m very emotional and you guys made it a very special experience for me,” she told the crowd as tears welled in her eyes. Ivanovic said she expected more big Grand Slam encounters between she and Sharapova in future.
“I really feel I’m also improving my game and I’m learning how to be a top player. These situations help me,” she said. “So I’m sure we’ll have plenty of opportunities to play against each other in the final of a Grand Slam.”

TITLE: Obama Wins Big in South Carolina
AUTHOR: By Charles Babington
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — Democrat Barack Obama said Sunday that his landslide win in South Carolina’s presidential primary marks a turn in political history, showing that a black candidate can appeal to voters of all colors and in all regions.
The Illinois senator told a raucous crowd of more than 9,000 here that his big victory Saturday disproved the old notion “that if you get black votes, you can’t get white votes,” and vice versa.
“We’re going to write a new chapter in the South, we’re going to write a new chapter in American history,” he said during his 64-minute speech to a capacity crowd at the University of Alabama at Birmingham basketball arena. The crowd was roughly two-thirds black and one-third white.
Earlier Sunday he made a similar argument, responding to comments by former President Clinton that some interpreted as an effort to diminish Obama’s win Saturday over Hillary Rodham Clinton. Bill Clinton noted that Jesse Jackson won the South Carolina primary in 1984 and 1988. Jackson never became the party’s presidential nominee.
Obama, speaking during a television interview, said “there’s no doubt” that Jackson set a precedent for blacks seeking the presidency. But he noted that was two decades ago.
“I think that what we saw in this election was a shift in South Carolina,” he said, with implications “all across the country. I think people want change. I think they want to get beyond some of the racial politics that, you know, has been so dominant in the past.”
Obama resisted being drawn into a spat with the Clintons, even though he suggested they are part of a political past the country is ready to leave behind.
“I think that Bill Clinton did important work back in the 1990s,” he said. “The question is, now we’re in 2008, and how do we move it forward to the next phase? I think that in the ‘90s, we got caught up in a slash-and-burn politics that the American people are weary of.” 
“Now, that is not the Clintons’ fault,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.” “It is all of our faults, in the sense that we’ve gotten into these bad habits and we can’t seem to have disagreements without being disagreeable.”
Later, speaking with reporters during a flight from Georgia to Alabama, Obama said, “I think the country wants to look forward, and that has always been the central thesis of our campaign.”
He said Hillary Clinton will have an advantage in the sprawling race on Feb. 5, when Democrats vote in 22 states, because of her nearly universal name recognition. “It presents more of a challenge for us,” he said, because he needs time for voters to get to know him.
Obama declined to directly condemn Clinton for urging that Democratic Party officially recognizes delegates awarded to the winner of Tuesday’s largely ignored Democratic primary in Florida. The national party has said it will not sanction Tuesday’s results because the state insisted on scheduling its presidential primary too early in the year. Clinton said she will travel to Florida on Tuesday.
“All the candidates made a pledge that we would campaign in the early states and we would not campaign in Florida and Michigan,” Obama said.

TITLE: Indonesian Dictator Suharto Dies Age 86
PUBLISHER: Agence France Presse
TEXT: MATESIH, Indonesia — Former Indonesian president Suharto was laid to rest with full military honours Monday, ending a controversial chapter in the history of the nation he ruled with an iron fist for 32 years.
The ex-dictator, whose rule became a byword for rampant corruption and rights abuses despite huge economic progress, was buried at a family mausoleum in the town of Matesih.
Hundreds of mourners gathered along the flag-lined road leading to the mausoleum on the main island of Java with many expressing nostalgia for the Suharto era.
“I think Pak Harto thought of the people,” a 53-year-old woman named Mariani told AFP, using the respectful name by which Suharto was known.
“Everything was cheap, now things are expensive.”
Inside the complex, Suharto’s coffin was carried out of the hearse to military drumming, preceded by soldiers carrying his portrait and two wreaths.
Family members and close friends of the former leader followed the coffin into the traditional steep-roofed Javanese mausoleum where he was to be buried in a white marble tomb between his wife Siti Hartinah Suharto and his mother-in-law, members of Javanese royalty.
Current President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the country’s first directly elected leader, then lowered Suharto’s coffin, draped in garlands of jasmine flowers, into the ground amid a salvo of gunfire following a short speech.
Family members and close friends showered the coffin with rose petals and jasmine flowers before Yudhoyono shovelled the first sprinkles of earth onto it.
Suharto’s eldest daughter, Siti Hardiyati Rukmana, broke down in tears as she delivered a eulogy.
“If he ever did some wrong and sinned, may God grant his forgiveness,” she said, a nod towards accusations his strict decades rule was overshadowed by bloodshed.
A golden parasol was then planted at the side of the headstone, an honour usually reserved for members of the nobility.
Suharto’s regime was scarred by repression, from the killings of at least half a million communists and sympathisers after an abortive coup that allowed him to seize power in 1966, to invading East Timor and repressing separatist movements in Aceh and Papua provinces.
Around 200,000 Timorese were either killed in the invasion or died from preventable causes during the occupation.
Yudhoyono, in a speech afterwards, listed Suharto’s services to the nation but acknowledged his faults — albeit sparingly.
“In full honesty and with a clean heart, we should all recognise that there have been so many services that the late (Suharto) has contributed to the nation and the state, but we also realise that as a mere human and as a leader, the late (Suharto) was certainly not free of mistakes and shortcomings,” he said.
Suharto died Sunday aged 86 of multiple organ failure.

TITLE: East Wins NHL All-Star Game
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: ATLANTA — Strong goaltending by Yevgeny Nabokov drew praise from Ilya Kovalchuk after an otherwise high-scoring NHL All-Star game.
Nabokov, the San Jose goalie making his second All-Star appearance, stopped each of the eight shots he faced in the second period on Sunday night.
Three of the eight shots were fired by Kovalchuk, who grew increasingly animated, thereby drawing more attention to Nabokov’s strong play.
Nabokov’s shutout in the second period gave the Western Conference a chance to make a comeback in the East’s 8-7 win.
After Nabokov made a glove save with 1:03 left in the period, Kovalchuk fell to his back and lay on the ice for a few seconds before rising to congratulate the goalie.
“He made an unbelievable save,” Kovalchuk said, adding he told Nabokov “Great save.”
Nabokov wasn’t finished. The eighth-year goalie stopped Kovalchuk’s last shot on a breakaway at the end of the period.
Kovalchuk flung his stick away on his way off the ice.
Nabokov is the first goalie to post a shutout period in the All-Star game since 2002, when the World All-Stars’ Nikolai Khabibulin stopped all 20 shots in the third period of an 8-5 win over the North America All-Stars.
Nabokov said he was lucky to make the saves on Kovalchuk’s shots.
“You need to be good to be lucky, too,” Kovalchuk said. “You need to be in that kind of position at the right time at the right place to make those kind of saves.”
Kovalchuk said Nabokov “was one of those guys who could get the MVP tonight, too. He played an unbelievable 20-minute shutout. ... He’s a great, great goaltender.”
Other players enjoyed the competition between Kovalchuk and Nabokov.
“Oh yeah, that was a fun series,” West captain Jarome Iginla said. “Kovalchuk was all over it tonight and had some great chances, and Nabokov was on fire.”
Nabokov’s strong second period came after Chris Osgood gave up five goals on 16 shots in the first period. The West’s third goalie, Manny Legace, gave up three goals on nine shots in the third period.
Nashville center Jason Arnott had to wait 11 years to make his second career All-Star appearance.
Arnott played on a line with Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne in the 1997 All-Star game in San Jose, Calif., when he was only 22. He returned this year as one of the oldest All-Stars at 33 and had one assist.
“It’s the other end of the spectrum,” Arnott said. “I was one of the younger guys and now I’m one of the older ones. My first time you had (Wayne) Gretzky and superstars like that. Now I’m one of the older guys and you see all the young superstars around.”
Arnott played in the 1997 All-Star game only three weeks after breaking an ankle. Expectations for another high-scoring All-Star game received record-fast support.
Columbus’ Rick Nash set the All-Star record for the earliest goal by scoring only 12 seconds in. Nash didn’t need any help on it, either, scoring unassisted.
“I asked Rick, ‘What took you so long?”’ East forward Marian Hossa said.
Nash added a breakaway goal to open the second-period scoring and a third goal in the third period, recording the 15th hat trick in All-Star history.
Detroit’s Ted Lindsay held the previous record for fastest goal to start an All-Star game when he scored at 19 seconds in 1950. The defending Stanley Cup champion Red Wings beat the All-Stars 7-1.
There were 15 first-time All-Stars, one year after 20 players made their debuts.
Last year’s first-time All-Stars included two of the game’s brightest lights, Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin.
One of this year’s first-time All-Stars, Pittsburgh’s Yevgeny Malkin, earned his invitation when his Penguins teammate Crosby withdrew due to a high ankle sprain.
The only two All-Star starters making their first appearances were on the Eastern Conference team: New York Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro.

TITLE: Transplant Girl is ‘Miracle’
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: CANBERRA, Australia — An Australian teenage girl has become the world’s first known transplant patient to change blood groups and take on the immune system of her organ donor, doctors said on Friday, calling her a “one-in-six-billion miracle.”
Demi-Lee Brennan, now 15, received a donor liver when she was 9 years old and her own liver failed.
“It’s like my second chance at life,” Brennan told local media, recounting how her body achieved what doctors said was the holy grail of transplant surgery. “It’s kind of hard to believe.”
Brennan’s body changed blood group from O negative to O positive when she became ill while on drugs to avoid rejection of the organ by her body’s immune system.
Her new liver’s blood stem cells then invaded her body’s bone marrow to take over her entire immune system, meaning the teen no longer needs anti-rejection drugs.

TITLE: Russians Take European Figure Skating Crown
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: ZAGREB, Croatia — Russians Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin were crowned European figure skating ice dance champions Friday after a perfect performance in the final of the event’s three legs.
Saturday’s competition saw Italian Carolina Kostner capture her second successive women’s title, after Czech Tomas Verner had won the men’s event with a flawless free skating performance Thursday.
In Friday’s ice dancing finale, the 2007 silver medalists from Russia totaled 207.14 points to topple last year’s winners Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder of France, who had led before the free dance and finished second on 205.92 points.
Russians Jana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitski held on to third place to take the bronze medal with 197.06 points after narrowly missing out on a podium finish at last year’s European championships in Warsaw.
Kostner followed up last year’s triumph in Warsaw by winning the two-leg women’s event with a total score of 171.28 points after a confident free-skating performance Saturday.
Last year’s runner-up Sarah Meier of Switzerland took silver again with a superb display that lifted her into second position after she had started the second leg in fourth.
Meier, who achieved the best free-skating score, totaled 169.44 points while Finland’s Laura Lepisto held on to third place after finishing on 165.65 points.
Hungarian Julia Sebestyen moved up one place to fourth while last year’s Finnish bronze medalist Kiira Korpi, second after Friday’s short programme, dropped to fifth after an unconvincing performance riddled with technical errors.
Men’s winner Verner, who had been in charge after Wednesday’s short programme, built on his lead to complete the two-leg event with a total of 232.67 points, ahead of Stephane Lambiel of Swizterland and 2007 winner Brian Joubert of France.
The week-long championships end with a gala on Sunday.

TITLE: Egypt Closes Gaza Border After Six Days
AUTHOR: By Omar Sinan
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: RAFAH, Egypt — Egyptian security forces and Hamas militants strung barbed wire across one of the openings in the Egypt-Gaza border Monday — a sign that a days-long breaching of the frontier may be nearing an end.
Three trucks of Egyptian security forces pulled up to the “Brazil” gate and strung wire across the entry point into Egypt. Half a dozen bearded and uniformed militants of Hamas, the group that controls the Gaza Strip, aided them.
At the main Salah Eddin gate, meanwhile, Palestinian and Egyptian security forces manned the crossing points, stopping civilian cars and letting trucks through, while pedestrians scoured the nearly empty stores for food and consumer products to take back to the Gaza Strip with them in fear of an imminent border reclosing.
“I said no Gazan cars with civilian plates can go through, only cars with truck plates are allowed. Do not argue with me. The orders have changed from above,” one security guard told a man trying to ferry his Egyptian mother back across the border.
Six days after Hamas blew holes in the border wall with Egypt to end a two year blockade and sent hundreds of thousands of Palestinians across the border in a shopping frenzy, authorities in the region are still struggling to come up with a new system to administer the border.
Egypt wants to restore shared control of the border among the Palestinian Authority, Israel, and European Union monitors, while Hamas rejects the old system and is pushing for a new one — presumably with more control in the hands of the militant group.
With much of the Arab world expressing deep sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians, Egyptian forces have moved very gingerly in stemming the flow of Gazans seeking food and supplies after nearly a two year blockade.
The fence is the first attempt to close one of the main crossing points, though Egyptian security forces earlier began stopping supplies from reaching the divided border town of Rafah to discourage Palestinian shoppers — leaving many local shopkeepers worried about the future.
“Since I opened this shop more than 20 years ago, I haven’t seen such a chaotic situation, if this keeps up, the Egyptians in Rafah will be starving to death,” said Mohammed Barahmah, 60, who owns one of the biggest grocery shops in downtown Rafah. “This is terrible, (Egyptian) Rafah will turn into Gaza, there will be nothing to buy and if there was it would be ten times the price.”
Outside Rafah, lines of trucks with Cairo plates could be seen stopped at checkpoints and being sent back to the capital. But security officials in Cairo, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, denied any shipments to Rafah were being blocked.
The border cannot ultimately be reclosed, however, until a new system to replace the sharing arrangement brokered by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in 2005. Egypt and Arab foreign ministers have supported a return to the 2005 arrangement involving the Palestinian Authority — something vociferously opposed by Hamas.
But Hamas wants a new Rafah security scheme, calling the old one a piece of “history.”

TITLE: In Brief
TEXT: <b>Brit to Coach Finland</b>
HELSINKI (Reuters) — Finland appointed Briton Stuart Baxter as head coach on a two-year contract on Monday, the Finnish FA said.
Englishman Baxter, 54, has previously coached the South Africa national team as well as a host of club sides in the Nordic countries.
“He has enough international experience and results from tight spots, so we think we have found the right person to take the national team to the World Cup,” said Pekka Hamalainen, FA chairman.
Finland have never qualified for the finals of a major tournament.

<b>Americans Buy Derby </b>
LONDON (Reuters) — English Premier League strugglers Derby County named U.S.-based General Sports and Entertainment (GSE) as their new owners on Monday.
The club said the investment was in the form of cash, and not debt, and that the financial future of the club was underpinned.
“This is a significant day in the history of this club,” Derby chairman Adam Pearson told the club’s Web site (www.dcfc.premiumtv.co.uk).
“The takeover adds new financial firepower, underpinning a long-term plan to establish Derby County as a major player in the Premier League and as an international club brand.”

<b>Flintoff  Comeback</b>
LONDON (Reuters) — England all rounder Andrew Flintoff said he hopes to make his return from injury this summer. Flintoff, 30, underwent a fourth operation on his troublesome left ankle in October and has since been building up his fitness with rehabilitation periods in South Africa and the United States.
“I’m not making big statements about when I’ll be playing again but, fingers crossed, I’ll be OK for the summer,” he told British daily The Sun on Monday. “I’m just taking things steadily. It’s not worked the last three or four times I’ve tried to get back so I won’t rush it this time.”