SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #1371 (35), Thursday, May 8, 2008
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TITLE: U.S. Makes Nuclear Deal With Kremlin
AUTHOR: By Francesca Mereu
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW — Russia and the United States on Tuesday signed a long-awaited agreement on civilian nuclear cooperation that could allow the two countries to expand bilateral nuclear trade.
The deal, signed on President Vladimir Putin’s last full day in office, establishes the legal basis for Russian and U.S. companies to trade in nuclear materials. It could also give the United States access to Russian technology and hand Russia lucrative contracts to store spent nuclear fuel.
Russian and U.S. officials lauded the agreement, signed in Moscow by U.S. Ambassador William Burns and Sergei Kiriyenko, head of the state-run nuclear corporation Rosatom.
“The United States and Russia were once nuclear rivals,” Burns said after the signing ceremony, Interfax reported. “Now we are partners.”
The agreement “opens up huge possibilities for us,” Kiriyenko said. “Both sides will benefit from it,” he said, Interfax reported.
The U.S. Embassy said the agreement would give the two countries “a framework to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and to advance nuclear energy worldwide, while enhancing our joint leadership in preventing nuclear proliferation.”
It was no coincidence that the deal was signed before President-elect Dmitry Medvedev is sworn in as president on Wednesday, Rosatom spokesman Sergei Novikov said.
“The two sides did not want to postpone this agreement any further, to leave it for another administration,” Novikov said. “We waited 20 years for it.”
Work on the agreement began after Putin and U.S. President George W. Bush promised to increase nuclear cooperation at the G-8 summit in St. Petersburg in 2006.
Alexander Pikayev, a nuclear-security expert with the Institute of World Economy and International Relations, said Bush likely “did not want to say goodbye to [Putin] without fulfilling any of his promises.”
“This is one of the most important agreements to develop Russian-U.S. relations signed under the Bush administration,” Pikayev said.
The deal was also a swan song of sorts for Burns, who is leaving Moscow to take the No. 3 post in the U.S. State Department. Burns said at a farewell reception Tuesday evening, however, that the timing of the agreement was in no way connected to his departure.
The Bush administration hopes to send the pact to the U.S. Congress this month for ratification, but concerns in Washington that Iran is trying to build an atomic bomb while Russia assists in building Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant could lead to strong resistance from U.S. lawmakers, a U.S. congressional aide told Reuters last week.
The agreement could help Russia establish a uranium-enrichment center, which Putin has said would discourage Iran and other countries from building nuclear facilities. The pact could allow the import of spent nuclear fuel from the United States, which controls a majority of such fuel in the world.
The proposal to build the uranium enrichment center has outraged Russian environmentalists.
Staff Writer Andrew McChesney contributed to this report.
TITLE: Medvedev Takes Presidency from Putin
AUTHOR: By Jim Heintz
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW — Dmitry Medvedev was inaugurated as Russia’s president on Wednesday, pledging to bolster the country’s economic development and civil rights, in what may signal a departure from his predecessor’s heavy-handed tactics.
Medvedev took the oath of office in the Kremlin’s golden-hued Andreyevsky Hall, bringing to an end Vladimir Putin’s eight years as president. But Putin is sure to continue to wield huge influence in the country.
Little more than two hours after becoming president, Medvedev nominated Putin to be prime minister.
Medvedev has pledged to continue the policies pursued by Putin, and some observers see him as more likely to be a handmaiden than an independent leader.
But in his inaugural address, Medvedev referred to civil rights issues several times — a possible indication that his presidency would take a different course from his mentor’s.
Under Putin, Russia’s economy soared from near-disaster to astonishing prosperity. But the role of civil society came under question, as opposition groups were marginalized and non-governmental organizations came under heavy pressure.
The March election of Medvedev was seen by many as one of the most marked signs of Russia retreating from democracy. Most of the prominent opposition aspirants to the post were kept off the ballot.
But Medvedev highlighted civil rights on Wednesday, saying that one of his most important tasks would be “the development of civil and economic freedom.”
“Human rights and freedoms ... are deemed of the highest value for our society and they determine the meaning and content of all state activity,” he said.
The 42-year-old president, formerly a first deputy prime minister and chairman of the state-controlled natural gas giant Gazprom, also pledged to fight endemic corruption, a problem that Putin has been unable to stifle.
“I’m going to pay special attention to the fundamental role of the law. We must achieve a true respect in law, overcome the legal nihilism which is hampering modern development,” Medvedev said.
He pledged to help make life “comfortable, confident and secure” for Russians and to modernize industry and agriculture, encourage the development of new technologies and attract investment.
In Washington, White House press secretary Dana Perino said that President Bush will talk to Medvedev soon but did not say when he will make the call.
“It is important for our country to have a good relationship with Russia, and that relationship is complex but is one that we can do a lot of good together,” Perino said.
Russia’s economic boom has been driven largely by soaring world prices for its vast oil and gas exports. Concerns are high that the country is vulnerable to a downturn in commodities prices unless it diversifies its economy and expands its manufacturing and services sectors.
Putin, in a short address to the crowd of Russian dignitaries and foreign ambassadors in the lavish hall, declared that when he became president in 2000, “I made a commitment to work openly and honestly, to faithfully serve the people and the state. And I did not violate my promise.”
He also took an apparent swipe at critics, saying Medvedev’s election and the transfer of power were conducted in “strict adherence to the laws and principles of democracy.”
The nomination of Putin as prime minister is expected to be voted on Thursday in the parliament, where approval is a virtual certainty.
His transfer to the premiership has raised wide questions about how much power Medvedev will actually wield and even whether Putin would try to undermine him.
Medvedev obliquely touched on the issue in his address, thanking Putin for his support and saying, “I’m sure it will be this way in the times ahead.”
Many Russians see the carefully spoken Medvedev as well-intentioned and more concerned about human issues than Putin, but not especially effectual.
His first decree as president, issued a couple of hours after taking office, could reinforce that view. Medvedev ordered that decent housing for World War II veterans be provided by 2010.
It wasn’t estimated how many veterans of that war, which ended 63 years ago, will still be hale enough by then to appreciate the gesture.
The inauguration ceremony, although awash in pomp, including goose-stepping guards, was low on drama and lasted less than a half-hour.
Putin arrived first, shown in live TV broadcasts as he strode across one of the Kremlin’s squares, bid brief farewell to the presidential guards regiment and entered the Grand Kremlin Palace.
Medvedev came next, in a black Mercedes limousine. He was shown making a long and solemn walk through two sprawling reception halls before entering the Andreyevsky Hall — which had also been a throne room in czarist times.
TITLE: City Marks Victory Day With Parades, Concerts
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: St. Petersburg will hold events dedicated to the 63rd anniversary of victory in World War II on Friday in all districts of the city.
On Thursday, residents will lay flowers at the sign at 14 Nevsky Prospekt, left in place since the war in memory of those who dies, that reads “Citizens! During artillery shelling this side of the street is most dangerous!”
The sign warned St. Petersburgers of the dangers of German attack on the city when it was besieged between 1941 and 1944.
St. Petersburgers will also pay their respects to war heroes at the Piskaryovskoye, Serafimovskoye, Bogoslovskoye and Nevskoye military cemeteries. They will also lay flowers at the monument of Soviet marshal and Hero of the Soviet Union Leonid Govorov at Stachek Square, and at other burial grounds.
Many theaters will have charity concerts, and the Oktyabrsky Concert Hall will host 3,700 war veterans attending a concert program. The city has allocated 4 million rubles ($162,000) for the event.
On Friday a ceremonial march of soldiers from the Leningrad garrison will open the Victory Day celebrations on Palace Square at 10 a.m. At 5 p.m. the city’s war veterans and public representatives will march along Nevsky Prospekt.
In the evening, Palace Square will host a festival concert. The concert’s program will include fragments from operas, war songs, and a performance by the Andreyev Folk Orchestra. At 10 p.m. residents will see a firework salute launched from Peter and Paul Fortress.
The torches on top of the Rostral Columns on the spit of Vasilievsky Island will be also be lit.
Victory Day marks the surrender of Nazi Germany on May 9, 1945. Westerners call it V-E Day and celebrate it on May 8 because the surrender was signed near midnight in Germany, when it was already May 9 in Moscow.
In Soviet times, the holiday was traditionally celebrated with parades featuring tanks and missiles rolling through Moscow’s Red Square, which in Western eyes became an indelible image of the Cold War.
The tradition was suspended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, but authorities revived it this year.
At a final rehearsal for the Red Square parade on Monday, the procession of vehicles included T-90 battle tanks, Smerch multiple-launch rocket systems, S-300 surface-to-air missiles, Iskander-M short-range ballistic missiles and Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missiles, RIA Novosti reported.
Moscow’s City Hall has earmarked more than $40 million for road repairs which will be needed as a result of Friday’s parade.
Mayor Yury Luzhkov signed off on a decree allocating 1.05 billion rubles, or $44.3 million, “for the elimination of damage after the holding of the parade.”
A small portion — 9 million rubles — is allocated for work on sewers, water pipes and the city’s drainage system, according to the decree, which was dated Monday and posted on the City Hall web site.
But the lion’s share, more than 1 billion rubles, is earmarked for resurfacing roads.
If the display of military strength causes as much damage as such numbers suggest, it could mean a new parade-related headache for Muscovites, who have already had to battle traffic jams and street closures during rehearsals in the run-up to Victory Day and because of Wednesday’s presidential inauguration.
TITLE: Latvia Evacuates Luxury Cruise Ship in Baltic
AUTHOR: By Gary Peach
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: RIGA — Latvia’s coast guard Monday began evacuating a stranded cruise ship with nearly 1,000 people on board after tug boats failed to pull the luxury liner off an underwater sand bank in the Baltic Sea.
The 651 passengers, most of them elderly Germans, were being transferred from the Mona Lisa onto two naval ships, which would take them to Ventspils, a port city in northwestern Latvia, the coast guard said. The passengers were descending ladders from the liner to the naval ship, it said.
Rescuers also planned to remove most of the 327 crew members and six crew interns from the ship, which ran aground early Sunday about 17 kilometers off Latvia’s coast.
“The operation is proceeding smoothly, and the passengers are fine,” coast guard officer Ruslans Kulesovs said, adding that the weather conditions were “nearly perfect.”
Officials could not say how long the evacuation would take, nor could they specify how many crew would remain on board the Bahamas-registered vessel.
Once in Ventspils, the passengers and crew will be shuttled by train to Riga, some 160 kilometers to the east, said Krists Leiskalns, spokesman for Latvian Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis.
The prime minister was heading to Ventspils to meet with the military and emergency services to discuss transport issues, Leiskalns said.
The Mona Lisa’s captain agreed to evacuate the ship after unsuccessful efforts to free it from the sand bank.
TITLE: FSB Seeks Clarification Over What Is Espionage
AUTHOR: By Nabi Abdullaev
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW — The Federal Security Service has drafted amendments to the Criminal Code clarifying the definition of espionage.
While the bill’s supporters say it would help prevent citizens from facing groundless espionage charges, critics warn that if it becomes law, the bill could make it easier for the FSB to prosecute scientists and researchers, many of whom have already been caught up in spy scandals.
The draft bill, which makes a distinction between deliberate espionage and disclosure of state secrets without intent to commit high treason, will be completed by Saturday, said Pavel Astakhov, a lawyer and member of the FSB’s Public Council, Vedomosti reported Monday.
An FSB spokesman said Monday that he could not provide a copy of the bill to The St. Petersburg Times.
But Vasily Titov, head of the FSB’s Public Council, said in a statement released last week that the bill would help “exclude even the slightest possibility of baseless criminal prosecution of a citizen on espionage charges.”
The council is a 15-member body created last year in order to improve feedback between the agency and the public.
But while the amendments may result in fewer groundless espionage cases, they could bring about more cases of scientists and researchers charged with divulging state secrets, said Pavel Chikov, head of the human rights group AGORA.
The FSB in recent years has accused numerous scientists of disclosing state secrets. But the agency has had difficulties proving in court that the defendants acted with intent to harm national security or that they had passed sensitive information to a foreign entity.
“If the amendments are passed, the FSB will easily prosecute for any disclosure of secret information,” Chikov said.
Gennady Gudkov, a former KGB officer and deputy head of the State Duma’s Security Committee, said Monday that the bill had a good chance of being passed in the Duma. To become law, the bill would have to clear three readings in the Duma, be approved by the Federation Council, and then signed by the president.
But defining exactly what constitutes a state secret is a more pressing issue than prosecuting those who divulge such information, Gudkov said.
Lawyer Boris Kuznetsov, who received political asylum in the United States earlier this year, was charged last month in absentia with divulging state secrets after he photographed an FSB affidavit from his client’s case materials.
The photograph was needed for his client’s defense, Kuznetsov argued.
TITLE: Russia ‘Not Ready’ For HIV Measures
AUTHOR: By David Nowak
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW — Russia is “not ready” to adopt measures that could prevent thousands of people from getting infected with the virus that causes AIDS, the country’s chief public health officer said.
Gennady Onishchenko said regulations were not strong enough to allow measures such as methadone replacement therapy for heroin addicts to work properly. Health advocates say such therapy is vital because of the particular way HIV has spread through Russia.
Up to 80 percent of the country’s 1.6 million HIV-positive people became infected through dirty needles, according to various estimates. The World Health Organization, the United Nations and the United States, among others, have published studies showing that injecting drug users who switch to clinic-supplied methadone are up to five times less likely to contract HIV.
Nevertheless, Onishchenko said Monday that he was “not convinced” about the effectiveness of the so-called substitution therapy, which is illegal under current legislation. Even if it were effective, Onishchenko said, weak law enforcement would mean the clinics would “turn into shops for drugs.” He spoke at a news briefing at the conclusion of a conference in Moscow on AIDS.
Craig McClure, executive director of the International AIDS Society, said scientific evidence about the effectiveness of substitution therapy was overwhelming.
Substitution therapy, he said, “could have a dramatic impact if implemented properly.”
Michel Kazatchkine, the director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, said substitute therapy was serious and that Russia should not handle the issue as it does regular politics.
“You have countries that are moving in the right direction ... and others that do not move. Russia is like an isolated island,” Kazatchkine said. “Where intravenous drug use drives over 60 percent of the epidemic, you cannot afford not to have a comprehensive approach.”
Compounding the problem, activists said, Onishchenko’s sentiments on substitution therapy reflect the attitudes of the government and the population as a whole. Kazatchkine said few voices in the national legislature and pro-Kremlin party United Russia supported such initiatives, and that the Moscow government was overly conservative in its approach toward AIDS issues. “There is a basic lack of political support,” Kazatchkine said.
Onishchenko said uninformed Russians had little patience for drug users, preferring to ostracize them rather than address their needs.
Still, most activists and officials agree that there has been progress in Russia, highlighted by a general slowing in the number of new cases registered annually.
McClure said the myths about AIDS were gradually being erased from the public’s consciousness, with television ads that try to convince people that they cannot catch HIV from washing the dishes or, say, holding hands.
Russia has pledged at least 9.3 billion rubles ($392 million) to fight AIDS in 2009, more than 20 times the amount spent in 2005.
“The money is enough; the question is whether the money is spent on the right things,” Kazatchkine said.
TITLE: Georgians ‘Very Close’ to War
PUBLISHER: Combined Reports
TEXT: MOSCOW — Georgia is “very close” to a war with Russia, a Georgian minister said Tuesday, citing Moscow’s decision to send extra troops to the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia.
“We literally have to avert war,” Temur Iakobashvili, the minister for reintegration, said at a news briefing during a trip to Brussels.
Asked how close to such a war the situation was, Iakobashvili replied, “Very close, because we know Russians very well.”
Russia has said the troop buildup is needed to counter what it says are Georgian plans for an attack on Abkhazia and has accused Tbilisi of trying to suck the West into a war.
Georgian Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze on Monday rejected Russian allegations that his country wanted conflict with Moscow, saying it was not in Georgia’s interest to destabilize its booming economy.
“It’s clearly not in our interest to destabilize the situation and disrupt such amazing and rapid economic progress by having hostility on our territory,” he said in an interview in Tbilisi.
Meanwhile, officials in Abkhazia on Monday showed off what they say is the wreckage of two unmanned Georgian spy planes that were downed over the weekend.
Georgia has denied that any of its planes were shot down, but Russia — a longtime backer of Abkhazia — quickly accused Georgia of inflaming tensions by sending the unmanned planes to spy on Abkhaz forces.
The back-and-forth has fueled fears that full-scale fighting could break out involving Georgia, Abkhazia and the strengthened Russian peacekeeping force deployed along the administrative border separating Georgia and Abkhazia.
In Abkhazia’s main city, Sukhumi, a senior Abkhaz defense official, Garry Gupalba, showed reporters Monday what he said was debris from one of the planes, which he said was shot down Sunday by Abkhaz surface-to-air missiles.
He said the wreckage showed that the plane was of the same Israeli make as another plane that was downed two weeks ago.
“According to our data, this is an unmanned flying object of the same class” as those that were downed earlier, he said in televised comments.
Footage broadcast on Russian state television showed blackened metal wreckage, some of which appeared to have Russian lettering on it.
Georgia, meanwhile, announced that it was withdrawing from a 1995 agreement that coordinated air defenses among defense ministries in 10 former Soviet republics. The move is expected to have little practical effect, since the two countries have not coordinated air defenses in years.
Still, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov again accused Georgia of purposely exacerbating tensions and planning to use military force in Abkhazia.
Abkhazia and another region, South Ossetia, have had de facto independence since the 1990s, and Moscow’s long-standing support for the two regions has long angered Georgia. Russia last week augmented its peacekeeping force in Abkhazia.
Russia opposes Georgia’s efforts to draw closer to the United States and NATO, saying membership in the alliance would pose a direct threat to Russia.
The European Union said Monday that it was “seriously concerned” by Russia’s decision to send more troops to Abkhazia and establish additional boundary checkpoints.
“The EU calls on all sides to refrain from any steps that could increase tensions and urges the sides to take action to rebuild confidence,” the 27-nation bloc said in a statement. (Reuters, AP)
TITLE: State Hermitage Sued Over Provision of Public Access
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Local resident Yelena Malysheva, who is suing the world-famous State Hermitage Museum for allegedly restricting people’s access to the gallery’s treasures by closing a series of exhibition rooms, has expressed disappointment over the course of the trial.
When she arrived at the Dzerzhinsky district court on Tuesday, Malysheva, an active campaigner for the protection of endangered buildings in the historic center of St. Petersburg and supporter of several related protest groups, discovered that Hermitage representatives had already left the court.
“They came before us, and left having met neither my lawyer, nor myself,” Malysheva complained.
“The museum’s lawyer had left some documents that give the reasons for the temporary closure of the halls for us to review. We have examined the documents and we believe the explanations do not suffice,” Malysheva said.
Malysheva said she came to the court on time. The meeting was arranged by the court with an eye to ending the case amicably, through an agreement.
The activist filed a suit against the museum after she discovered on a recent visit that several dozen rooms, including the displays “Primitive Culture,” “The Culture of the Peoples of the Caucasus and the Golden Horde,” “Russian Artistic Interiors of the 19th Century” and “Italian Art of the 13th-18th Centuries,” were closed without a the public being notified.
Malysheva is demanding 100,000 rubles ($4,000) in “moral damages” and for the halls to be reopened. Her lawyer, Gleb Lavrentyev, said the closed halls should have been marked with notes explaining the reasons for the closures.
“By not informing visitors, the Hermitage violated the Russian Law on Museum Funds,” Lavrentyev said.
Hermitage director Mikhail Piotrovsky called Malysheva’s claims groundless and the scandal around her appeal was a cover “to discredit the museum community in the interests of commercial structures wanting to privatize the collections.”
Larisa Korabelnikova, head of the museum’s press office said the museum is free to temporarily close the halls for a number of reasons, including restoration, repairs, the mounting of exhibitions and so on.
“Our museum is a living organism and it is perfectly normal for certain parts of it to be closed from time to time,” she said.
The next hearing is scheduled for May 28.
TITLE: French Court Unfreezes Assets
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: PARIS — A French court has fully lifted a freeze on the Russian Central Bank’s accounts with French commercial banks, frozen as part of a suit by Swiss trading firm Noga, a lawyer said Tuesday.
“We’ve won, which means that there is no longer any seizure possible in any bank,” said Pascale Poupelin, who represents the Central Bank.
A source close to the Central Bank confirmed the move, saying it no longer had any assets frozen in France.
Noga won decisions in January freezing Central Bank assets held with a number of French banks, including 50 million euros ($77.4 million) held with Natixis and 50 million euros with Calyon.
Noga was seeking reimbursement of debt from an oil-for-food deal struck in 1991 to 1992.
In March, the court lifted a freeze on the Central Bank assets held with Natixis. It was not immediately clear whether the funds unfrozen Tuesday were held only in Calyon or in other banks as well.
TITLE: TNK-BP Wins In Court
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: MOSCOW — A Moscow arbitration court on Tuesday upheld a lower court’s ruling to refund TNK-BP 9.7 billion rubles ($408 million) it paid as value-added tax in 2006, the company said Tuesday.
The victory comes as the country’s third-largest oil producer, half owned by BP, is facing increased pressure from state authorities, who analysts say are trying to help a state-controlled firm buy a major stake in it.
Under Russian law, export operations are exempt from the 18 percent VAT and the Federal Tax Service must refund the tax after companies submit relevant documents.
In practice, companies often have to go to courts to get the funds back.
TNK-BP praised the ruling.
“The VAT refund has become more accurate since last year. Refund refusals for large oil companies have become insignificant,” the spokesman said.
In April, the tax service hit TNK-BP with a 6 billion rubles back tax claim for 2004 and 2005.
TITLE: Railway Union Plans Second, Bigger Strike Action
AUTHOR: By Nadia Popova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW — An independent railway workers union said Tuesday that it would go on strike later this month if its members’ salaries were not doubled, raising the possibility that millions of commuter train passengers around the country will face delays and cancellations.
The Federal Professional Union of Locomotive Brigades is demanding that state-owned Russian Railways increase members’ wages from 30,000 rubles ($1,300) to 60,000 rubles per month, following a disruptive work stoppage by 120 train drivers in Moscow on April 28.
Russian Railways has refused to negotiate with the union, calling the first strike illegal because the company was not forewarned, and it has filed complaints with prosecutors over that protest and the planned strike.
Up to 2 million passengers might be affected by the protest, Dmitry Rasimovich-Rusak, deputy head of the union, said by telephone Tuesday.
The union will decide on a date for the strike at a meeting Monday, he said, adding that it could involve workers in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tula, Yekaterinburg, Orenburg and Chita.
The workers’ demands appeared to face a setback Tuesday, when the Cabinet postponed a decision on setting aside additional budget funds for Russian Railways’ development program.
Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister Andrei Klepach told reporters after the Cabinet meeting that the government would take up the company’s investment program for 2008 to 2010 in late June or July, although he also cast doubt on its chances of being approved.
“It’s unrealistic to hope to find a full trillion rubles in the budget,” he said, adding that Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin had taken a hard line on the proposal and wanted the funds to come from other sources.
Russian Railways, which employs 1.3 million people and had a 2007 net profit of 78.7 billion rubles by Russian accounting standards, is seeking 1 trillion rubles ($42 billion) from the budget for investment in infrastructure and new equipment. The company has said it will not use the money to raise salaries.
“The strikers’ actions won’t get them anything,” a company spokesman said, refusing to give his name in line with company policy. “We’ll do everything possible to prevent a second strike,” he added, declining to elaborate.
The Transportation Ministry said Tuesday that it would not get involved in the conflict. “We understand the strikers’ demands but are against strikes as a method to get a wage increase,” ministry spokesman Timur Khikmatov said.
A working group in the State Duma’s Labor and Social Policy Committee is scheduled to discuss the dispute on May 16, said Rasimovich-Rusak, the union’s deputy head. Although Russian Railways officials have refused to negotiate, union officials said representatives from Moscow Region Railways, a subsidiary of the national company, came to the table Tuesday.
“Some representatives of the Moscow Region Railways came to us this morning to talk in detail about our demands,” Nikolai Pavlov, the union’s leader in the Moscow region city of Pushkino, said.
TITLE: Cabinet Backs Plan to Foil Internet Domain Squatters
AUTHOR: By Tai Adelaja
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW — The Cabinet on Tuesday approved a proposal by the Economic Development and Trade Ministry to eliminate the link between registration of brands and Internet domain names, making it easier for companies in Russia to defend themselves against cybersquatters.
The proposal was one of several by the ministry that were approved. The proposals were backed “without criticism,” Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister Andrei Klepach told a news briefing after the Cabinet meeting, Interfax reported.
Under the amendment, in Part 4 of the Civil Code, the registration of trademarks cannot be refused on the grounds that an identical domain name already exists. The amendment does not, however, actually prevent cybersquatting, the widespread practice of registering domain names to sell them on at a profit.
“This is a welcome development because it addressed one of the concerns of intellectual property advocates,” Eugene Arievich, a partner at law firm Baker & McKenzie, said by telephone Tuesday. “But it only partially solves the problems [with cybersquatters] because it only addressed the issue of trademark and domain registration.”
To put an end to the activities of cybersquatters would require additional provisions in the Civil Code, as well as an overhaul of case laws on the issue, Arievich said.
Cybersquatters usually adopt domain names likely to be used by well-known brands, denying genuine companies the ability to use such domain names to promote their product.
Companies can be faced with having to pay anything from $500 to $100,000 to get their preferred domain name, Arievich said. Litigation costs even more because, unlike in the West, there is no quick and inexpensive way to resolve the problem here, he said.
“The only recourse is to the courts, usually the arbitration courts, and this can cost from $5,000 to $50,000,” he said.
The amended law on intellectual property, which forms Part 4 of the Civil Code, came into effect earlier this year and was widely expected to grant protection to brand names.
Cybersquatters, however, are expected to continue to exploit loopholes in the law to obstruct any foreign company from registering domain names, analysts said.
Mikhail Chekanov, head of marketing at Rambler Media, said cybersquatters have registered all the imaginable .ru names for resale.
Chekanov said, however, that the effects of cybersquatting were exaggerated, as for small businesses, advertising and good product positioning remain the most important things.
Andrei Vorobyov, head of communications at Ru-Center, the body authorized to register .ru domain names, said the new law had already reduced the incidence of cybersquatting by 50 percent since its introduction in January.
However, around 10 percent of the 1.4 million registered .ru domain names still belong to squatters, Vorobyov said.
“To some, cybersquatting is a very lucrative business,” Vorobyov said. “An interior designer who registered the vodka.ru for $100 a few years ago sold it recently for $50,000.”
TITLE: Starry, starry nights
AUTHOR: By Galina Stolyarova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Long-standing operatic favorites meet cutting-edge new music at the International Stars of the White Nights Festival that kicks off on Saturday at the Mariinsky Theater with the company’s most recent operatic premiere, Nikolai Rimsky’s “The Maid of Pskov.”
Pianist Alfred Brendel, bass Rene Pape, composer Henry Dutilleux, bass Bryn Terfel, violinist Leonidas Kavakos, mezzo-soprano Olga Borodina, baritone Dmitry Khvorostovsky, violinist Maxim Vengerov and bass Feruccio Furlanetto are some of the biggest names performing at this year’s event, which features 120 concerts and runs through July 27.
Borodina is giving a rare solo recital on the stage of the Mariinsky’s historical building, on Monday, rather than in it’s new, state-of-the-art concert hall where many of the other stars will be performing.
Renowned Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel who excels in the repertoire of Mozart, Verdi, Wagner and German lieder, is giving a solo recital there on June 24.
Another must-see is a concert by world-famous pianist Alfred Brendel on June 30. Performances by arguably the world’s best Wagnerian bass Rene Pape (June 9) and violinist Leonidas Kavakos, who last year assumed the position of artistic director of the Camerata Salzburg orchestra (June 21), are also not to be missed.
The Mariinsky is this year experimenting with recital-scale adaptations of some of its full-scale operas for the concert hall. Rimsky-Korsakov’s “The Tale of the Invisible City of Kitezh” is showing on Sunday, followed by “The Snow Maiden” by the same composer on Tuesday.
Each year during the prestigious summer festival, its director, Valery Gergiev, has revived lesser-known pieces by composers such as Rimsky-Korsakov and Mikhail Glinka.
“When it comes to Russian classical music, the perspective of foreign audiences has been limited to a handful of works by Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky,” Gergiev says. “Choosing works by Sergei Prokofiev, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Scriabin for both the festival program and foreign tours is no coincidence. I know that in the West, Scriabin, for example, is frequently regarded as a talentless imitator of Wagner. But I want to make the critics reconsider.”
As a tireless ambassador for these overlooked Russian works, Gergiev holds the posts of principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and principal guest conductor of the New York Metropolitan Opera, and is a guest conductor of the Opera de Paris. He is also a regular with a number of other ensembles, including the Vienna Philharmonic.
Naturally, the maestro also seeks to push the boundaries for the Russian audiences. This year’s festival gives opera aficionados a chance to compare the performances of Italian bass-baritone Ferruccio Furlanetto and American baritone Thomas Hampson in concert versions of Verdi’s “Simon Boccanegra” on June 9 and July 6 respectively.
This year’s Stars of the White Nights Festival incorporates a miniature festival of French classical music, with works of Saint-Saens, Bizet, Berlioz, Ravel and Honegger featured in the program.
The jewel of the French event is a visit by Henry Dutilleux, France’s most established and internationally acclaimed living composer. Now 92, Dutilleux will visit St. Petersburg to attend virtouso violinist Leonidas Kavakos’ performance of his violin concerto alongside the Mariinsky Symphony Orchestra on June 21 at the Mariinsky Concert Hall.
“Henry Dutilleux is a rare breed of composer who has had a stunningly long-lasting career that spans over six decades,” Gergiev said. “Today the composer is still in the highest demand.”
Gergiev is hoping that the performance will resonate greatly with the Russian audience.
“Kavakos gained international fame for his interpretations of works of Brahms and Sibelius, and the Russian public are familiar with this music; I feel that our audiences have evolved into genuine connoisseurs and will be able to appreciate Henry Dutilleux.”
The maestro has declared it a new policy of the festival to juxtapose contemporary classical music with the audience favorites.
“Our summer festival is all about diversity; a string of safe plays like Puccini’s ‘Tosca,’ Verdi’s ‘La Traviata” and Tchaikovsky’s ‘Swan Lake’ can surely fill both the halls and the coffers but it is giving the public a greater picture of what classical music can offer today that we are really after,” Gergiev said.
In this spirit, this month sees the world premiere of Alexander Smelkov’s opera “The Brothers Karamazov.” A respected St. Petersburg composer, Smelkov specifically was commissioned to write the opera by the theater.
“The composer offered a rather unorthodox approach to Dostoyevsky’s masterpiece,” Gergiev said. “It is the ‘Great Inquisitor’ line that he was most interested in exploring and focusing on. The production may be not to everyone’s taste but I am convinced that experiments make a theater live.”
Ten years ago, when Gergiev pledged to turn Russia into a premier international classical music destination, one of his first steps was to get rid of clumsy Russian-language renditions of the world’s most famous operas.
“Rossini will be sung in Italian here, and Wagner will be performed in German,” the maestro vowed at a press conference. Since then, the most acclaimed directors, including the Britain’s Jonathan Kent, France’s Alain Maratrat, and Germany’s Johanness Schaaf, have flocked to the company, while the repertoire now features Richard Strauss and Leos Janacek, in addition to Verdi, Puccini, Mozart, and Richard Wagner.
Indeed, Wagner’s “Der Ring des Nibelungen” is one of Gergiev’s most ambitious projects. Its 2003 premiere, which won rave reviews, marked the first staging of the whole of Wagner’s Ring Cycle in Russia since the tsarist era.
Since then the production has played to full houses and critical praise at the New York Metropolitan Opera, Baden-Baden’s Festispielhaus, and Orange County Hall in California. This year’s festival offers an opportunity to see the successful production again: “Der Ring des Nibelungen” will play at the Mariinsky on June 10,11,13 and 15.
TITLE: Chernov’s
choice
TEXT: Opposition politician Maxim Reznik said that when he was in prison he was greatly impressed that rock singer Yury Shevchuk of the band DDT joined the Dissenters’ March and rally on March 3.
“I learned about it in prison, but when I was told that Yury Shevchuk came on March 3, [I saw it as] a landmark event,” said Reznik, head of the local branch of the Yabloko opposition party, speaking to The St. Petersburg Times on Saturday.
Reznik spent three weeks in custody in March on charges of assaulting three policemen that the opposition sees as fabricated. The offence, if proven at trial, is punishable by up to five years in prison.
“I am sure that Shevchuk would have performed [at the May 1 opposition rally and concert], if he weren’t on tour in Ukraine,” he said.
Speaking about the May 1 event, Reznik approved of the combination of a rally and a concert.
“I think it’s a good form, when, apart from ‘talking heads,’ you also have creative people who express their stance through art. It’s the same political stance but in a more colorful form, which I think is more in demand. That’s why I welcome the change of format to meetings-cum-concerts.”
Even though only three acts, Televizor, SP Babai and Andrei Vasilyev, performed, Reznik was optimistic.
“Now, it’s not a question of quantity. What it means is that qualitative changes in this community have started to happen, and I think the process will intensify,” he said.
“The number of creative people that will go with the opposition onto the streets for its events will grow. This is because the number of those who are discontented substantially exceeds the number of dissenters [oppositionists], I’ll put it like that. The task of dissenters is to gather all these discontented people. I don’t think in terms of ‘few’ or ‘many,’ it’s important that it has started happening.”
Meanwhile, Mikhail Borzykin of Televizor confronted the pro-Kremlin media that has speculated that Shevchuk went on tour to avoid taking part in the political event.
“Such tours are put together six months in advance,” he said by phone on Sunday.
Sabot, the Tabor, Czech Republic-based instrumental avant-punk duo formed by American musicians Chris Rankin on bass and Hilary Binder on drums, will return to perform at Zoccolo on Sunday. The band was in the city last September, performing at The Place.
Local bands will provide a lot of musical entertainment in the city during the upcoming holidays. Iva Nova at Zoccolo on Thursday, Simba Vibration will perform at Cheshire Cat on Thursday and Mod on Friday, Dva Samaliota at Griboyedov on Friday. The Noise of Time will play at GEZ-21 and Spitfire at Orlandina on Saturday.
— By Sergey Chernov
TITLE: Music, maestro please!
AUTHOR: By Sarah Marsh
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: LONDON — For Valery Gergiev, considered one of the world’s great conductors, classical music will only reach a wider audience if it boasts charismatic leaders who will inspire and rally whole communities.
The conductor’s own leadership style has been compared by writers and former colleagues to that of a tsar, even a dictator.
The famously fiery 55-year-old tours the world as a self-described ambassador for his theater and for Russia. In 2008/2009 he will be conducting a cycle of the works of Sergei Prokofiev with the London Symphony Orchestra.
Gergiev has already done more than most to restore pride in Russia’s orchestras, ballets and operas, which suffered a talent drain when the Soviet Union collapsed.
He has transformed the Mariinsky Theater in St Petersburg, known also as the Kirov, into an internationally renowned house that has left behind its great rival, the Bolshoi in Moscow.
He is also Principal Conductor of both the LSO and the Rotterdam Philharmonic, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Metropolitan Opera.
The maestro took some time out of his busy rehearsals schedule in London to speak to about conducting, Prokofiev and the need for leaders.
Q: What was your most exhilarating experience as a conductor?
A: “I conducted one concert in the Red Square in Moscow (for the Youth Olympics) where I had one thousand young musicians waiting for me — it was Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition... It was one of the events of the century because you can’t easily put such an orchestra on stage, it’s nearly impossible.”
Q: And was your most nerve-wracking experience?
A: “We had to open Melbourne festival and the bombing of Kabul started so we couldn’t fly over those countries where American military was flying and bombing.
We didn’t want to cancel, so to get there, we had to use a different route ... and we had to get all these permissions in two hours which was nearly impossible... When we finally performed the emotional response was huge because everyone knew it was a nearly impossible scenario. But we just managed. I had to go from the airport after flying 30 hours to conduct. That was something.”
Q: Do you ever get nervous ahead of a performance?
A: “I get focused, I hope. I just think of what you have to do in order to make sure it is interesting, very strong, very serious, and the musicians all are completely concentrated.”
Q: Are you looking forward to conducting the Prokofiev symphonies?
A: “Prokofiev is a great composer and comes from my country which is important. His music is wonderful for ballet, for opera, for symphony, for concerti, for film.
He is one of the most important musical figures of the century and very unusual ... you will never get bored if you listen to some of his music ... it will inspire and excite you over time again and again.”
Q: How do you juggle your many commitments?
A: “I actually conduct fewer orchestras than most other conductors — I don’t conduct more than five to six orchestras a year, which is a very small number, I believe there are conductors who conduct 30 or 40.”
Q: Why do you think young people, on the whole, are not that interested in classical music?
A: “They are interested if they have this incredible feeling once they experience something called a classical music concert and if they get really excited at the brilliancy of the sound of the orchestra, or the power of a certain story just makes them feel a tick.”
Q: Are there enough initiatives to engage people with classical music?
A: “I think it is happening but I think the question is where. Some people will not believe it, I myself can still hardly believe that Venezuela or China can lead in certain areas of classical musical development. But it seems this is the story we have today.”
Q: Could you give us a more concrete example of “a leader” in classical music?
A: “For example, the Schleswig-Holstein music festival in Germany started 23 years ago thanks to a great leader Leonard Bernstein... he was providing this huge organizational, emotional work which enflamed everyone in the local community. There were maybe 25 or 30 cities, smaller towns and even villages all involved in this huge movement.
It was a huge success story — that is why I am saying you need leadership.”
TITLE: Keep on moving
AUTHOR: By Sergey Chernov
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Grandshuttleband, the ragga-metal band that will perform in an event headlined by DJ Lethal at The Place on Friday, is a new act but it has a direct link to the vibrant local rock music scene of the past.
This link is represented by Dmitry Petrov, the bass player who started out with the band Luna but first gained underground fame as a member of Durnoye Vliyaniye, or Bad Influence. The latter was a postpunk band that that emerged in the late 1980s and helped to establish ground for the alternative-rock scene that was associated with the pioneering TaMtAm club in the 1990s. Petrov’s next band, Bondzinsky, which played experimental jazz-tinged hardcore punk, was active in the 1990s and was part of TaMtAm scene.
The genre that Grandshuttleband works in — ragga-metal — is considered to have been originated by U.K. band Dub War, which offered a mix of metal, punk, and ragga (short form for raggamuffin, a subgenre of dancehall/reggae music) when it was formed in 1993.
“One can call it perhaps music conformity, but I think that’s not quite right,” said Petrov about his development from postpunk to experimental punk to ragga metal.
“I think it’s all about new times, new sounds. You get tired of old stuff. When somebody works in one style for a long time, he loses interest, he wants to try something new.”
But despite its radical sound, Grandshuttleband started, ironically, as an attempt at a commercial project that failed. According to Petrov, the original idea was suggested by Anton Soya, the local impresario who manages or managed such bands as Multfilmy, Brigadny Podryad and Kukryniksy.
“[Soya] suggested it when Bondzinsky had already split and I was interested in doing something new,” said Petrov.
“He didn’t suggest this style; he wanted to have a modern, heavy, youth-oriented band that would surpass everybody in Moscow. He wanted a ‘pop’ project, like [the Russian band] Total that was in Moscow some time ago. But it didn’t work, because the people [in the band] came up with something of their own.”
Formed in 2004, Grandshuttleband is fronted by singer Roman Petrov (no relation to Dmitry), who also performs as DJ Row-Man at local underground bars and clubs such as Griboyedov, Fidel and Mod. Pavel Mandrosov plays guitar and Alexander Kolchin is on drums.
Apart from DubWar, the band cites Skindread, 311, Rage Against the Machine, Molotov and Fear Nuttin Band as similar-sounding bands on its MySpace page. However, Dmitry Petrov said he isn’t over-influenced by these bands.
“I can’t say that I listen to them,” said Dmitry, who, at 45, is the oldest member of the band. He said he listened to Miles Davis before the interview. “I pay some interest. I listen to them a couple of times to stay informed, but don’t immerse in them for hours. I have enough old music that I like to listen to.”
According to Dmitry Petrov, Grandshuttleband has recorded its debut album, but the release date is not yet set. “We are filming a video at the moment and want to release the record and the video simultaneously,” he said.
When Bad Influence, Dmitry Petrov’s 1980s band, emerged in 1987, it was part of the small but rapidly growing postpunk music scene in St. Petersburg.
“There were a lot of sources, the whole early postpunk [scene], The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, Echo and the Bunnymen and the bands like this, but we didn’t orientate to any one band.”
The band opened for Sonic Youth in Moscow when New York’s innovative art-punk band toured the Soviet Union in 1989. Last year, Dmitry Petrov and drummer Igor Mosin attempted to revive Bad Influence, with the band’s original singer Alexander Skvortsov, who came from the U.K., where he is now based, for the occasion, but after some rehearsing, dropped the idea.
Bondzinsky, an experimental hardcore trio formed by Mosin, who had had some experimental jazz background, with Dmitry Petrov in 1993, split after playing its last concert at the former location of Orlandina in April 2003. “Igor is immersed in radio and television, maybe it grew uninteresting to him,” said Petrov.
“[Bondzinsky] was rather like European club music, though that’s also narrow,” Petrov said. “But, actually, every rock style is rather narrowly-targeted, and, as time goes by, you scrape it dry. It’s different if you are a lyricist, but if you’re a musician, you want to change styles.”
In 1997, Mosin and Dmitry Petrov joined Brigadny Podryad, which was a legendary punk band in the late 1980s but kept few of the original members.
“We played with them for three years or so,” said Dmitry Petrov.
“Soya [the manager] asked us to help them out at live gigs, without any involvement in writing songs — we played their old material, like in a tribute band. But, in fact, Brigadny Podryad has turned into a tribute band long ago. Now there’s perhaps only one member remaining that had something to do with the band in the past, guitarist Santyor [Alexander Lukyanov]. And no similar-minded people have remained at all.”
Friday’s headlining act, DJ Lethal, whom Dmitry Petrov described as a “cult personality with a rapcore crowd,” is best-known for performing with Limp Bizkit and House of Pain as Leor Dimant, but he was actually born Leors Dimants in Riga, Latvia in 1972, when the Baltic country was under Soviet rule. He emigrated to the West in 1979.
Grandshuttleband performs, with DJ Lethal and the others, at The Place on Friday. www.myspace.com/grandshuttleband
TITLE: Novel experience
AUTHOR: By Matt Brown
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Hemingway’s Bar // 3 Lomonosova Ulitsa. Tel: 310 7007 // Open 12 noon through 6 a.m. // Menu in Russian and English // Dinner for two (without cocktails) 2,120 rubles ($86)
You won’t find an old man struggling with a huge fish at Hemingway’s, a large and swanky theme bar on Lomonosova Ulitsa where a popular Mexican restaurant once stood, but you can order tar-tar of red tuna and a halibut flambe.
You can also order the Daiquiri cocktail and other exotic mixes of liquor that the hard-drinking American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist Ernest Hemingway made famous.
If you don’t know much about Hemingway, author of “The Old Man and the Sea,” “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” “A Farewell to Arms” and other classic works, you will learn a lot from Hemingway’s by simply looking at the walls of the bar. They are covered in a mass of Hemingway memorabilia from fishing tackle, straw hats, and old suitcases covered in stamps from France and Florida, to many black-and-white photographs of the macho, alcoholic author who killed himself in 1961, including one of him meeting a youthful Fidel Castro. The knick-knacks and ephemera enliven the four dark and cavernous rooms of Hemingway’s, which makes a feature of its brickwork ceilings and wooden floors and seats up to 170 guests.
The vast choice of booze that Hemingway’s offers is complemented by an extensive menu that goes well beyond standard bar food and raises the place to the status of a destination restaurant. A selection of steak dishes is featured and there’s a welcome range of tempting desserts including perhaps St. Petersburg’s only blancmange.
Ordered for its Hemingway associations from the cold-starter menu, the tar-tar of red tuna (450 rubles, $18.20) was unfortunately a let down — despite the promise of spices that would have added life to the diced and chilled raw tuna flesh, the dish, while satisfying, tasted of absolutely nothing apart from red onion and lemon juice. In stark contrast, Boyar’s Pancakes (280 rubles, $11.30), two steaming blini stuffed full with minced beef and onion and topped with soothing sour cream, was a hearty and heartwarming.
Service at Hemingway’s is polite and friendly — although the system of alcoves and booths may make it difficult to attract a waitress’s attention. With English menus available, the staff are happy to help non-Russian speaking guests and make recommendations.
When the main courses were served, two waitresses ceremoniously lifted the domed silver lids keeping the two dishes hot to reveal, firstly, a New York steak (580 rubles, $23.50) and potato gratin (110 rubles, $4.50), and, secondly, a chicken fillet with fried potatoes (380 rubles, $15.40).
The steak was accompanied by a fine lollo rosso salad that, unusually, would have made a decent starter in itself. The large beefsteak was served as ordered — medium rare — and scored high marks for the top quality of the meat.
The chicken dish scored equally well, with three fillets of char-grilled chicken breast piled onto fried chanterelle mushrooms and potatoes and surrounded by a creamy fig sauce.
With Ernest Hemingway’s white-bearded face staring back at you in almost every corner of the bar, it is tempting to wonder whether the “theme bar” has had its day. However, the upscale and after-office crowd that comes here — either to watch football or, on weekends, listen to music from such acts as the Apelsin Band or Latin guitar hero Stas Pro — clearly relish the adventures associated with the Nobel prize winning writer.
Anybody who had the wisdom to say “Always do sober what you said you’d do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut” should have a temple built to him — Hemingway’s may be the place.
TITLE: Canada Edges Past U.S. With 5-4 Victory
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — Dany Heatley scored twice, including the winner with 47 seconds left, to lift Canada to a riveting 5-4 victory over the U.S. at the world championships on Tuesday.
The Canadians secured top spot in Group B with a perfect 3-0 record while Russia who survived a goaltending crisis to beat Denmark 4-1 in Quebec City to take first place in Group D.
After the U.S. had stormed back from 3-0 down to level at 4-4, Heatley clinched victory when he ripped a slapshot past Craig Anderson, the game ending with a raucous capacity crowd on its feet and players on the ice, wrestling and throwing punches.
It was the sixth goal in three games for Heatley, the red-hot Ottawa Senators winger who is now the country’s all-time leading goal scorer (26) and top scorer (42 points) at the world championships.
“You go through stretches where it doesn’t go in and you go through stretches when it does,” Heatley told reporters. “It was a great job to battle back like that but at the same time I think we can play better and we will.”
After easy wins over Slovenia and Latvia, the Americans provided Canada with their first big test and the defending champions responded with a gritty effort to notch their 12th successive championship win.
Dressed in throwback jerseys worn by the 1976 Canada Cup champions that featured 18 Hockey Hall of Famers, the hosts sped into a 3-0 lead through goals from Heatley, Brent Burns and Jonathan Toews.
But the U.S. fought back, Zach Parise and Patrick O’Sullivan scoring 2:17 apart early in the second period to trim the deficit to 3-2.
The U.S. made a goaltending change to start the third, switching Tim Thomas, who strained his groin, for Anderson and Derek Roy welcomed him to the game by restoring Canada’s two-goal cushion.
Some indiscipline by Canada, however, opened the door for the U.S., Dustin Brown and Jason Pominville converting powerplay chances to tie the scores at 4-4.
“This is our game and we feel we have to win,” said Canada captain Shane Doan. “We don’t have a choice.”
Russian gold medal chances faded after Alexander Eremenko was ruled out of the tournament with a knee injury on Monday and the team was left with one registered netminder until Evgeni Nabokov arrives on Thursday.
But Mikhail Biryukov proved a more than adequate backup as Russia brushed past the outclassed Danes.
Russia built a 4-0 lead on goals from Sergei Fedorov, Alexander Ovechkin, Maxim Afinogenov and Konstantin Gorovikov before easing to their third straight win.
In other games, the Czech Republic secured their spot in the next round with a 7-2 victory over winless Italy, who drop down in the relegation battle.
The Italians were joined in the relegation round by Slovenia, who were shutout 3-0 by Latvia.
TITLE: Obama Makes Recovery
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: WASHINGTON — On the rebound, Barack Obama left Hillary Rodham Clinton with fast-dwindling chances to deny him the Democratic presidential nomination after beating her in North Carolina and falling just short in an Indiana cliffhanger.
Obama was on track to climb within 200 delegates of attaining the prize, his campaign finally steadying after missteps fiercely exploited by the never-say-die Clinton.
His campaign dropped hints it was time for the 270 remaining unaligned party figures known as superdelegates to get off the fence and settle the nomination.
It was in that arena — even more than in the scattered primaries left — that the Democratic hyperdrama was bound to play out.
“You know, there are those who were saying that North Carolina would be a game-changer in this election,” Obama told a roaring crowd in Raleigh, N.C., on Tuesday night, referring to Clinton’s hope that an upset there would recast the race in her favor.
“But today what North Carolina decided is that the only game that needs changing is the one in Washington, D.C.”
Clinton vowed to compete tenaciously for West Virginia next week and Kentucky and Oregon after that, and to press “full speed on to the White House.”
But she risked running on fumes without an infusion of cash, and made a direct fundraising pitch from the stage in Indianapolis. “I need your help to continue our journey,” she said.
And she pledged anew that she would support the Democratic nominee “no matter what happens,” a vow also made by her competitor.
In an overnight e-mail appeal for donations, Obama said: “We have a clear path to victory.”
But even as Obama took the day off Wednesday to be with his family in Chicago, Clinton showed no public signs of easing her pace. The campaign added a noon Wednesday appearance in Shepherdstown, W. Va., to her schedule. On Thursday, she planned to campaign in West Virginia, South Dakota and Oregon.
Polarizing, protracted and often bitter, the contest is hardening divisions in the party, according to exit polls from the two states.
A solid majority of each candidate’s supporters said they would not be satisfied if the other candidate wins the nomination.
Fully one-third of Clinton’s supporters in Indiana and North Carolina went beyond mere dissatisfaction to say they would vote for Republican John McCain instead of Obama if that’s the choice in the fall.
TITLE: Capello Complains at Lack Of Brits in Premier League
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: The coach of the country’s national team, Fabio Capello, bemoans the fact that only 37 percent of players in the Premier League were born in the country. But look at the potential combined lineup that Champions League finalists Manchester United and Chelsea could field when they play in Moscow on May 21.
Goalkeeper: Ben Foster (Manchester United). (He may be United’s third choice behind Netherlands goalkepeer Edwin van der Sar and Poland backup Tomasz Kuszczak, but he’s considered one of England’s best young stars.)
Defenders: Wes Brown (Manchester United), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), John Terry (Chelsea), Ashley Cole (Chelsea).
Midfielders: Shaun Wright-Phillips (Chelsea), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Owen Hargreaves (Manchester United).
Forwards: Joe Cole (Chelsea), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United).
That would be a useful England lineup, and it comes from only two clubs. But now comes the down side.
Although these players are taking part in the final of European soccer’s most prestigious club competition, they won’t be going to next month’s European Championship because England failed to qualify.
It’s a strange twist to another season of contradictions in English soccer. For the second year in a row, three Premier League clubs made it to the last four of the Champions League, and for the fourth season in a row English clubs have made it to the final.
Now English soccer followers are looking forward to the first-ever final between two of their teams in European soccer’s most prestigious club competition.
So why is the national team always lagging behind when it comes to the major championships?
Technical ability is one answer. There’s little doubt the arrival of foreign talent has enriched the quality of the game in the Premier League and the divisions below. It’s up to the home-grown players to learn from these stars, and coaches like Capello to blend overseas skills with the traditional, more predictable fast and physical styles of the domestic players.
On Tuesday, Capello will line up alongside Football Association chairman David Triesman, chief executive Brian Barwick and director of soccer development Trevor Brooking at Wembley Stadium, where those in charge of England’s national team will outline their blueprint for future success.
It’s called the FA’s Strategic Vision and it is aimed at developing the game in England, especially over the next four years.
TITLE: Over 40,000 Still Missing in Myanmar
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: YANGON — Military helicopters dropped food and water on Wednesday to the cyclone-stricken people of Myanmar’s Irrawaddy Delta, where entire villages were virtually washed away in a massive storm surge.
The military government said nearly 22,500 people were killed and 41,000 missing in the most devastating cyclone in Asia since 1991 when a storm killed 143,000 in neighbouring Bangladesh.
A doctor in the delta town of Labutta said in an interview with Australian radio that villagers told him thousands died when a series of huge waves slammed into their homes. People clung to trees in a desperate fight for survival.
“All the victims were brought to the town and I asked them, ‘How many of you survived?’ and they said about 200, 300,” Aye Kyu told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio.
“Then I asked them, ‘How many people in your area?’ They said about 5,000. The waves were 12, 13, 20 feet high and when the houses were covered in water, they stayed on the roof but the houses were destroyed by strong winds,” he said.
In one town alone, Bogalay, 10,000 people were killed, according to a town-by-town list of casualties and damage announced by the reclusive military government.
Political analysts and critics of 46 years of military rule say the cyclone may have long-term implications for the junta, which is even more feared and resented since last September’s bloody crackdown on Buddhist monk-led protests.
Official media reported on Wednesday that military helicopters dropped food and bottled water to villagers in the rice-growing Irrawaddy delta. More than half of Myanmar’s 53 million people live in five worst-hit states, called divisions.
As the army’s relief operations kicked up a gear four days after the cyclone struck, state-run television showed footage of bedraggled survivors lining up on banks of mud to be flown by helicopter out of some of the worst-hit villages.
With disease, hunger and thirst threatening hundreds of thousands of survivors marooned in the delta, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd begged the junta to open its doors to international humanitarian relief.
“Forget politics. Forget the military dictatorship. Let’s just get aid and assistance through to people who are suffering and dying as we speak, through a lack of support on the ground,” Rudd told reporters in Perth.
In Washington, President George W. Bush also asked the military to relax its tight grip and allow aid agencies, governments and the U.S. Navy to directly assist the victims.
Myanmar TV, the main official source for casualties and damage, on Wednesday re-broadcast Tuesday night’s news bulletin. The TV station, monitored outside Myanmar, reported 22,464 killed and 41,054 missing.
In a rare news conference on Tuesday, Information Minister Kyaw Hsan appealed for help, saying “the government needs the cooperation of the people and well-wishers from home and abroad”.
State media said the Prime Minister, Lt. Gen. Thein Sein, was chairing a natural disaster committee in Pathein, capital of Irrawaddy Division, and “closely supervising relief and resettlement work”.
There was some anger on the storm-ravaged streets of Yangon at soaring food prices and long queues for petrol, but the overall mood in the city of five million was one of resignation rather than revolution.
“There won’t be demonstrations,” one taxi driver said. “People don’t want to be shot.”
Government and private offices were unable to function with power cut off and staff absent. Some office workers just sat there in the darkness.
“We can’t do anything without electricity,” one said. “We sit around in the darkness sharing our sufferings and complaints.”
A queue of women and children holding buckets and tubs snaked around a corner in Yangon on Wednesday, past a street market where vegetables sold at three times last week’s prices despite government appeals to traders not to profit from the disaster.
The U.N.’s World Food Programme began doling out rice in Yangon. The first batch of more than $10 million of foreign aid arrived from Thailand but lack of equipment slowed distribution.
Reflecting the scale of the crisis, the junta said it would postpone by two weeks a constitutional referendum in the worst-hit areas, but go ahead elsewhere as planned on Saturday.
TITLE: Nigerian Rebels Mull Appeal From Obama
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: LAGOS — Rebels who have stepped up attacks on Nigeria’s oil industry in the last month said on Sunday they were considering a ceasefire appeal by U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has launched five attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta since it resumed a campaign of violence in April, forcing Royal Dutch Shell to shut more than 164,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd).
“The MEND command is seriously considering a temporary ceasefire appeal by Senator Barack Obama. Obama is someone we respect and hold in high esteem,” the militant group said in an e-mailed statement.
MEND did not say when or where Obama, the leading candidate for the Democratic ticket for November’s U.S. presidential election, made the appeal. It said it hoped the government would use any ceasefire to improve conditions for its detained leader, Henry Okah.
The militant group also claimed responsibility for an attack on Shell facilities in southern Bayelsa state on Saturday, which caused a spill and prompted the company to shut some production.
The attack came a day after a federal court ruled that Okah should be tried for treason and gun-running in secret.
TITLE: Chelsea Still Aiming For Title
PUBLISHER: Agence France Presse
TEXT: LONDON — Avram Grant has promised Manchester United a fight to the very finish after his Chelsea side beat Newcastle to ensure the English Premier League title race will go right down to the wire.
A hard-fought 2-0 win at St James’s Park on Monday stretched Chelsea’s impressive unbeaten league run to 20 games to set up a tense last day of the season on Sunday.
The sides are level on points, but with a vastly superior goal difference leaders United remain heavy favourites to retain their crown.
Alex Ferguson’s side need only to match Chelsea’s result against Bolton Wanderers when they travel to Wigan Athletic on Sunday to bring the curtain down on the campaign with their 10th title in 16 Premier League seasons.
But Grant insisted: “We’ve given United a good, good battle and we’ll never give up. We will fight to the finish.
“Nobody really thought about us as title candidates but we’re level on points with them and only goal difference separates us so we’ll see what happens.
“United are in a better position because of the goal difference but they’re not in an easy position.”
After second-half goals from Michael Ballack and Florent Malouda secured a priceless win, Grant brushed off suggestions that Wigan, managed by former Manchester United defender Steve Bruce, will give Ferguson’s men an easy ride.
He added: “I’ve been involved in football for 30 years and I believe in the traditions of English football so I don’t think they will give United an easy game.”
Chelsea skipper John Terry concurred, adding: “Wigan have been a real credit to themselves and they did themselves justice when they got a draw against us so I’m sure they’ll battle all the way against United.”
Kevin Keegan was glowing in his praise for Chelsea, but the Newcastle manager predicted Grant’s side are ultimately destined to finish second.
He added: “They would be worthy champions but I don’t think they will be. In any season apart from this you have one exceptional team. This time there are two.
“I just can’t see United going to Wigan on the last day and losing. Avram will be going into that last game more in hope than expectation.”
Keegan launched a withering attack on the predictable nature of the Premier League, admitting that even with the vast spending power of billionaire owner Mike Ashley, Newcastle have little hope of breaking into the top four during the length of his three year contract at St James’ Park.
He said: “Chelsea have got a strong squad and that’s why they’re up challenging where they are but we’re a million miles away from that. This league is in danger of becoming one of the most boring but the greatest in the the world.
“We’re trying to win the other league that’s going on in the Premier League below the top four.”
TITLE: Chileans Evacuated as Chaiten Volcano Erupts
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: CHAITEN, Chile — Crackling with explosions, Chile’s Chaiten volcano began spitting lava on Tuesday following its first eruption in thousands of years, and Navy warships were deployed to evacuate nearby residents in the southern region of Patagonia.
Chaiten erupted last Friday, sending a towering plume of ash into the sky that has since coated the surrounding area of southern Chile and reached into neighboring Argentina.
The settlement of Chaiten, six miles (10 km) from the volcano, looked like a ghost town on Tuesday. Aside from a small contingent of Navy sailors and a few journalists, only dogs, chickens and horses remained standing in the ash.
Explosions and loud groaning noises resounded from the crater of the 3,280-foot (1,000-meter) volcano, which had been dormant for thousands of years.
No lava flow has yet been detected down Chaiten’s sides, but Chile’s National Emergency Office said the volcano was spitting bits of molten rock and that remaining civilians and troops were being evacuated across a fjord.
“The situation has changed suddenly,” national emergency official Rodrigo Rojas said in an interview. “Today the volcano is erupting with pyroclastic material on a different scale.”
The towering ash cloud was clearly visible from the southern town of Puerto Montt, where many desperate evacuees were being sheltered.
“I am very worried to have left my house, my pet, my animals behind. All I want is for this to be over,” said Carola Perez, a 22-year-old housewife evacuated to the town.
The government ordered the evacuation of a 30-mile (50 km) radius around the volcano — which lies some 760 miles (1,220 km) south of the capital, Santiago — including two dozen people who had refused to leave their homes and animals.
It appealed to anyone still on remote farms in the area to leave.
Military personnel, police and journalists were being ferried to join dozens of civilians already aboard warships waiting in the fjord off Chaiten. Around 4,200 people, nearly the whole population of Chaiten, have already been evacuated.
Sparsely populated Patagonia is the southernmost swathe of Latin America that cuts across Chile and Argentina and is home to towering snow-capped peaks, some of them volcanoes, glaciers and log cabins, and is a gold mine for dinosaur fossil hunters.
Luis Lara, a government geologist, said he did not expect a catastrophic collapse of the Chaiten volcano, but that a cloud of dense, very hot material could coat the surrounding area.
“This produces a more complicated scenario,” Lara said. “A dense cloud of pyroclastic material could move down its slopes, and that causes much more damage (than a spray of lava).”
“The entire volcano will not (collapse), but the eruptive column could, and that is sufficient material to be displaced down its sides and into areas nearby,” he added. “Lava flow would not reach Chaiten, but hot fragments, ash and gas could.”
A second town, Futaleufu, has also been coated with ash and is being evacuated. The area is some distance from Chile’s vital mining industry farther north.
Some of Futaleufu’s 1,000 or so residents have already crossed into neighboring Argentina, where some areas have also been showered with thick ash and where flights and schools were suspended.
Argentina is not evacuating residents from the worst-affected zones, instead advising them to stay indoors.
“It’s a horrible situation. Sometimes it goes all dark and it doesn’t stop raining ash,” said Cecilia Rimoldi, a resident of the southern Argentine tourist town of El Bolson.
The ash is more than 6 inches (15 cm) thick in some places near Chaiten, contaminating water supplies and coating houses, vehicles and trees. Thousands of head of cattle are being moved out of the area.
Chile has the world’s second most active string of volcanoes behind Indonesia. It is home to 2,000 volcanoes, 500 of which experts say are potentially active. Around 60 have erupted over the past 450 years.
TITLE: Sports Watch
TEXT: Chelsea Make Offer
MADRID (AFP) — Chelsea have offered Real Madrid 70 million euros (108 million dollars) for their defender Sergio Ramos, daily newspaper El Mundo reported Wednesday.
Real, who clinched their second straight Spanish league title over the weekend, was “reflecting on the offer” for the 21-year-old Spanish international who is under contract with the club until 2013, the newspaper said without citing named sources.
If the offer is accepted, he would become “the most expensive defender in history”, it said.
Chagaev Gets Virus
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — WBA champion Ruslan Chagaev of Uzbekistan has a viral infection, forcing postponement of his May 31 heavyweight fight against 7-footer Nikolai Valuev of Russia.
Universum promotions said Tuesday it was talking to the WBA about a new date for the bout in Oberhausen.
Police Clear Ronaldo
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) — Cross-dressing prostitutes lied when they accused AC Milan striker Ronaldo of using drugs and having sex with them during a motel encounter last week, police said Tuesday.
The prostitutes told police they lied because Ronaldo did not want to pay them after finding out they were men, police inspector Carlos Augusto Nogueira said.
Olympic Torch
BEIJING — The Olympic torch moved to within striking distance of the summit of Mount Everest on Wednesday, with the flame likely to reach the top of the world’s tallest mountain in the next several days.
A spokesman for the climbing team said a base camp at 25,560 feet had been rebuilt after heavy snowfall last weekend destroyed several base camps and delayed the assault on the 29,035-foot peak.
Beijing Olympic organizers are hoping the dramatic image of the torch reaching the highest spot on earth will make up for damaging publicity during protest-ridden stages of international legs of the relay.
Capello Investigated
ROME (Reuters) — England coach Fabio Capello will face a full investigation into whether he withheld information to an Italian court, judicial sources said on Wednesday.
An Italian prosecutor said on March 31 he intended to bring a case against Capello after he gave evidence in a trial of six men accused of fostering unfair competition through the use of threats or violence as part of Italy’s Gea World sports agency.