SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #1432 (96), Tuesday, December 9, 2008
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TITLE: Democrats Meet To Form Joint Program
AUTHOR: By Sergey Chernov
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Despite provocations and obstacles created by authorities aimed at preventing a new democratic movement from holding a conference, the event finally took place in St. Petersburg on Saturday.
About 250 members of democratic parties as well as other groups and individuals gathered at the Treugolnik Business Center to discuss the program for the movement — called Solidarity — and to elect its local coordination council and delegates to a national congress to be held in Moscow on Saturday.
“The main result is that it happened, considering all the difficulties it faced,” Maxim Reznik, the local leader of Yabloko Democratic Party said of the seven-hour conference by phone on Monday.
“It’s too early to say that the unification of democrats is under way, although many steps have been made that hadn’t been made before. To be blunt, there had often been arguments about who was the most important, and now, at last, we came to an agreement that nobody is the most important and it will be a collegiate and leaderless structure. We used to start with this and the program came second, but now we started with the program, at least. Now we’re starting to get things in the right order.”
The program under discussion was called “300 Steps to Freedom,” written by economist Vladimir Milov, and the shorter “Road-Map: the Solidarity Movement’s Plan of Action,” written by Olga Kurnosova, the local leader of Garry Kasparov’s United Civil Front (OGF). Dozens of amendments were accepted after discussions.
According to Reznik, the increasing stifling of democracy by the Kremlin has added impetus to the unification of democrats.
“The external environment is becoming more hostile, and it is pushing us [toward unification],” he said.
The Solidarity conference was originally scheduled to take place on Nov. 29, but was postponed after organizers were unable to rent a room for the event, with six venues refusing to hold the gathering, even if they had agreed initially.
The new location was kept secret until Friday morning, giving authorities less time to try to stop it. Reznik said the organizers managed to find a venue because there are still independent individuals.
“Not all people in the city are affected with self-censorship and fear as yet. I think the proportion is one to eight,” he said.
Reznik became a target of a provocation on the morning of the conference. When he got out of his car by the business center, two unknown young men ran toward him and poured difficult-to-wash-off bright green antiseptic liquid on his head and face, and then ran away.
Returning two hours later, in time for his speech, Reznik mentioned that he used nail polish remover to wash off the dye.
“I can’t say who they were; perhaps they are provocateurs with the security services behind them,” said Reznik. “They chose me because I am an organizer. They thought if they used a lot of this green dye, I would not have time to wash it off and wouldn’t be able to lead the conference.”
A small group of young men picketed the conference, presenting themselves as a new “democratic” movement called Marching Without Garik and calling on participants not to deal with OGF’s leader Garry Kasparov. The protest was designed in a manner similar to those of Kremlin-backed youth organizations such as Young Guard, with news about the event appearing on its web site later the same day.
Kasparov did not come to the conference, with Moscow democrats represented only by Alexander Ryklin, also a member of OGF. Kurnosova, the organization’s local leader, was not present because a week earlier she was summoned to the southern Russian city of Astrakhan, where she is under investigation by the authorities for allegedly smuggling a can of caviar from the region.
Mikhail Makarov, a member of OGF who read from Kurnosova’s “Road-Map” program in her absence, described the Astrakhan criminal case as “fabricated.”
“It’s very positive that we managed to gather and that we managed to create the St. Petersburg part of the Solidarity national movement,” said Makarov by phone on Monday.
“It’s clear that the fact of the creation is the main result in itself. The fact that some documents were discussed and amendments were made is secondary. The other thing that is important is that we managed to form a St. Petersburg coordination council and I hope it will be workable.”
According to Makarov, during the discussion of the “Road-Map,” the conference also revealed problems such as disagreement over how to treat other movements that call themselves “democratic,” such as the Right Cause, a party that was recently formed from the ashes of the Union of the Right Forces under the Kremlin’s patronage.
Another disagreement centers on elections: Radical democrats, such as OGF, believe that they should not take part in elections manipulated by the Kremlin, while moderates, such as Yabloko, believe participation in elections should be decided tactically, Makarov said.
Attitudes toward nationalism are another sticking point, Makarov said. While OGF cooperates with Eduard Limonov’s banned National Bolshevik Party within the pro-democracy coalition called The Other Russia, Yabloko member Boris Vishnevsky suggested an amendment stating that the united democrats should not deal with any nationalists until they publicly condemn “xenophobia, racism, anti-Semitism and the propaganda of inter-ethnic animosity.”
“It’s clear that all these demands are fair. But, on the other hand, it’s obvious that even if an organization is mildly nationalistic, it will have difficulty agreeing to such statements,” said Makarov.
“This clause can be used for the struggle against those of us who are ready to cooperate with, say, national democrats. It’s obvious we won’t speak with the [extreme nationalist] DPNI (Movement Against Illegal Immigration) about anything, but there are more moderate nationalist-minded organizations.”

TITLE: 2 Names Top List To Lead Church
AUTHOR: By Nabi Abdullaev
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW — For the first time since the fall of the Soviet Union, the Russian Orthodox Church will begin the process of choosing a new leader. 
The church’s ruling body, the Holy Synod, chose the often outspoken and independent-minded Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad as interim leader at a gathering on Saturday, the Moscow Patriarchate said in a statement Friday, just hours after the death of Patriarch Alexy II. 
Church insiders and experts said there are two front-runners to succeed Alexy: Metropolitan Kirill and Metropolitan Kliment of Kaluga and Borovsk, believed to be the Kremlin’s preferred successor. 
According to the Russian Orthodox Church’s charter, the 12-member Holy Synod must elect a Locum Tenens, or interim head, from among its members. 
The Local Council, comprised of all the bishops and elected representatives of the clergy and laity, must then be called within six months to elect a new patriarch in a closed session. 
The election procedure is not spelled out in the charter and is determined by the council itself before the vote. 
Alexy, who was elected by secret ballot in 1990, never publicly expressed a preference for a successor, leaving church observers little choice but to read tea leaves and scour for signs of how the balance of power is shifting between leading metropolitans. 
During President Dmitry Medvedev’s inauguration in May, Metropolitan Kliment sat in the front row next to Alexy while Metropolitan Kirill was at the back of the Kremlin’s Andreyevsky Hall, noted one religious scholar. 
Kliment’s front row seat at the event could indicate that he has the Kremlin’s blessing, the scholar said, on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. 
The fact that then-President Vladimir Putin appointed Kliment to the Public Chamber in 2005 could also mean that he is favored by the Kremlin, said Alexander Soldatov, a Russian Orthodox Church researcher who runs the web site Credo.ru. 
Kliment, 59, chairs the chamber’s commission on cultural and spiritual heritage and is head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s administration.

TITLE: Ecology Minister Trutnev a VIP Guest at Friday Night Fights
AUTHOR: By Anatoly Medetsky
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW — Practitioners of kung fu, karate and numerous other martial arts spent Friday night pummeling each other largely thanks to Natural Resources and Ecology Minister Yury Trutnev and Rosatom chief Sergei Kiriyenko. 
A black belt in karate, Trutnev looked on from his VIP seat at Luzhniki Arena with his wife and two sons. Kiriyenko was absent, but with a valid excuse: The aikido black belt was with President Dmitry Medvedev in India, where the state nuclear body is building nuclear power reactors. 
“I spent 20 years out on the mats,” Trutnev said, his hair closely cropped and shoulder muscles bulging through his jacket. “Today, I can say that I could have won some of the fights that took place.” 
The event was the third edition of the Battle of Champions held by the Russian Union of Martial Arts since Trutnev and Kiriyenko set up the organization in 2005. 
The umbrella group they co-chair now unites 56 national federations for martial arts ranging from hardcore karate to capoeira, a Brazilian fighting style that many other fighters regard as nothing more than a folk dance. 
Although Trutnev and Kiriyenko play leading roles in the country’s martial-arts scene, they have received much less of the combat sports’ spotlight than Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, a judo master, whose love of the sport has generated endless coverage in the media. 
Trutnev is able to throw his weight around well enough in his day job. A single pronouncement Thursday in favor of fertilizer maker Uralkali was followed by an 11.6 percent surge in its stock, despite an ongoing investigation into whether the company should pay damages for a mining accident in 2006. 
That kind of battle was likely far from his mind Friday night. Music blasted away before a column of scantily-clad female drummers in stylized 18th-century hats walked down the aisle to the arena floor to open the tournament. 
Over the next four hours, fighter after fighter made his way down the aisle, flanked by jets of fire, to the elevated ring where they faced off in battles, usually pitting a contestant from one martial art against one from another. 
Trutnev holds an honorary fifth dan in Kyokushinkai karate, a style placing heavy emphasis on full-contact fighting without gloves or any other protective equipment. 
He earned the rank for his services to his school of karate, Trutnev said after the tournament. He held a third dan when he and Kiriyenko established the union. 
Trutnev earned his third dan the hard way after passing the required examinations, said Alexei Gorbylyov, first deputy chief of the Kyokushinkai Karate Federation, which follows combat rules slightly different from those of Trutnev’s style. 
The honorary title was conferred by the International Karate Organization, headquartered in Tokyo, at the request of one of the organization’s member federations in Russia — perhaps the Kyokushinkai Karate Federation — Gorbylyov said. 
The federation could not be reached for comment on Sunday. 
Honorary karate belts appear to be de rigueur among the country’s political class. 
At least in nominal terms, the fifth dan puts Trutnev on par with Mayor Yury Luzhkov, who holds the same honorary rank from the International Karate Organization, Gorbylyov said. Putin holds an honorary seventh dan from the same organization, Gorbylyov said. 
Neither Luzhkov nor Putin are known as enthusiasts of the sport. 
Trutnev began training as a kyoshin-kai student in 1970s after taking part in freestyle wrestling, judo and sambo, he said. Sambo is a Russian martial art involving grappling and submission holds. He went to his first karate session out of curiosity when a school opened in his hometown of Perm, he said. 
“It turned out that the people there worked hard, and it evoked respect,” Trutnev said. “I was compelled to continue training.” 
As a minister, he practices the art at least three times per week, he said. 
In a fashion that may be attributable to his karate practice, Trutnev was very curt in opening and closing the tournament on Friday, speaking for only about 30 seconds on each occasion. 
“Everybody had a chance to prove that he is the strongest. Some succeeded and some didn’t,” he said in conclusion. “It means the fights will go on; it means we will meet again.”

TITLE: Ford Factory Shuts For Month as Sales Dry Up
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: U.S. automaker Ford Motor Co. said on Monday that it would suspend production at its Russian plant for one month, as the global financial crisis slashes demand for cars.
The company said the assembly line would be stopped from Dec. 24 until Jan. 21 due to New Year holiday and the need to reduce production volumes in December and January.
“The decision to temporarily cut production volumes at Ford’s Russian plant has been made by the company due to the overall market environment and the lowering of forecasts for total Russian car sales,” Ford said.
Employees will receive two-thirds of their wages during the production halt, the company said.
Ford also said it would delay the launch of production of its Mondeo sedan to March 2009 from the fourth quarter of this year. Ford makes about 70,000 popular Focus models per year at what is its only Russian plant, near the country’s second-biggest city of St Petersburg.
Last month, French automaker Renault said it would stop the assembly line at its Moscow plant for two weeks in December as demand weakens.

TITLE: Newspaper Editor Links FSB To Murder of Politkovskaya
AUTHOR: By Anna Malpas, Alexandra Odynova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writers
TEXT: A defendant and a key witness in the Anna Politkovskaya murder trial worked on behalf of the Federal Security Service, one of the slain reporter’s editors testified in court Friday. 
Sergei Sokolov, deputy editor of Novaya Gazeta, where Politkovskaya wrote critical reports about federal abuses in Chechnya, said the FSB was tailing the journalist before she was killed in October 2006. 
“It has become known to me that Dzhabrail Makhmudov was an agent,” he told the packed courtroom. 
Three men are on trial on charges of participating in Politkovskaya’s murder — Chechen brothers Dzhabrail and Ibragim Makhmudov and Moscow police officer Sergei Khadzhikurbanov. 
Sokolov said Makhmudov’s uncle Lom-Ali Gaitukayev also worked for the FSB. Gaitukayev is serving a 12-year jail sentence for the attempted murder of a Ukrainian businessman. He arrived in the courtroom wearing handcuffs and accompanied by a guard. 
Dzhabrail Makhmudov denied the accusation, telling the court, “I am not and have never been anyone’s agent.” 
Sokolov refused to disclose his sources. Novaya Gazeta is carrying out its own investigation into the murder and is offering a reward of about $1 million for the capture of the mastermind.

TITLE: 4 Suspects Arrested In Olympian's Murder
AUTHOR: By Galina Stolyarova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Local police have arrested four suspects in the 2005 murder of Olympic cycling gold medalist Dmitry Nelyubin, the Russian Prosecutor General’s office said Monday.
Nelyubin was killed in the early hours of New Year’s Day on 2005 at the junction of Ulitsa Rentgena and Ulitsa Lva Tolstogo on the Petrograd Side in central St. Petersburg.
Nelyubin, aged 33 at the time of the attack, was celebrating the New Year with fireworks with his wife and a friend when they were approached by a group of young men and a quarrel started. The incident ended with one of the members of the gang giving Nelyubin a lethal stab wound. The sportsman died at the hospital within hours after the attack.
The killing of the Olympian, who as a 17-year old was a member of the four-man Soviet team that won the 4,000-meter pursuit at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, made international headlines.
A St. Petersburg native, Nelyubin competed in the same event for the so-called Unified Team of newly independent ex-Soviet states at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, coming in sixth. His father Vladislav is also a champion cyclist who competed for the Soviet Union in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. 
Vladimir Markin, the official representative of the Investigative Committee of the General Prosecutor’s Office told reporters on Monday that the four suspects arrested for Nelyubin’s murder were identified as natives of the Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkaria.
In a shocking statement, the suspects told the investigation they “had mistaken Nelyubin for a skinhead.”
Andrei Lavrenko, head of the St. Petersburg branch of the Prosecutor’s Office’s Investigative Committee, said that the suspect who is believed to have inflicted the fatal wound has partially admitted his guilt.
“He admitted to be present at the murder scene and confessed that he did have a knife on him but claims he does not remember how the incident progressed and ended,” Lavrenko said.
The prosecutors are convinced they have found the right men and announced they “have found sufficient evidence” to charge them.

TITLE: Russia Contest Homeless World Cup Final
AUTHOR: By Galina Stolyarova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: A team of homeless men from St. Petersburg and other Russian towns lost 5:4 to Afghanistan at the 2009 Homeless World Soccer Cup in Melbourne, Australia, in an intense and dramatic final match that ended the unique tournament on Sunday.
The Russian team, most of them from St. Petersburg, was set to return to the city on Tuesday.
Homeless World Cup co-founder Mel Young said in a statement posted at the tournament’s website that the Melbourne cup “had set a new standard for the competition, both in terms of organization and its effect on the city.” 
Matches attracted capacity crowds and won an enthusiastic reception among both sports fans and professional players.
The purpose of the UEFA-backed tournaments is to use the positive power of soccer to raise awareness of homelessness and poverty worldwide. Programs centered around sports have been practised successfully by organizations such as the English Premier League for a number of years.
“We have had big crowds before but I do not think I have ever had so many locals just saying ‘Wow, this is wonderful!’,” Young told the website. “It seems to have got into the psyche of Australians. I suspect it is the sports aspect, which Australians love but there is the underdog aspect, too. 
“I have had nothing but incredibly enthusiastic feedback from people,” Young said. “I was in a taxi the other day. And the taxi driver started to say ‘Have you seen what’s going on at Federation Square?’ He gave this glowing recommendation, saying that I should go along, that I’d really enjoy myself, that he’d been in to see a few games and it was really fabulous.” 
“These competitions have already proved to be a very efficient tool,” said Arkady Tyurin, the manager of the Russian team. “They stimulate [homeless] people and give them energy to try and look for a job, training or rehabilitation program.” As far as team membership is concerned, the term “homeless” is interpreted relatively broadly during the selection process, Tyurin said, stressing that, to qualify, it is not required that the team players have to literally live on the streets of St. Petersburg or any other Russian town.
Most of the players of the Russian team live in shelters and rehabilitation centers for homeless people or have been able to find temporary refuge in the apartments of their relatives or friends.
Statistics about St. Petersburg’s homeless population vary drastically, depending on the source. The state-run City Homeless Registration Center said there are about 6,500 homeless individuals in St. Petersburg. At the same time, City Hall’s Social Affairs and Labour Committee has different statistics suggesting that the city has more than 25,000 homeless people. Non-governmental organizations working with the local homeless people argue that there are more than 50,000 homeless people living in St. Petersburg.
Afghanistan and the former Soviet Union fought a bitter war in the 1980s but sportsmanship and the soccer tournament’s positive message left memories of that issue far beyond the touchline.
“It is a cliche but here everyone is a winner,” Young said. “Everyone is going to get a medal. We have created a sporting event where everyone is included and that is the way society should be.”  
The 2009 Homeless World Soccer Cup will be held in Milan, Italy.

TITLE: U.S. on Monitors
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: HELSINKI —A senior U.S. diplomat said Friday that Russia must stop blocking international monitors from going into Georgia’s separatist South Ossetia region to assess reports of human rights abuses. 
The monitors have been unable to return to the Moscow-backed region since a war in August between Russia and Georgia, and human rights groups say that in their absence ethnic Georgians are being harassed by the separatists. 
“There is, unfortunately, a silence and darkness with respect to the international monitors that has descended on South Ossetia,” U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried told reporters at a security conference in Helsinki. 
“The solution is hardly to keep monitors out of South Ossetia. ... Russia has an obligation, since it controls this territory, to let in international observers,” he said

TITLE: Naval Vessel Goes Through Panama Canal
AUTHOR: By Juan Zamorano
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: PANAMA CITY, Panama — A Russian military vessel has docked at a former U.S. Navy base after making a historic passage through the Panama Canal. 
The destroyer Admiral Chabanenko is the first Soviet or Russian warship to traverse the canal, which was off limits to the Soviet Union during the Cold War. 
It arrived Saturday at the former Rodman Naval Station, which the United States turned over to Panama nearly a decade ago along with control of the canal. 
Vice Admiral Vladimir Korolev said the trip was aimed at showing “the Russian fleet’s presence in the strategic areas of the world.” 
The voyage reflects Russia’s growing influence in the region and anger with the United States for using warships to deliver aid to Georgia after its August war with Russia. 
Panamanian Foreign Minister Samuel Lewis portrayed the Russian canal crossing as business as usual. 
“Here there is no other message than that the canal is open to all of the world’s ships,” he said Friday. 
Lewis said the canal maintained a neutral policy in world politics. He pointed out that the ship’s passage came just a few days before U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to visit Panama. 
The U.S. government handed over the Rodman Naval Station and the canal to Panama nearly a decade ago, and the waterway has since become a symbol of Panama’s true independence.

TITLE: Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II Dead at 79
AUTHOR: By Nikolaus von Twickel
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW — Patriarch Alexy II, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church who oversaw a post-Soviet religious revival amid allegations of being a proponent of Russian nationalism and a former KGB agent, died Friday outside the city, the Moscow Patriarchate said. He was 79 years old. 
The church said Alexy died at his residence in the town of Peredelkino in the Moscow region, but did not give a cause of death. Alexy had long suffered from heart problems. 
During his 18-year leadership, the church was transformed from an organization that was first persecuted and then tightly controlled by Soviet authorities to an assertive symbol of nationhood, embraced by much of the country’s population and political elite. 
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called Alexy’s death a tragedy. 
“He was a luminous man,” Putin said Friday during a meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan in the White House. “His death is a great loss.” 
President Dmitry Medvedev, who was on an official visit to India when the news broke, called Alexy a “great citizen” who “suffered all the critical tests the country experienced during the 20th century. 
“The soaring of the Russian Orthodox Church, the affirmation of freedom of conscience and confession are tied directly to his name,” Medvedev said in a statement posted on the Kremlin’s web site Friday. 
Medvedev added that Alexy was also an advocate of reconciliation and consensus in his ethnically and religiously diverse country. 
An estimated two-thirds of Russia’s 142 million citizens are adherents of the church, making it the world’s largest national Orthodox church. 
Albir Krangov, a deputy chairman of the Muslim Central Spiritual Administration, praised Alexy’s efforts to restore the prominence of religion in the country. 
“All of this man’s activities were devoted to unifying our country, developing state-religion relations and the dialogue between Russia’s traditional faiths,” RIA-Novosti quoted Krangov as saying. 
The country’s chief rabbi, Berel Lazar, said in a letter that Alexy was “a man of moral principles who never made compromises on key issues of faith.” 
Yet critics maintain that Alexy could have done more to reconcile the country with its past and its religious and ethnic minorities. 
During the two Chechen wars, he was a vocal supporter of Moscow’s campaign in the North Caucasus. State television frequently showed priests blessing tanks and heavy weaponry. 
The close ties between the church and the military and other state security bodies continue to this day. In a ceremony at Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow last fall, priests chanted prayers in honor of the Defense Ministry’s 12th Main Directorate, which is responsible for the storage and maintenance of the country’s nuclear arsenal. And in 2002, Alexy himself blessed Moscow’s Church of St. Sofia of God’s Wisdom, the official church of the Federal Security Service. 
Alexy was directly involved in two of the country’s most difficult political periods in the 1990s. He acted as an intermediary between adversaries in both the failed putsch against Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991 and then between President Boris Yeltsin and the parliament during the constitutional crisis of 1993. 
He was also an outspoken traditionalist on social issues. 
In October 2007, he told the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly that homosexuality “is an illness, a distortion of a human being.” 
Alexy was born Alexei Mikhailovich Ridiger on Feb. 23, 1929, in Tallinn, the capital of then-independent Estonia, where his father, Mikhail Ridiger, worked as an engineer. Ridiger, who is said to have been of either Swedish or German descent, was a devout Orthodox Christian who had fled Revolutionary Petrograd in 1917. 
Ordained as a priest in 1950, Alexy rose through the Orthodox hierarchy, becoming Bishop of his native Tallinn in 1961 and Metropolitan of Novgorod and Leningrad in 1986. 
Felix Corley, a British scholar on Eastern European religious affairs, said documents kept in Estonian archives show that Alexy was recruited by the Soviet secret police just before becoming bishop. 
“It was quite clear that the KGB saw him as a high-flier, destined for high things,” Corley said Friday in a telephone interview from London. 
The church has repeatedly denied the allegations. 
Corley said the church could not really give the post to someone without KGB ties because virtually all leading clergymen had been recruited. “You could not get a leading position in any [Soviet] religious organization without working for the KGB,” he said. 
Corley added that, nevertheless, Alexy was probably a “sincerely faithful man who wanted to see his church flourish. 
“There is evidence that he saved some churches during the onslaught on religious buildings in the early 1960s, including Tallinn’s [Alexander] Nevsky Cathedral,” he said. 
When he was elected Patriarch of Moscow and All-Russia in 1990, Alexy was the first church leader to be chosen without government pressure. 
He first concentrated on reclaiming a massive amount of church property that had been nationalized by the officially atheist Soviet Union. 
His leadership was also characterized by strife with rival churches, most notably the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, whose independence is not recognized by Moscow, and with the Roman Catholic Church, which Alexy repeatedly accused of seeking to convert Russians. 
But, in what has been seen as a significant improvement of inter-church relations, Alexy recently oversaw the reconciliation with the Orthodox Church Outside Russia after more than 80 years of bitter separation following the 1917 Revolution. 
Ties with the Catholic Church also improved somewhat, and it was reported this fall that a meeting between Alexy and Pope Benedict XVI was planned for late next year. 
Corley said Alexy refused to bring the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia under his patriarchate’s control after they were recognized as independent by Moscow following the August war with Georgia. 
A spokesman for the patriarchate said Friday that he could not comment immediately on the patriarch’s death. 
Alexy had been visibly in poor health recently, yet he kept up his busy schedule. 
In the fall of 2002, the patriarch was hospitalized during a visit to the southern town of Astrakhan, after which national media reported that he had suffered a massive heart attack. 
In the spring of 2007, speculation was rife that Alexy had died or was deathly ill after he failed to attend the funeral of former President Boris Yeltsin. 
But, afterward, the patriarch lashed back with a rare show of humor: “You can see that I feel healthy; I am serving; I am alive,” he was quoted as saying. 
Only last week, Alexy had returned from Munich, Germany, where he underwent a medical checkup and met with local church representatives. 
“He celebrated the Liturgy with us last Sunday and he was in a good state,” Konstantin Litvichenko, a novice at the Orthodox Church Outside Russia in Munich, said by telephone Friday. 
Litvichenko said the patriarch had regularly visited doctors in Munich. 
The church’s ruling body, the Holy Synod, convened and scheduled Alexy’s funeral for 1 p.m. Tuesday, Interfax reported. Alexy will be buried in Bogoyavlensky Cathedral in Moscow, according to his will, the news agency said. 
A requiem for Alexy will be performed in the Christ the Savior Cathedral on Tuesday, where his body has been laying since Saturday night to allow Orthodox believers and others to pay their respects to the church leader, Interfax reported. 
Thousands of people attended the cathedral Sunday morning to pray for Alexy. 
Staff Writers Svetlana Osadchuk and Francesca Mereu contributed to this report.

TITLE: U.S. Touts Shield Test, But Doubts Remain
AUTHOR: By Andrew Gray
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: WASHINGTON — The U.S. military said Friday that it conducted a successful test of its missile-defense system, but that the target failed to deploy measures that experts said could have helped it avoid destruction.
The test took place as the Pentagon braces for more scrutiny of the program after President-elect Barack Obama takes office in January. The system, which officials say is intended to defend against states such as North Korea and Iran, is a flagship policy of the administration of President George W. Bush and a sore point with Russia, which fiercely opposes plans to install elements of the program in Central Europe.
In Friday’s test, a target missile was fired from Kodiak, Alaska, and its warhead was destroyed 200 kilometers above the Pacific Ocean by a “kill vehicle” that detached from an interceptor missile fired from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
“It was the largest, most complex test we have ever done,” said U.S. Army Lieutenant General Patrick O’ Reilly, the head of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency.
However, the 40-year-old target missile failed to deploy counter-measures. O’Reilly declined to say what those measures were, but they can include decoys or chaff, which are tiny strips of metal foil used to confuse radar systems.
O’Reilly said the test was “operationally realistic” despite the failure of the counter-measures. He said the military had used a network of land and sea-based radars and control systems in the test.
“Overall, I’m extremely pleased,” he said. “There are many threats out there today that do not have countermeasures.”
But critics of the program, which the Pentagon says has cost about $100 billion since 1999, said it is unrealistic to expect that the United States could face any missile threat that would not include counter-measures.
“Any country with the technical capability and the motivation to fire a long-range missile at the U.S. would also have the technical capability and the motivation to add decoys to it that are designed to defeat the defense,” David Wright, a physicist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said by e-mail.
According to the Pentagon, this was the eighth successful test of the ground-based interceptor system in 13 attempts since 1999.
Boeing is the prime contractor for the system, which is called the ground-based midcourse defense.
The United States and Russia are at odds over a Bush administration plan to extend the system into Central Europe by using 10 silo-based, two-stage interceptors in Poland and a related radar system in the Czech Republic.
U.S. officials say the system aims to protect the United States and its allies from attacks by states that might fire a small number of missiles, and it could not defend against a country like Russia with a much larger arsenal.
Critics of the program question whether any country would fire a long-range missile at the United States, knowing that it would almost certainly face massive retaliation.

TITLE: Palladium Monopoly Liberalized
PUBLISHER: Combined Reports
TEXT: Russia, the world’s biggest palladium producer, ended a government monopoly on exports of the metal and on platinum. 
President Dmitry Medvedev Thursday signed amendments to a law on budget and tax policy that strips Almazyuvelirexport of its monopoly on exports of so-called platinum group metals, for which the state trading company charged fees, the Kremlin said Friday. 
The palladium and platinum reserves of Norilsk Nickel were classified as a state secret until 2005. The company did not have permits to export platinum, which is used in jewelry, for four months last year. 
“We’re happy with the further liberalization of the platinum market,” Norilsk spokeswoman Maria Uvarova said by phone. “Platinum fits into our overall metal sales strategy and we don’t foresee any issues arising from the changes.” 
Norilsk, whose biggest shareholder is billionaire Vladimir Potanin, is the also the world’s biggest producer of nickel and the country’s largest producer of copper. 
In 2009, Norilsk expects to produce 73,992 to 74,417 kilograms of palladium, it said in a presentation on its web site.
Bloomberg, Reuters

TITLE: Medvedev Signs Nuclear Deal With India
PUBLISHER: Combined Reports
TEXT: MOSCOW — President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday signed agreements to develop new nuclear plants in India as the countries sought to deepen ties beyond their historic defense and weapon sales relationship.
The deal will allow Russia to build more reactors at the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and plants elsewhere in the country, the Indian government said in a statement.
Russia agreed in January 2007 to help India in the construction of four energy blocks at the atomic plant in Kudankulam as well as nuclear power plants at new sites in India. 
“The signing of the agreement on civil nuclear cooperation with Russia marks a new milestone in the history of our cooperation with Russia in the field of nuclear energy,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said at a news conference with Medvedev.
Russia is competing with the United States for influence in India, a Cold War ally of Moscow, which the Kremlin sees as a growing partner in Asia.
“The cooperation in the energy sector remains a priority for us,” Medvedev said. “We are very interested in developing cooperation in the nuclear sector. It is especially important now that various energy sectors are being developed.”
Separately, Tvel, Russia’s nuclear-fuel monopoly, agreed to deliver nuclear fuel worth $700 million to other Indian power stations, said Sergei Kiriyenko, head of state nuclear company Rosatom. 
Both countries signed a contract worth more than $1 billion for India to buy 80 Mi-17 transport helicopters, said Anatoly Isaikin, head of state-run arms monopoly Rosoboronexport.
India, which wants to buy billions of dollars of weapons as it rearms, has been unhappy with holdups on major Russian arms contracts, including a delay to a $1.5 billion aircraft carrier modernization.
“Our main task is to switch from buying or selling weapons to jointly designing and producing them. We have such plans in rocket building and aviation,” Medvedev said.
India, along with China, is one of Russia’s biggest clients for arms sales.
The two also signed a deal to cooperate on future manned space flight and in building an astronaut training center, said Anatoly Perminov, head of Russia’s Federal Space Agency.
The first Indian cosmonaut is expected to fly on the Soyuz rocket in 2013, he said. India launched its first unmanned moon mission Chandrayaan-1 on Oct. 22, joining the Asian space race in the footsteps of rival China.
Reuters, Bloomberg

TITLE: Economic Crisis Reflected In Unemployment Figures
AUTHOR: By Courtney Weaver
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW — As the financial crisis tightens its grip on the nation’s economy, companies are slashing jobs and shortening workweeks while authorities scramble to find ways of keeping unemployment numbers from ballooning out of control.
Although Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in his televised question-and-answer session Thursday that the number of unemployed is expected to rise from 1.7 million to 2 million people in 2009, some experts believe that the numbers might not tell the whole story. 
One problem may lie in “hidden unemployment,” the practice where companies nominally keep workers employed and instead cut hours and salaries, said Alexandra Evtifyeva, Senior Economist at VTB Capital.
“Sectors such as agriculture, construction and real estate and retail have a lot of leverage and liquidity problems,” Evtifyeva said. “They have to optimize their cost structure, cut capital expenditures and optimize labor costs.”
Workers should not expect mass unemployment, said Yevgeny Gontmakher, director of the Social Studies Center at the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute. But for some industries and regions, a slowing economy could cause serious problems. 
“Unemployment will largely be concentrated in certain cities and regions — factory towns, for example,” he said. “It’s a dark forecast for places where there are auto or chemical plants.”
While not widely reported on television news broadcasts, looming unemployment has nevertheless captured the country’s attention.
The two-month-old web site Sokratili.ru, which chronicles the nation’s largest firings, is now one of the 20 most-popular Russian web resources, Prime-Tass said Tuesday.
Last week, the web site reported that Russian Railways had reduced employees’ working hours, Novosibirsk Metallurgical Plant had sent 75 percent of its employees on leave for December and a local mine had closed in the Chelyabinsk region, resulting in job losses for all the plant’s 3,000 employees.
In his Thursday address, Putin urged companies and local authorities to take measures to prevent further job losses.
“I still hope we won’t have mass unemployment, but the number of people to temporarily lose jobs will certainly increase,” he said. “Municipalities, regional authorities and enterprises themselves will have to institute a range of measures to save jobs wherever possible and do so literally in the next few days.”
Putin also proposed several measures to stave off the impact of approaching layoffs, including raising the monthly unemployment allowance to 4,900 rubles ($175) next year and cutting quotas of foreign workers to 50 percent. 
The government will likely encourage enterprises to retain as many workers as possible, economists said, especially companies that are benefiting from government bailout money.
“The state is helping these large monopolies, which are at the core of the economy, plus socially important sectors where a lot of people are employed. Gazprom has a half million people employed,” Evtifyeva said.

TITLE: In Brief
TEXT: <b>Economy May Shrink</b>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Oleg Vyugin, chairman of MDM Bank and a former central banker, said Russia’s economy may shrink as much as four percent next year as prices for the raw materials it exports stay low, Interfax reported.
There are “two scenarios” for growth next year, Vyugin was quoted as saying by the Moscow-based news service. Either Russia sees growth of one percent to two percent, or a drop of one percent to four percent, he said, according to Interfax.

<b>Shtokman Assessed</b>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Gazprom’s offshore Shtokman natural gas project will remain economically viable if oil prices stay around $50 or $60 a barrel, said Yury Komarov, who heads the operator of the project.
 “This is realistic,” said Komarov, chief executive officer of the Gazprom-controlled Shtokman Development. “The era of cheap oil and gas is over.”
A delay of one or two years would have a “colossal significance” for the project, Komarov told a conference in Moscow on Monday.

<b>Inflation Seen at 13.5%</b>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Russian consumer prices may rise as much as one percent in December, putting the annual inflation rate at 13.5 percent, the Interfax news service said.
If consumer prices rise between 0.8 percent and one percent in December, Russia’s inflation rate for 2008 will be between 13.4 percent and 13.5 percent, the news service said, citing an unidentified government official who quoted data from the Economy Ministry. Russia’s 2007 inflation rate was 11.9 percent.
Industrial production for the year may be 1.9 percent, Moscow-based Interfax said.

<b>Rostelecom Income Up</b>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Rostelecom, Russia’s dominant long-distance phone provider, said first-half net income rose fourfold to 9.8 billion rubles ($350 million).
Sales declined 1.1 percent to 31.4 billion rubles from 31.7 billion rubles in the same period last year, in results calculated to international standards, Rostelecom said on its web site Monday.

<b>Gazprom Predictions</b>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Gazprom, Russia’s natural-gas exporter, expects to ship 160 billion cubic meters of the fuel to Europe this year.
Sales to Europe will probably reach $64 billion on an average price for the year of about $400 for 1,000 cubic meters of gas, Dmitry Semyonov, deputy head of the company’s international business department, told a conference in Moscow on Monday.

<b>Oil Forecasts for 2030</b>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Russian oil production will probably reach 530 million tons a year (10.6 million barrels a day) by 2030, Vitaly Bushuev, head of the Energy Ministry’s Institute of Energy Strategy, said in Moscow on Monday.
That figure, based on a preliminary estimate by the ministry, would be an increase of about 8 percent over the current level of 9.82 million barrels a day.
Russia may produce about 935 billion cubic meters of gas a year by 2030, including associated gas pumped alongside crude oil, Bushuev said. Russia produced 651 billion cubic meters of gas last year, according to the ministry’s web site.

TITLE: Gazprom to Ask For $3.6Bln for Projects
PUBLISHER: Combined Reports
TEXT: MOSCOW — Gazprom will ask the government to fund 100 billion rubles ($3.58 billion) of investments into its electricity units in 2009, the company’s deputy chairman said Friday. 
“We have put in a request to the government for it to sponsor at least two projects,” said Valery Golubev, the firm’s deputy chairman. 
“First of all, this concerns the fulfillment of the investment programs to construct new electricity-generating capacity at TGK-1, Mosenergo, OGK-2, OGK-6,” Golubev said. 
Gazprom controls all four of these companies, and three of them — OGK-2, OGK-6 and TGK-1 — each needs more than $1 billion of financing to complete their investment programs to 2010. 
“In 2009, the realization of these investment programs … requires of Gazprom around 100 billion rubles. A large portion of that is for TGK-1,” he said. 
Gazprom had previously announced plans to fund the new power constructions by selling new shares in its electricity units in 2009. The gas major, which has called electricity production part of its core business, has said it would be prepared to spend about $4 billion by 2010 buying up these new shares if no other investors showed interest. 
The firm will also cut production this year by 15 billion to 18 billion cubic meters, down about 3 percent from an initial plan of 560 billion cubic meters for the year, Golubev said. 
“There is only one reason for this: a drop in demand. This year has been fairly warm. The average temperature in Russia is 6 degrees [Celsius] higher than normal,” he said. 
(Reuters, Bloomberg)

TITLE: Gazprom Waits for Serbia
TEXT: BELGRADE — Serbia and Gazprom again put off an agreement that would finalize the long-planned sale of Serbian oil monopoly NIS by the end of the year, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said Friday.
“We will sign all three agreements by the end of the year,” Miller said after meeting Serbian President Boris Tadic.
Serbian officials agreed in January to give Gazprom’s oil arm, Gazprom Neft, control of a majority stake in oil monopoly NIS in exchange for Serbia’s inclusion in the South Stream pipeline.
The pipeline will open by the end of 2015, and perhaps earlier, according to the deal that will be signed in the coming weeks, Miller told reporters in Belgrade.
“It will be by Dec. 31, 2015, not later. The project could be completed before that,” Miller said, adding that he did not know where and when the deals would be signed.
The South Stream pipeline will run south of the European Union bloc, will be part-owned and operated by Gazprom and will pump Russian gas.
Asked why the Serbian and Russia sides were still unable to conclude the high-profile agreements, Miller said, “There are some technical questions but no principal issues.”
He said all three deals would be signed at the same time.
Local media has reported that Belgrade made the sale of NIS conditional on the construction of the South Stream pipeline, saying it would allow Russian control of a majority NIS stake only when the construction of South Stream begins.
Gazprom Neft has agreed to pay 400 million euros ($507.6 million) for a 51 percent stake in NIS and pledged an additional 500 million euros of investment by 2012.
Analysts have said the deal was largely politically motivated. Russia was Serbia’s main ally in its unsuccessful bid to block independence for its former province of Kosovo, which declared independence in February.
Serbia’s Economy Minister Mladjan Dinkic, a deputy prime minister, has said the price for NIS was insultingly low, but the parliament ratified the agreement anyway in September.
NIS is the last of the state-owned oil companies in the Balkans to be sold. 
It was given a monopoly on processing oil derivatives until 2010 so that it could recover after its refineries were heavily damaged in bombing in 1999.
Milan Prokopijevic of the Free Market Center said it would have been best to float shares of NIS and then sell the stake in the company on the market.
“It is difficult to say what would be the best price for NIS. Because of the global financial crisis, the price that could be achieved now would be much lower than the one agreed with Gazprom,” he said.

TITLE: U.S. Pork Shipments Banned
TEXT: CHICAGO — Russia has halted pork shipments from six U.S. sources, including a Smithfield Foods meat-processing plant, saying their products failed to comply with import requirements, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 
Russia, the fourth-largest buyer of U.S. pork, will not accept shipments from the plants after Dec. 15, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said in a Dec. 2 statement. The suspensions follow visits by Russian government officials in October as part of an annual audit, said Amanda Eamich, an FSIS spokeswoman. 
“They gave us a letter stating that these plants didn’t comply with Russian requirements,” Eamich said in a telephone interview from Washington. “They haven’t provided any additional information.” 
Russia has halted or plans to stop pork shipments from 10 U.S. processing plants and slaughterhouses this year, Eamich said. 
Smithfield spokesman Jerry Hostetter confirmed that one of the company’s plants will be affected by the latest suspension. He declined to say how much it ships to Russia. 
“We always regard these matters as much more political than scientific,” Hostetter said. 
The other meat-processing plants affected by the recent suspension are run by the Chicago Meat Authority and Amity Packing in Chicago, Farmington Foods in Forest Park, Illinois, and Abilene TX Foods in Jeffersontown, Kentucky. The suspended slaughterhouse was identified as Sioux-Preme Pork Products in Sioux City, Iowa. 
Last month, Russia said it planned to cut pork imports by 200,000 tons next year in an effort to boost domestic production. Russia imported 162.2 million kilograms of U.S. pork this year through September, more than twice as much as a year earlier, USDA data show.

TITLE: Forex Laid Bare: An Expert Explains All
AUTHOR: By Shura Collinson
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Understanding the mechanisms and factors influencing foreign exchange rates can be a tricky matter for those outside the industry. Amid talk of financial crisis, possible devaluation of the ruble and rising inflation, The St. Petersburg Times asked local expert Ruslan Abushaev, an analyst at FxCompany, to help decipher the mysteries of the Forex.
What factors affect exchange rates?
The rate or value of any currency is determined by the volume of demand and availability of this currency on the market. In order to buy goods or assets in any country, the buyer must first purchase the currency in which the value of the asset is set.  As a result, the higher the demand for goods or services from a certain country, the higher the demand and therefore the value of the currency of that country. 
The main figures in currency trade are commercial banks, which either represent clients, exporters or importers, or buy and sell currency in their own names for investment or speculative purposes. The exchange rate is defined by its “profitability,” i.e. the percentage rate at which it is possible to take out a loan in that currency on the interbank market, which in turn depends on the demand for that currency. A decrease in money supply on the internal market leads to an increase in the demand for currency on the external market — if central bank rates increase, then the exchange rate of the currency increases. 
In an ideal situation, currencies with higher percentage rates will grow against currencies with lower percentage rates.  However, along with current percentage rates, other factors can influence exchange rates, including expectations of changes in rates according to macroeconomic situations in the country, rumors and the mood of investors. Political factors also play a role, such as speeches by politicians, regional conflict and war.
How are foreign exchange rates connected to inflation? 
“Profitability,” or the percentage rate of one currency or another set by the central bank, is determined primarily by the level of inflation in the country. Inflation is the devaluation of money during an increase in demand for goods or services. In other words, if inflation increases, the national currency loses its value relative to goods and services. The central bank, whose responsibilities include maintaining the solvency of the national currency, in the event of extreme growth in inflation increases percentage rates with the aim of reducing money supply. In this case, inflation stops growing, as the value of capital increases, and demand for goods falls (as a result of higher lending rates). In this way, by observing the rate of inflation, it is possible to predict how the key percentage rate will change.
What steps is the Russian government taking to stabilize the ruble?
The ruble is closely watched by the central bank, which regulates its value in respect to other currencies. The central bank uses several methods to change the volume of money in the country, including changing refinancing rates (the rate at which the central bank lends to commercial banks); changing the levels of reserve requirements (the amount of deposited funds that commercial banks have to keep invested in the central bank); and market operations such as buying and selling stocks and securities, currency or other liquid assets with the aim of creating or absorbing liquidity and thereby increasing or decreasing the value of money on the market. 
Are speculators a stable influence or do they interfere with economic policy?
Speculators are a separate group of trade participants on the market. They buy and sell assets on a short-term basis, making money as a rule from temporary changes in prices. It could appear that speculators bring confusion and unnecessary volatility to the market, but upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that thanks to speculators, the price for a certain asset on the financial market reflects all the factors that could affect it, and is therefore accurate and reliable. In addition, as a result of the actions of speculators, this is achieved in a very short space of time. 
What is the role of hedge funds, insurance companies and pension funds in foreign exchange rates?
Another group of traders on the currency market is long-term investors, who include hedge funds, insurance companies and pension funds. Their main task is to preserve capital, minimize risks and make a little profit, since most of the funds of such companies belong to their clients.  Such funds diversify their investment portfolio with different assets, securities and currencies.
What currencies are most heavily traded? 
On the global foreign exchange market, almost all existing and convertible currencies can be traded, but not all currencies are of interest for traders.  The reason is that some currencies are less liquid than others, and as a result brokers charge a higher commission for buying and selling them. 
The news and macroeconomic statistics published daily relate more to the most popular and sought-after currencies, and consequently their listings are more widely predicted than those of less sought-after currencies.

TITLE: Currency Key to Weathering Crisis
AUTHOR: By Boris Kamchev
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: During last week’s three-hour nationwide broadcast by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, he said that Russia would avoid “sharp jumps” in the ruble as it fell to the lowest level against the dollar in almost three years.
The ruble, which the central bank manages against a euro-dollar basket, on Monday had weakened to as much as 0.6 percent to 28.0908 per dollar, the lowest since March 2006, as the U.S. currency rose against the euro. The value of the ruble has declined by 16 percent since Aug. 1.
“We will not allow sharp jumps in the economy and in the exchange rate of the national currency,” Putin said in televised comments in Moscow on Thursday. “We will carefully use our currency reserves and other government funds, and if we carry out a balanced, considered and responsible economic policy, this money will be enough for us.” 
The reserves have fallen 24 percent since reaching a peak of $598.1 billion in August as the central bank sold foreign currencies to prop up the ruble, Bloomberg reported.
Putin, who remains Russia’s most influential leader, fears that costs for the country’s economy as economic growth slows and the ruble weakens would be enormous. 
Additional threats to the economy are falling profits in the energy, chemicals and metals export sector and the withdrawal of investment capital from the country, which has totaled about $190 billion since the start of August, according to BNP Paribas. 
Experts say the government is taking unprecedented measures in the fiscal policy to reverse these negative trends.
“In 2008, the Russian central bank increased the refinancing rates six times. The last two changes of the refinancing rates amounted to one percent and were conducted on Nov. 12 and Dec 1, correspondingly. At the moment, the interest rate in Russia is 13 percent, among the highest in the developing countries,” said Anton Kozirev, general manager of Fibo St. Petersburg.
He added that from a Forex (foreign exchange) point of view, increasing loan rates could lead to a fall in consumer demand for goods, causing traders to sell the national currency resulting in further downward pressure on the ruble.
There are additional factors adding to this pressure.
“Among the most important are: monetary policy and macroeconomic factors such as the unemployment rate, retail sales and the level of inflation. Commodity price fluctuations (especially oil and gold prices), and the current political situation also have a big influence on exchange rates,” said Irina Kormilitsyna, senior analyst at Rosfinconsulting finance and analysis center.
Many investors are trying to sell the cheap currency they possess amid decreasing growth of the economy and the rise of the U.S. currency against the euro and ruble. 
At the height of the 1998 crisis when Russia defaulted on debts of $40 billion and devalued the ruble, the mass selling of rubles for dollars became endemic. It wiped out the life savings of millions of people overnight and pushed the government to the edge of bankruptcy.
“Most likely people still haven’t forgotten those times when there was a ‘dollarization of the economy.’ Neither in Europe nor in other regions do people rush to throw out the euro, the pound or the franc in favor of the dollar, while here it’s a common reaction when a crisis appears, and it can only aggravate it,” said Yegor Susin, head of the analysis department at Alpari (Russia).   
The Russian economy has expanded by seven percent a year since 1999 and may grow only one to two percent in 2009, Gary Dugan, Merrill Lynch & Co.’s chief investment officer, told Bloomberg.
While the ruble declined against the dollar, it appreciated 0.4 percent to 35.3450 against the euro. Those movements left it little changed at 31.3212 against the basket that the central bank uses to control its fluctuations. Hence, some experts have differing opinions about the ongoing decline of the ruble while agreeing that the destabilization of the ruble is out of question.
“Almost all current media reports talk about the ruble’s decline, but at the moment it is more honest to say that the U.S. dollar is rising. The central bank uses not only the U.S. currency, but a basket of dollars and euros to control ruble fluctuations, creating conditions for stabilizing it with such measures as intervening on the domestic currency market,” Susin said. He added that measures such as the expansion of the exchange-rate limits of the currency basket would limit the possibilities for speculation on the Forex market.
According to analysts, a weaker ruble may benefit Russian oil producers as they sell crude on a dollar basis and pay most expenses in rubles. Rosneft, Russia’s biggest oil producer, is cutting finance costs by paying back ruble debt with a cheaper currency.
“As crude oil prices are declining, the government cannot hold the ruble rate against the dollar at the current level, because it could be a blow to the economy and its competitiveness and could lead to the exhaustion of currency reserves,” said Susin. 
However, the government plans further tax cuts from Jan. 1 for oil companies to help reduce domestic gasoline prices. Russian companies that fail to get funds through the banking system may be able to turn to the government for “a large scale” capital injection, Putin said.
During the televised comments Putin answered questions submitted by phone, SMS and the Internet posted by millions of Russians who revealed anxiety mostly about unemployment and inflation.
Pressure from inflation is higher when there is very high monetary flow in the country. In the last several years Russia has seen powerful capital inflows in many sectors of the economy. 
“Recently, the central bank has increased its reserves in dollars to prevent the sharp growth of the ruble — it would be a blow to the solvency of the country’s economy. Also the government accumulated parts of the oil revenues,” Susin said. He added that such fiscal policy, along with the growth of loans, is a reason for high monetary flow, which has provoked price increases. 
Kormilitsyna said that inflation processes serve speculators’ purposes and they can earn a lot of money during inflation fluctutation, because it is a driving force for changeable currency rates. 
However, not all experts share the opinion that inflation and Forex are connected.
“The word ‘inflation’ isn’t connected with Forex, which is a conversion market that relies on the U.S. dollar. The dollar is the world currency and unified standard of value, and so when the dollar declines, as a rule, the prices of goods and resources rise, since resource values are demonimated in dollars,” said Susin.
“Undoubtedly, not all currencies are depreciating with the same intensity, hence, Forex is considered a kind of mirror, a synthetic indicator of inflation,” said Kormilitsyna.

TITLE: Growing Dollar Has Global Consequences
AUTHOR: By Boris Kamchev
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: People involved in the trading industry say that the foreign exchange market (Forex) is one of the most volatile markets in the world, because exchange rates change every second, making it almost too difficult to keep track of them. There are some general groups of factors that affect the currency trade.
“Fundamental factors are mostly related to microeconomics and the monetary policy of the country. Then there is the technical factor, based on studying price charts and conducting technical analysis that helps to forecast the future direction of prices through the study of past market data,” said Irina Kormilitsyna, senior analyst at Rosfinconsulting finance and analysis center.
The main factors that affect the currency trading market are supply and demand. When the demand for currency is greater than the available supply, it becomes more valuable. Currencies become stronger as a result of economic and political development in the country. 
A highly industrialized country often enjoys high levels of business activity, which in turn translates into a high gross domestic product (GDP) and high employment rates. When more people are earning, there is greater demand for goods and services, hence when a country experiences a rise in unemployment, inflation or economic crises, the demand for its currency weakens and it loses value.
In the last few months, monetary flows have been causing radical developments on the Forex market. Observers say the situation is unexpected: one of the most unyielding economic crises in America has caused the dollar to rise.
“The deterioration of the economic situation in the U.S. and the credit crisis have provoked the sharp rise of the U.S. dollar. This is happening because loans have been limited and there is current repatriation of capital to the U.S.,” said Yegor Susin, head of the analysis department at Alpari (Russia), which specializes in trading via the Internet. He added that limiting the issuing of loans had provoked a decline in the supply of dollars: since the majority of loans in the world are issued in U.S. dollars, these factors have caused an ongoing shortage of American currency on the market.
Experts say that loan restrictions have caused a radical decrease in consumer activities, and this is another reason for the repatriation of capital to the U.S. The current recession in Western economies has driven many to work only with securities, abandoning all operations with market shares.
“Currently, the securities market of the U.S. Treasury is the most liquid. This is why many traders are snapping up the Treasury’s short-term liabilities, using them almost as bank deposits. All these reasons have caused the dollar to rise,” said Susin, adding that crucial moments are lack of confidence in the banking system, bankruptcies and mergers of the major banks, and nationalization of the bank sectoring in many countries. 
Forex experts say that trading psychology combined with trader perceptions is a highly influential factor in trading. “Buying the rumor and selling the fact” is the tendency of a currency’s price to reflect the results of an action before it occurs.
“The first and most important virtue of the professional market player is discipline and observance of trade limits. Not making losses is the second, and the profitability of the deal must always be in the final place,” said Anton Kozirev, general manager of Fibo St. Petersburg, another market trader. 
He said that trading with one’s own money causes emotions to prevail over reason, and impulsiveness to override discipline, which leads to losses instead of profit.
Trading psychology is about self-discipline and controlling emotions.
“The leverage involved in Forex trading can cause emotional swings that can affect trading decisions,” said Kormilitsyna. 
Kozirev said such problems could be solved by working on self-limitations in conducting operations and using trade risk-management strategies.

TITLE: Russia’s Debt Rating Cut by S&P
AUTHOR: By Alex Nicholson and Emma O’Brien
PUBLISHER: Bloomberg
TEXT: MOSCOW — Russia’s long-term debt rating was lowered for the first time in nine years by Standard & Poor’s on Monday, which cited capital outflows and the “rapid depletion” of the foreign currency reserves.
The rating was cut one level to BBB, the second-lowest investment grade, from BBB+, Standard & Poor’s said in an e-mailed statement on Monday. The last time S&P downgraded Russia was in January 1999, when the country had a rating of SD, or “selective default,” after the government reneged on $40 billion of debt. Russia’s outlook remains “negative.”
Russia, the world’s largest energy producer, raised interest rates twice last month and drained $143 billion, or about a quarter, of its foreign-currency reserves to prop up the ruble as oil prices plunged. S&P had raised Russia’s ratings during the past decade of oil-led economic growth by eight levels, helping to reduce borrowing costs for companies and the government.
“The massive accumulation of reserves is the main reason why Russia kept getting ratings increases, so without that it’s only natural that the rating would go down,” said Vladimir Osakovsky, an economist in Moscow for UniCredit SpA. “This will worsen the already-poor sentiment toward Russia.”
“The rapid depletion of reserves in order to resist a more substantive adjustment of the nominal exchange rate increases the chances of discontinuous exchange-rate movements later, at a lower level of international reserves, with even more severe consequences for the private sector,” said Frank Gill, S&P’s primary credit analyst in London, in the statement.
The downgrade is “unjustified,” said Jerome Booth, who helps manage about $32 billion in emerging-market holdings at Ashmore Group Plc in London, including Russian government and corporate debt.
“Russia’s capacity to pay is not an issue, and it is completely in their interest to remain current on their obligations,” he said. “Look at the country’s reserves; there is less of a chance of Russia defaulting than some of the countries in western Europe.”
The ruble was little changed at 31.6096 against the central bank’s basket of dollar and euro after slumping to 31.6236 last week, the weakest level since March 2005.
S&P said it expected Russia’s current-account surplus to swing into a deficit equivalent to 2.6 percent of gross domestic product next year, compared with a surplus of 5 percent in 2008 due to a “sharp deterioration in the country’s terms of trade,” the statement said. Russia’s GDP growth should decline “sharply” in 2009, it added.
The budget is likely to “shift into deficit” as the government rushes emergency tax cuts into law, commodities prices stay low, and a weaker economy generates less tax revenue, S&P said. Russia’s budget surplus amounted to 7.8 percent of GDP in the first 10 months, the Finance Ministry said on Nov. 13, citing preliminary figures.
Russia may need to use all of the money in its two oil funds to cover its budget deficit and recapitalize banks, should oil prices stay at about current levels. The National Wellbeing Fund and the Reserve Fund held a combined $209 billion as of Dec. 1.
The ratings cut “might affect sentiment of those investors not that familiar with Russia. Others, though, won’t be that surprised,” said Elina Ribakova, chief economist in Moscow at Citigroup.

TITLE: Forex Scams on Rise Amid Weak Regulation
AUTHOR: By Natasha Afanaseva
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: In its annual report this year, the U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) — the body which oversees the Forex market — released a report stating that over the last few years it has seen a steady increase in the number of foreign exchange scams around the globe. 
A Forex scam is defined as any trading scheme used to defraud individual traders by convincing them that they can expect exceptionally high profits by trading on the Forex market. 
“The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which loosely regulates the foreign exchange market in the States, investigates such attempts to mislead,” said Gavriil Levi, general director of CMS Russia. “All the brokers registered in the U.S. are supervised by regulatory bodies and are subject to an obligatory audit of their promotional materials to eliminate scams. 
“In Russia, though, the Forex market is not regulated by any governmental bodies, which leaves room for misleading information and even scams. When choosing a broker, an individual should carefully study their background and search for one regulated by governmental bodies with full operating licenses,” Levi said.
Although the Forex is perhaps the “most international” of global markets, controls on activities within Russia itself remain limited, with just one organization, KROUFR, providing oversight for the market and attempting to provide at least some regulation, although it can provide little support for those seeking redress in court. 
Thus, experts say, advice given with regard to avoiding scams is much as the same as general advice on avoiding con artists. Firstly, stay away from opportunities that sound too good to be true, especially if vast profits are “guaranteed” with “no risk.” Secondly, unless you really understand what’s going on, don’t get involved — in this context that means that you shouldn’t trade on margins unless you genuinely understand them. And thirdly, be very wary of sending or transferring cash on the Internet or by mail.

TITLE: Alexy II the Peacemaker
AUTHOR: By John and Carol Garrard
TEXT: The Soviet Union was born in civil war. Most Russians expected it to die in a similar blood bath in August 1991. Yet the collapse of the Soviet Union was not accompanied or followed by large-scale, neighbor-on-neighbor violence like that which occurred during the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s or the collapse of Iraq into Sunni-versus-Shia mayhem following the U.S. invasion. For that, Russians can credit Patriarch Alexy II more than any other person. 
It was Alexy who intervened during the coup crisis, risking his life by issuing a statement to the nation at 1:42 a.m., Aug. 21, 1991. It was just 18 minutes before the KGB’s order was issued for tanks to advance and seize President Boris Yeltsin and the courageous lawmakers barricaded in the White House. Alexy’s words warned that, “Every person who raises arms against his neighbor, against unarmed civilians, will be taking upon his soul a very profound sin that will separate him from the church and from God.” 
It is impossible today to determine if it was then-KGB head Vladimir Kryuchkov who issued the order. If this was the case, no surviving member of the junta will now admit to it. What is undeniable is that 90 minutes after Alexy’s address, Kryuchkov called Yeltsin and told him that there would be no attack. The tanks were ordered to retreat at 6 a.m. 
This was only one of Alexy’s history-making decisions, the significance of which is best seen in hindsight. Compare his success to the disastrous handling of church collusion in Poland. Polish Catholicism was subjected to exactly the same devil’s bargain that Soviet authorities exacted from Russian Orthodoxy. The Vatican could have imitated the Russian Orthodox Church by acknowledging the issue, pleading penitence and seeking forgiveness. Instead, the Catholic Church remained silent for years until the inevitable trickle of information from the Polish Security Service files became public. The recognition that this collaboration was known by the Catholic Church for decades shocked and deeply troubled the Catholic faithful. It was kept quiet out of respect for — perhaps even at the behest of — Pope John Paul II. 
Alexy, however, smoothly maneuvered the Russian Orthodox Church into reunion with its diaspora, the Russian Church Outside Russia and the Russian Church Abroad, by confronting the issue of collaboration head on. 
Now this remarkable man has died. Apart from his role in the peaceful collapse of the Soviet Union, Alexy reached an accommodation with the state that was satisfactory to both the church and the state. He healed the breach with the diaspora, recovered much of the property and patrimony of the church that was stolen by the atheist state and prevented pogroms against Russian Jews. 
The Icon with the Miracle of the Virgin was painted circa 1475 and it commemorates a miracle of the Mother of God that averted civil war in medieval times. In 1170, the army of Andrei, grand prince of Suzdal, besieged the city of Novgorod. The bishop placed an icon of the Theotokos on the city wall. When an attacker’s arrow hit her face, the icon began to weep. Darkness enveloped the Suzdal besiegers, who panicked and began attacking one another. Led by the Archangel Michael and with four haloed saints at their head — Alexander Nevsky, Boris, Gleb and St. George — the men of Novgorod sallied forth to victory. 
Orthodox believers hold that another miracle by the Mother of God averted civil war 821 years later— during the August 1991 coup crisis. Alexy had appealed to the Theotokos to “not withdraw her protection from us but to preserve all of us.” Seen from their perspective, the Mother of God interceded to answer Alexy’s prayer and petition to her. With a loss of only three young lives, the Soviet empire crumbled. 
Since Alexy became patriarch in June 1990, almost 20 years of wars around the globe have taken an incalculable toll in human suffering. But, as we mourn the dead in Iraq, Afghanistan, Rwanda, Bosnia, Sudan, Gaza, Chechnya and other places, we must remember that there was one war that did not happen. The Soviet Union was born in a blood bath but it did not die in one. For his role in securing a peaceful — albeit turbulent — transition from Soviet power to the new Russia, everyone on this planet should be grateful to Alexy II. 

John and Carol Garrard are co-authors of “Russian Orthodoxy Resurgent: Faith and Power in the New Russia.”

TITLE: On Earth as It Is in Space
AUTHOR: By Richard Lourie
TEXT: U.S.-Russian relations are in poor shape. The old thinking has failed. As President-elect Barack Obama’s Defense Secretary Robert Gates put it after the Russia-Georgia war: “For the first time, both the United States secretary of state and secretary of defense have doctorates in Russian studies. A fat lot of good that’s done us.” 
The United States needs a new, 21st-century strategy based on new thinking, new resources and new projects. The strategy must, of course, serve U.S. interests, but it must also be based on a clear sense of what Washington wants from Moscow and what can be reasonably expected from U.S.-Russian relations.
Should we expect a continuation of the current blend of rivalry and collaboration? Or is Russia lost because of foreign policy blunders made by the administrations of Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, as well as anti-democratic choices made by then-President Vladimir Putin? Has Russia permanently reverted to its traditional repressive and aggressive model? Is Russia truly “resurgent,” to use the current buzzword? Or, on the contrary, is it sick and dying, as demographer Murray Feshbach put it? And if Feshbach’s diagnosis is correct, how exactly do you deal with an oil-rich, nuclear-armed state that is imploding? We haven’t seen too many cases of this kind before.
Or was former Ambassador to the Soviet Union George Kennan correct, as he so often was, when he said that Russia would find its own unpredictable and inimitable way to democracy? If so, are there any ways left to influence the Kremlin to open up its media again and move toward the rule of law? At best, the country seems to be going from what President Dmitry Medvedev called “legal nihilism” to nihilistic legalism. 
If we wish to change the relationship from the adversarial to the cooperative, the answer is to increase cooperation between the countries. Russia and the United States are already doing this — mainly in the struggle against nuclear proliferation and terrorism. But there is one more area that offers even more potential — joint projects in space, which has reached a high point in the last 10 years. There is a very good chance that this cooperation will increase further between 2010 and 2015. Because of the phasing out of the space shuttle, the United States will be entirely dependent on Russian spacecraft to reach the international space station. U.S. astronaut commander Mark Kelly says, “I’d venture to say the people who work at NASA know the Russians better than any other branch of our government.” Having successfully cooperated with Russia for years, NASA pesonnel have gained genuine wisdom about dealing with the country, a resource that should be put to wider practical use in devising and implementing a new U.S. policy toward Russia. 
The space race became a collaborative effort, and perhaps this can be applied to the energy sector. Oil has very different significance for the two countries. For Russia, oil is not only an economic lifeline, it also brings power and prestige. For the United States, it represents a dangerous dependency, a security threat and a drag on the economy. But the two countries have a common interest in developing energy technologies for the future since the United States needs to liberate itself from its oil addiction, while Russia needs to find alternative energy sources as oil and gas supplies dwindle. And, of course, both countries have a stake in preventing further global warming, an issue that went from chic to near-forgotten in less time than it takes for a major bank to fail.
An energy alliance similar to the Apollo-Soyuz linkup is one way to begin bringing the two countries closer together. It is something that Presidents Obama and Medvedev could discuss at their first summit. And the sooner, the better. 

Richard Lourie, author of “Sakharov: A Biography,” is now writing “The Death of Russia.”

TITLE: Mugabe Urged to Retire As Zimbabwe Collapses
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: HARARE — The European Union joined calls on Monday for President Robert Mugabe to step down after 28 years ruling Zimbabwe, where spreading cholera and food shortages have worsened a desperate humanitarian crisis.
Mugabe’s old foes in the West have renewed calls for his departure as the crisis has spiraled. Mugabe blames Western sanctions for Zimbabwe’s collapse. Critics blame his increasingly authoritarian rule.
“I think the moment has arrived to put all the pressure for Mugabe to step down,” said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana before a meeting of European foreign ministers in Brussels.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said in a speech “I say today that President Mugabe must go. Zimbabwe has suffered enough.”
The United States and Britain have made similar calls.
The EU meeting will consider whether to add up to 11 more names to a list of over 160 Zimbabwean officials — including Mugabe — who are banned from traveling to Europe, but Solana argued against any further sanctions on the ruined country.
South African officials were in Zimbabwe to assess the scale of the crisis, responding to an unprecedented call for international help from Mugabe’s government.
Basic foodstuffs are running out and a cholera epidemic has killed at least 575 people, infected thousands and spread to South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana and Zambia. The South African delegation was due to report back late on Monday.
Prices are doubling every 24 hours and the 100 million Zimbabwean dollar a day limit for bank withdrawals is only enough to buy three loaves of bread in the once relatively prosperous country.
Hopes of rescuing Zimbabwe have dimmed while deadlock continues between Mugabe and opposition rival Morgan Tsvangirai over forming a power-sharing government in line with a deal in September that followed widely condemned elections.
The health system is incapable of coping with the cholera epidemic. The water system has collapsed, forcing people to drink from contaminated wells and streams.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said international intervention was needed because of the health emergency.
“Cholera is killing,” he said. “We need international intervention for this matter, not a military one, but a strong intervention to stop this cholera epidemic, which could allow for other things,” he said without elaborating.
Zimbabwe has accused former colonial power Britain of using the crisis and the cholera epidemic to rally Western support for an invasion of Zimbabwe.
“There is a crying need for change in Zimbabwe,” Britain’s foreign minister, David Miliband, said in Brussels.
Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga urged the African Union on Sunday to hold an emergency summit to formulate a resolution to send troops into Zimbabwe to deal with the crisis.
Botswanan Foreign Minister Phandu Skelemani and South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel laureate, have also called for Mugabe’s removal.
Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a statement issued by the Elders, a group of prominent figures that includes ex-U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Tutu that there was “bitter disappointment in the current leadership.”

TITLE: England Cricket Team Resume India Tour
AUTHOR: By Sanjay Rajan
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: CHENNAI, India — Heavily-armed guards patrolled the boundary of Chennai’s Chidambaram Stadium on Monday as the city prepared to host this week’s first test between England and India following last month’s Mumbai terror attacks.
The tourists were due to arrive later Monday from Abu Dhabi where the squad was training, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said. They decided to resume the tour late on Sunday.
City police and commandos cordoned off the stadium, situated by the Bay of Bengal, with heavily-armed personnel manning the boundary line as some of the Indian team practiced Monday.
“The police have taken over the gates,” a regional cricket board spokesman said on Monday.
“Usually the security hired by the state association man the spectator entry points. This time it is a complete police show.”
The one-day series between the two teams was cut short following the attacks that killed at least 171 people in India’s financial capital. England returned home after the last two games were called off, with the hosts leading 5-0.
International Cricket Council chiefs spoke to officials from both countries to push for a resumption of the tour, while the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) promised extreme security measures and moved the venues for the tests.
The first test starting Thursday was switched to Chennai from Ahmedabad and the second test to Mohali (December 19-23) from Mumbai.
Chennai city police commissioner told a news conference on Monday that a 3000-strong force drawn from police and commando units had been assigned for player security.
ECB managing director Hugh Morris, security advisor Reg Dickason and Sean Morris, CEO of the Professional Cricketers’ Association, travelled to Chennai last week to check security measures.
Among those killed in the Mumbai attacks were 22 foreigners, and the teams would have stayed in one of the two hotels that were raided by the militants.
Indian board officials have secured most of the rooms in the heavily guarded team hotel in Chennai.
The high security measures, however, have not deterred fans in the cricket-crazy city, who are eagerly awaiting the match to overcome the Mumbai attacks that shook the country.
“Hat’s off to England’s show of goodwill,” engineering student Vijay Guruswamy told Reuters outside a ticket counter.
“Whatever has happened has happened (Mumbai attacks), but life must go on, cricket must go on.”

TITLE: Everything to Play For as Champions League Group Stage Ends
AUTHOR: By Mike Collett
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: LONDON — There is still plenty to be decided in the final round of group matches in the Champions League this week even though 13 of the 16 teams through to the knockout phase are already known.
European Cup holders Manchester United and the likes of nine-time champions Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, Arsenal and Liverpool have secured their places in the first knockout round — first legs in February — but last season’s beaten finalists Chelsea cannot afford to relax just yet.
Luiz Felipe Scolari’s men should seal their place when they face CFR Cluj of Romania in Group A at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday even though the visitors held Chelsea to a 0-0 draw at home in October.
Group A is the only section in which neither qualifier is known but AS Roma should advance along with Chelsea, as long as they do not lose at home to Girondins Bordeaux.
If Bordeaux should win, though, and Cluj were to cause the upset of the season and win or even draw at Chelsea, then the French side would advance with Roma.
The only other last-16 place up for grabs is in Group B where Inter Milan are already through leaving Panathinaikos and Anorthosis Famagusta fighting for the other berth.
Panathinaikos will join Inter if they avoid defeat at home against the Cypriot side, who themselves need a win to qualify. Inter coach Jose Mourinho has said he will probably rest Zlatan Ibrahimovic for the trip to Werder Bremen, who are bottom but could steal into the UEFA Cup if they finish third by beating the Italian side and Panathinaikos beat Anorthosis.
All the issues have been settled in Group C with Barcelona winning it and Sporting also through, Shakhtar Donetsk heading for the UEFA Cup and Basel eliminated.
Group D finds Atletico Madrid and Liverpool on 11 points and Olympique Marseille and PSV Eindhoven both on three with PSV hosting Liverpool and Atletico visiting Marseille.
The key issues to be settled are who finishes top and who goes into the UEFA Cup. PSV have to have a better result than Marseille to enter the UEFA Cup as the French will advance if they both finish level on points.
Marseille coach Eric Gerets and chairman Pape Diouf called on the fans to stay calm when Atletico visit after supporter Santos Mirasierra was sentenced to three and a half years in prison following clashes with police at the Calderon in October.
The main issues to be decided on Wednesday concern which teams will be consoled for their elimination from the Champions League with a place in the UEFA Cup.
The only issue still to be decided in Group H is whether Juventus or Real Madrid finish top. Juventus, unbeaten in their last 14 home European ties, should be too strong for BATE Borisov, who will finish fourth and out at the end of their Champions League debut season.
If Juve slip up and Real Madrid beat Zenit St. Petersburg, the Spanish team will finish top. Zenit, who won the UEFA Cup last season, are already assured of the chance of defending the trophy, having secured third spot.

TITLE: Greece Rocked by Riots After Shooting
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: THESSALONIKI, Greece — Riot police fired tear gas at youths smashing storefronts and throwing rocks at a police station in this Greek port city Monday, in the third day of rioting sparked by the fatal police shooting of a teenager in Athens.
Gangs of youths overturned trash cans and set them on fire in Thessaloniki, one of dozens of cities where rioting began Saturday. Nearly 30 people have been injured, while authorities have said 37 policemen were injured in Athens over the weekend by objects thrown at them by protesters.
“Under the circumstances, I think we achieved the best possible result. Human life was protected, both that of the demonstrators and the police, that’s the most important thing,” police spokesman Panayiotis Stathis said.
Rioting, much carried out by self-styled anarchists, broke out across the country within hours of the fatal shooting of the 15-year-old boy Saturday night in the often volatile central Athens district of Exarchia.
The circumstances surrounding Alexandros Grigoropoulos’ death are still unclear. Two policemen claimed they had come under attack by a group of about 30 youths, and that three warning shots and a stun grenade were fired when they sought out the group a few minutes later.
But witnesses have disputed the officers’ accounts, telling Greek media that the policeman intended to shoot the youths. The two policemen have been arrested and charged, one with murder and the other as an accomplice.
The last time a teenager was killed in a police shooting — during a demonstration in 1985 — it sparked weeks of rioting.
Running battles between riot police firing tear gas and about 400 high school students throwing rocks also broke out Monday morning in Veria, a town about 60 kilometers (40 miles) west of Thessaloniki.
Violence was reported in the central Greek city of Trikala, where one police officer was reportedly injured, while authorities were bracing for more potential riots during demonstrations planned across the country, including in Athens, the central city of Larissa and on the island of Corfu.
In the capital, high school students blocked streets across the city to protest the 15-year-old’s death, while dozens of youths were still barricaded at two university campuses in Athens.

TITLE: Sports Watch
TEXT: <b>Cowboys Fans on Spree</b>
IRVING, Texas (AP) — Fans eager for a piece of Texas Stadium have bid on lockers, flags, vehicles and even urinals from the soon-to-be-former home of the Dallas Cowboys.
The Dallas Morning News, reported Monday in its online edition that more than $245,000 was spent on memorabilia from the stadium. Bidding started Nov. 17 and ended Saturday, with more than 470 items sold.
Auctioneer Dan Rosenthal said some of the stars, which line the field, sold for as much as $1,300 apiece. An American flag hanging in the stadium went for $850, a Cowboys helmet golf cart sold for $12,500 and the door to the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders’ room sold for $5,050.
Winning bidders will get certificates of authenticity for the items when the season ends.
The Cowboys’ new stadium in Arlington will open next season.

<b>Gaydamak to Sell</b>
PORTSMOUTH, England (AP) — Portsmouth owner Alexandre Gaydamak has put the Premier League team up for sale and has already rejected two offers.
Portsmouth issued a statement on its web site confirming the sale after a report that the Russian businessman would be prepared to accept an offer that covered the roughly $43.8 million he paid for the team in January.
Gaydamak denied reports that Portsmouth is in financial difficulties and will have to sell key players in January, but cited other business commitments for his decision.
Gaydamak, who oversaw the team’s first trophy win in 58 years last season, said that any new owner would have to guarantee to build a new stadium to replace the outdated Fratton Park and a new training ground.
“I have come to realize over a period of time that I can no longer invest the time required to oversee the running of the club,” Gaydamak said. “I think it’s only right to consider the sale of the club to a group or individual who can come in and invest the time and money to ensure the club reaches its true potential.”
Portsmouth won the FA Cup last season but is rumored to be facing an exodus of players following the departure of manager Harry Redknapp to Tottenham.

<b>Marathon Champ Dies</b>
WOLLONGONG, Australia (AP) — Kerryn McCann, the marathon gold medalist at the last two Commonwealth Games, has died of cancer. She was 41.
McCann was surrounded by her family when she died at home overnight, Athletics Australia president Rob Fildes said Monday.
She is survived by her husband, Greg, and their children Benton, 11, Josie, 5, and Cooper, 14 months.
McCann was diagnosed with breast cancer in August last year during her third pregnancy and underwent surgery and later chemotherapy. She was diagnosed with a secondary cancer in the liver earlier this year.
“Kerryn will fondly be remembered for being an extremely popular team member who represented her country on 14 occasions, across an athletics career that spanned 22 years,” Fildes said in a statement.

TITLE: Pakistan Captures Mumbai Terrorism Suspect
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: ISLAMABAD — One of the suspected planners of last month’s attack by gunmen in Mumbai was arrested by Pakistani security forces in a raid on a militant camp near Muzaffarabad, sources in the capital of Pakistani Kashmir said on Monday.
The Pakistani government has so far been silent over Sunday’s raid at the camp used by Lashkar-e-Taiba fighters in the hills outside Muzaffarabad.
India and the United States have pressed Pakistan to act against militants suspected of being behind the attacks, which killed at least 171 people, or risk an escalation in tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
Intelligence officials, workers with a charity linked to Lashkar and people living nearby say the area around the camp was sealed off before security forces moved in to make arrests.
An official with the Jamaat-ud-Dawa charity said Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, a Lashkar operations chief named by India as a suspect, was taken into custody.
“Yes, Lakhvi is among four or five people arrested in a raid yesterday,” said the official, whose JuD charity is regarded as a front for the feared militant group.
A former militant who now has close ties to the JuD also said Lakhvi had been arrested, as did one intelligence official.
All of them were speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of talking about security matters.
Other Pakistani intelligence officers said six men were arrested, but gave no names.
Britain’s The Times newspaper and The New York Post also said in reports on their websites Lakhvi had been caught.
The surviving gunman captured in Mumbai named Lakhvi and another Lashkar commander, Yusuf Muzammil, as ringleaders in the plot, according to Indian officials.
Indian police said they were also questioning a man arrested in northern India last February and investigating if there were any links to homegrown Islamist militant groups.
The man being questioned is an Indian citizen who was caught carrying maps of Mumbai that highlighted several of the targets that were hit.
Pakistan has asked for proof that attackers came from its soil. It says it will cooperate with India in the investigation but tensions between the uneasy neighbors have risen.
For the past two days they have been arguing over the origin of a hoax call to Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on November 28 by someone pretending to be the Indian foreign minister.
The aggressive tone taken by the caller resulted in Pakistani forces going on high alert for almost 24 hours.
The Pakistan government issued a statement after a special meeting of the cabinet’s defense committee saying it was “imperative to proactively defuse the prevailing tensions.”
The United States has exerted diplomatic pressure on Pakistan to match words with deeds swiftly to stop the crisis worsening, while asking India to exercise restraint.
“I think there’s no doubt that Pakistani territory was used, by probably non-state actors,” U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told CNN’s “Late Edition” on Sunday.
The United States fears a confrontation with India could deflect Pakistan from the war on terrorism.
If Lakhvi’s arrest is officially confirmed, it will raise the question of what the Pakistani authorities will do with him, and whether it will satisfy India.
Zardari has said that anyone arrested in Pakistan will be tried there, too.
The Pakistani military’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency had ties in the past with Lashkar and other jihadi organizations fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, according to analysts, which could reduce the Pakistani authorities’ readiness to be transparent in its handling of the situation.
Laskhar was banned by Pakistan in 2001 after it was blamed, along with Jaish-e-Mohammad, for a raid on the Indian parliament that almost sparked a fourth war between the two countries.

TITLE: Obama Admits Life’s a Drag As He Tries to Quit Smoking
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: WASHINGTON — U.S. President-elect Barack Obama failed to give a straight answer when asked on a U.S. talkshow on Sunday whether he had managed to quit smoking.
In a country where cigarettes are responsible for one in five deaths and smoking costs tens of billions of dollars in health care, Obama has been under pressure to set an example by giving up his reported two-decade-old habit.
Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program, interviewer Tom Brokaw told Obama he had ducked answering the question during an interview last month with ABC’s Barbara Walters.
Noting that the White House was a no-smoking zone, Brokaw asked Obama, “Have you stopped smoking?”
“I have,” Obama replied, smiling broadly. “What I said was that there are times where I have fallen off the wagon.”
“Wait a minute,” Brokaw interjected, “that means you haven’t stopped.”
“Fair enough,” Obama said. “What I would say is that I have done a terrific job under the circumstances of making myself much healthier. You will not see any violations of these rules in the White House.”
Obama was often observed on the presidential campaign trail chewing Nicorette gum, which helps ease the craving for nicotine. He has tried several times to quit.
The 47-year-old president-elect, who takes office on January 20, works out daily at the gym and sometimes plays basketball. His doctor said in May he was in excellent health, often jogged 3 miles a day and was fit to serve as U.S. president.
Website www.cigaraficionado.com says Gerald Ford, who served from 1974-77, was the last U.S. president to use tobacco on a regular basis. When he died aged 93 in 2006, Ford was the longest-lived U.S. president, living 45 days longer than Ronald Reagan.
The White House no-smoking rule was imposed by former First Lady Hillary Clinton, now Obama’s nominee for secretary of state.