SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #754 (20), Tuesday, March 19, 2002
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TITLE: Local Shipyards Vie for $1.4bln Deal
AUTHOR: By Lyuba Pronina
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: The government plans to reverse former Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov's decision to award a much-coveted $1.4-billion contract to build warships for China to Baltiisky Zavod and give it to rival Severnaya Verf instead, Baltiisky Zavod claimed Friday.
Oleg Shulyakovsky, general director of the St. Petersburg shipbuilding company, said he has information the government plans to hand the contract to build two destroyers for China - signed earlier this year - to Severnaya Verf, which is also in St. Petersburg.
On Monday, Interfax, citing anonymous sources in the government, reported that an order to transfer the contract had been signed.
Fearing Baltiisky Zavod might lose the lucrative contract, Shulyakovsky sent a letter Thursday to Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov saying that his plant, which contributes heavily to the construction of the Project 956 Sovremenny-class destroyers, will not supply components should the contract be transferred to Severnaya Verf.
"This is no ultimatum," Shulyakovsky said in a telephone interview Friday. "I am not trying to blackmail anyone ... I am simply [trying to explain] the situation and am writing to the prime minister [to ask him] to resolve it."
In January, state arms-selling giant Rosoboronexport announced a deal to supply two Project 956 destroyers to China. In Feb. 2001, the Russian Shipbuilding Agency named Severnaya Verf as the contractor for the deal, the firm having built destroyers for the Russian Navy and supplied two previous such destroyers to China in 2000.
Despite this, a tender was called at the behest of Klebanov, a former deputy prime minister in charge of the defense industry and arms exports, as well as current industry, science and technology minister. On Jan. 19, a government tender commission recommended that Baltiisky Zavod carry out the contract.
The tender was announced after the head of the State Duma's Unity faction, Vladimir Pekhtin, asked the Audit Chamber to look into allegations that Severnaya Verf owed the government millions of dollars for the two previously delivered destroyers. Pekhtin estimated Severnaya Verf, which had received the destroyers partly assembled and financed by the Defense Ministry, owed the state budget some $300 million. The auditors left for Severnaya Verf on Feb. 18 - the same day Klebanov was relieved of his post as deputy prime minister.
No results of the audit have been announced. The recommendation of the government tender commission that Baltiisky Zavod build the destroyers apparently remains in limbo, requiring Kasyanov's signature.
"I have information from government sources that the results of the January tender are being reconsidered," Shulyakovsky said. "This violates the rules of the game."
Shulyakovsky's grievance is against decisions "being taken behind closed doors," he said. "It is sad that the decision can be waived this or that way depending on who is executing pressure from which side."
"There is no way you can deal without Baltiisky Zavod, be it with regard to the navy's existing fleet or to newly built ships," Shulyakovsky said, adding that his firm "will supply components neither to Severnaya Verf nor to anyone else in such a situation."
Valery Pogrebenkov, spokesperson for New Programs and Concepts, a holding company that controls Severnaya Verf, said Friday it had not received any notification from the Russian Shipbuilding Agency. Pogrebenkov said in the event that Baltiisky Zavod refuses to supply parts, they could be bought abroad at a comparable price.
A source within the shipbuilding agency who spoke on condition of anonymity said that "everyone is waiting for Kasyanov's decision [which is] expected shortly."
On Friday, Interfax quoted a cabinet source as saying that the government will not tolerate any ultimatums from Baltiisky Zavod.
TITLE: Gerashchenko Bids Farewell to Central Bank
AUTHOR: By Torrey Clark
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - Five months shy of the end of his term, Central Bank head Viktor Gerashchenko was dismissed Friday and President Vladimir Putin asked parliament to appoint First Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Ignatyev in his place.
Observers praised the move as a sign that the country's stalled banking reform - long opposed by Gerashchenko - would finally move forward but expressed worries that it could evoke an attack on the ruble early in the week.
Ignatyev, 54, whose candidacy is likely to be approved by the Putin-friendly State Duma, said his policy would be to maintain ruble stability for the time being.
"I don't believe there is any need to make changes to the [exchange-rate] policy, at least in the near future," Ignatyev was quoted by Interfax on Sunday as saying.
Commenting on devaluation, Ignatyev said there are "pluses and minuses" but he saw more minuses.
The ruble and Russian markets remained relatively stable on Monday despite the shake-up.
Gerashchenko, 64, will remain in charge of the Central Bank until the Duma approves his replacement.
Gennady Raikov of the People's Deputy faction warned Friday that Gerashchenko's exit could hit the ruble hard.
The Kremlin no doubt was well aware of such a possibility and therefore chose to make the dismissal Friday, said Alexei Moiseyev, economist at Renaissance Capital.
"By announcing the upheaval late Friday evening, the government ensured that the financial sector has had two days to think it over and calm down," Moiseyev said.
Gerashchenko submitted a resignation letter, citing health concerns, to Putin before Friday, presidential administration head Alexander Voloshin said Sunday, according to Interfax.
The unexpected announcement that Putin had accepted the resignation came just hours after Gerashchenko made a strident and unscheduled speech at a Duma hearing on amending the Law on the Central Bank.
"Deputies have been presented a bill that was supposedly agreed with the Central Bank, but you are being deceived," Gerashchenko said, adding that no country has "such a stupid system" as that proposed in the amendments. Gerashchenko also said the Central Bank had warned Putin that he was being set up with the legislation.
Alexei Gorshkov, head of the government information department, said replacing Gerashchenko with Ignatyev could speed up bank reform, Interfax reported.
Gerashchenko has withstood continual attacks on his policies during his two terms as Central Bank chairperson. His first term from 1992 to 1994 ended with his sacking after the ruble plunged 30 percent in a single day. He was brought back after the 1998 ruble devaluation, and his main achievement since then has been preserving the status quo, despite the Putin government's passion for reforms. He has supported the ruble, resisted all but nominal changes to the banking sector and insisted on tight currency regulations that have big business howling.
"This should have been done a long time ago," former Economics Minister Yevgeny Yasin said in televised remarks Friday. "[Gerashchenko] is a highly competent person in his field and followed the policies he believed to be correct ... but he is a barrier in the road to reform."
"A new time demands new people," Alfa Bank president Pyotr Aven told NTV. "The extremely slow path of banking reforms in the country, or in fact the complete absence of them and the preservation of our inefficient banking system, has no other explanation than his inert thinking."
Ignatyev is seen as scrupulously honest but far more amenable to toeing the government line than Gerashchenko. It is unclear whether he would be able to withstand political pressure to rein in the Central Bank's independence, which Gerashchenko jealously guarded.
A native of St. Petersburg, he is a veteran government economist who served as Gerashchenko's deputy at the Central Bank in 1992 and 1993. His main job at the Finance Ministry was shaping monetary policy with the Central Bank, and he was closely involved in drawing up banking reform legislation, the ministry said. Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin on Friday praised his deputy as "one of the most experienced specialists in the area of government finance."
"It's a triumph for Kudrin, whose first deputy is now in charge of the Central Bank," said Duma banking committee head Alexander Shokhin on Ekho Moskvy radio.
Nonetheless, "working with him would not be easy. He sticks to his views, and it is quite difficult to look for a compromise with him."
The dismissal fits in with Putin's policy over the past year of sweeping away troublesome lords who wouldn't give up their keys to the fiefdom. Rem Vyakhirev, the entrenched lord of Gazprom, also was fired just months before his term was up. Putin installed relative unknown Alexei Miller as Gazprom CEO with clear instructions to return assets stripped from the company. Next was Railways Minister Nikolai Aksyonenko, fired in January just two months after being charged with abuse of office.
The change may also herald the kick-start of reforms at the Central Bank.
"The situation seems to be like that at Gazprom. The task has been assigned," Moiseyev said. "But Ignatyev looks like Miller, and it may take him a long time to get to understand things and get them under control."
Ignatyev could get the chance to handpick his colleagues. In addition to Gerashchenko's post, the terms on six of the Central Bank's other board seats will end in September.
Audit Chamber head Sergei Stepashin was quick in applauding Gerashchenko's sacking, saying it would make the Central Bank much more open and calling Ignatyev "a splendid professional."
The Central Bank was the target of a scathing 70-page report on corruption, published in November by the Moscow Carnegie Center and co-authored by Dmitry Vasilyev, former head of the Federal Securities Commission. The report denounced the Central Bank's bloated, opaque structure, its independence from fiscal or government controls and numerous conflicts of interest.
It is both banking sector regulator and owner of foreign and domestic commercial banks; both creditor and owner of borrowers; both keeper of ruble stability and indirect owner of a blocking stake in the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange; both issuer of audit licenses and subject of audits.
Most infamously, the Central Bank routed IMF loans and $50 billion in hard currency reserves through FIMACO, an offshore vehicle of Central Bank subsidiary Eurobank, between 1993 and 1998 and into the market for short-term treasury bills (GKOs), without its auditor catching on.
Parliament is to discuss Gerashchenko's resignation no later than March 22, said Duma tax committee head Alexander Zhukov, news agencies reported.
TITLE: Convicted Borodin Will Defy Swiss Court
AUTHOR: By Robin Munro
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - Former Kremlin property chief Pavel Borodin will not fight a Swiss conviction for money laundering but also will not pay a $177,000 fine levied by the Geneva prosecutor who found him guilty, his lawyers said.
If he does not pay the fine, it will be deducted from the $3 million bail paid by the Russian government, according to deputy Geneva prosecutor Jean-Bernard Schmid.
Borodin had until Monday to appeal the March 4 ruling by Geneva prosecutor Bernard Bertossa, who found him guilty of laundering about $30 million in kickbacks from two Swiss construction companies that had lucrative contracts to renovate the Kremlin and other government buildings in the mid-1990s.
Borodin's lawyer Eleonora Ser ge ye va said Friday that Borodin will not appeal because he does not recognize the court's jurisdiction, The Associated Press reported.
Dominique Poncet, who heads Borodin's defense team in Geneva, told Reuters on Friday that Borodin, who denies any wrongdoing, also wants to avoid at least another year of legal wrangling and a possible trial.
"We will not oppose the prosecutor's point of view, but it is not a court condemnation. It is not a guilty plea either," Poncet is quoted as saying. "This case, which began with such hoopla, has fizzled out. It is a good ending. It suits everybody."
Both lawyers said Borodin will not pay the fine.
Schmid said that if there is no appeal, then Bertossa's verdict will come into force; it is irrelevant whether Borodin accepts it or not. "In other words, a sentence is a sentence, regardless of what the convicted party says about it," the Zurich newspaper Der Tages-Anzeiger quoted Schmid as saying.
If Borodin does not pay the fine, the money will be deducted from the 5 million Swiss francs the Russian government paid to bail him out of a Swiss jail last year, the newspaper and the AP quoted him as saying.
Bertossa could not be reached for comment Friday.
Der Tages-Anzeiger wrote that although greater transparency would have been provided by a public trial, the achievement of the Geneva judicial authorities should not be underestimated.
"For the first time a top bureaucrat from the Great Power Russia has been shown to have laundered money in Switzerland," the newspaper wrote. It said the fine levied by Bertossa is at the upper end of the scale for the charge of money laundering.
However, a comment in the March 11 issue of The American Reporter lambasted Bertossa's actions as "a very good deal for Borodin and his colleagues and a message to prospective clients that the going rate for money laundering in Switzerland is quite reasonable.
"The fine is less than a third of 1 percent of the total stolen. The elected judge's action, which reflects strong political pressures, sends the wrong message to money launderers and ought to worry Americans," said the comment, which was written by Lucy Komisar.
The Prosecutor General's Office closed its investigation into Borodin and the Swiss construction companies Mabetex and Mercata Trading in late 2000, saying it found no evidence of wrongdoing.
Borodin's lawyers argued that this meant there was no case in Switzerland because for a money-laundering charge to be proven it must be shown that the money involved was the proceeds of crime and no crime had taken place in Russia.
Borodin headed the Kremlin property department under former President Boris Yeltsin. President Vladimir Putin, who once worked under Borodin, dismissed him in January 2000, immediately after succeeding Yeltsin. Borodin was arrested a year later in New York's Kennedy Airport while on his way to U.S. President George W. Bush's inauguration. In April, he agreed to be flown to Switzerland rather than face a lengthy extradition battle.
TITLE: Novaya Gazeta Facing the Wall
AUTHOR: By Nabi Abdullaev
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - Novaya Gazeta, known for its criticism of the Chechen conflict and its investigations into state corruption, is staring bankruptcy in the face after being slapped with a record $1.5 million judgment in two libel cases.
Novaya Gazeta journalists and free-press advocates say the newspaper is the target of a government-backed campaign to muzzle independent media.
Novaya Gazeta lost the two libel cases in Moscow's Basmanny municipal court in late February. Judge Yelena Ptanskaya ordered the newspaper on Feb. 22 to pay about $1 million for a report alleging that the Krasnodar region's top judge was living well beyond his means. Six days later she ordered the newspaper to pay $500,000 to Mezhprombank for a story alleging that the bank was involved in the Bank of New York money-laundering scandal.
"[The fines] are equal to our yearly turnover, and we will not be able to pay even if we sell all of our property," the newspaper's deputy editor Sergei Sokolov said.
In a story published in January, Novaya Gazeta reported that Krasnodar judge Alexander Chernov had a $50,000 watch, drove luxury cars, frequented expensive resorts and was building a $1 million mansion in Sochi - all on a monthly salary of $300.
Chernov filed a defamation suit in the Basmanny district, where the newspaper is located, for 300 million rubles. He asked that the money go to the state budget.
In a telephone interview, Chernov said the newspaper had fabricated the story and that only one allegation was true - the fact that he wears expensive suits.
"I run an important office and I must wear decent clothes," he said. "But that does not mean that anybody is entitled to dig into my dirty laundry."
Novaya Gazeta's lawyer Yaroslav Kozheurov said the newspaper has good reason to be disliked by judicial authorities; the day before the Feb. 22 trial, it ran a highly critical story about the head of the Moscow city court.
"Solidarity among the judges could be the reason for the harsh verdict," he said.
Chernov acknowledged that solidarity could have played a role.
"I have nothing against this kind of corporate solidarity," he said. "Perhaps this is the first time in Russia when a judge has imagined herself in my place."
Chernov denied having any personal contacts with Ptanskaya and said he had not attended the trial. Ptanskaya refused to comment Monday.
Mezhprombank spokesperson Sergei Samoshin said Ptanskaya had good cause to fine the paper, calling the November 2001 story "filth."
"I am a former journalist, but I have never seen such a bad article," Samoshin said. "The newspaper now says it cannot afford to pay such fine, but it could afford to publish such filth."
Samoshin denied that the bank had filed the lawsuit on behalf of former Mezhprombank CEO Sergei Pugachyov, often a target of the paper's criticism. Pugachyov, who is widely thought to be a confidant of President Vladimir Putin, left the bank in December to take the Tuva seat in the Federation Council.
Ruslan Gorevoi of the Glasnost Defense Foundation said the two verdicts looked like a concerted campaign against Novaya Gazeta supported by the authorities.
"Formally, it looks like the state has nothing to do with the cases, but when we summarize reports about the prosecution of certain Russian newspapers, it becomes clear that courts are fulfilling official orders to eliminate the independent press," he said.
"After the punishment of the two independent TV stations [NTV and TV6] somebody in the Kremlin has been left with idle hands," said Anvar Amirov of the Panorama think tank. "Novaya Gazeta is now the most radical in Russia in its criticism of the war in Chechnya."
Leonid Olshansky, a renowned civil lawyer, said the size of the judgments suggested that there was more at stake than just a libel suit.
"There are no means to define moral damages, so its size depends upon a court's judgment," Olshansky said. "The verdict of the Basmanny court means probably that they don't like the newspaper."
One of the largest libel judgments announced to date took place in 1999 when Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov won 50,000 rubles ($1,700) from ORT television and 100,000 rubles ($3,400) from its former anchorman Sergei Dorenko.
Novaya Gazeta has appealed to the Moscow city court but fears the lower court's rulings will be upheld. "After our story about the head of the court, it may want to get revenge," Sokolov said.
Kozheurov, the paper's lawyer, said the only appeals that can be made after the city court is to its presidium or to Moscow prosecutors, who could order a new trial.
TITLE: Ivanov Softens Russian Nuclear Stance
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: NEW YORK - Russia could agree to a new nuclear-arms pact that would allow America to store some decommissioned weapons for possible future use instead of destroying them, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said in an interview.
Ivanov's comments on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday suggested a softening of the Kremlin position on what Russia officials have called the main sticking point in progress toward a deal on nuclear arms cuts that both sides hope to secure in time for U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to Russia in May.
In the interview, conducted in Washington last week after he met with Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Ivanov said that a portion of the weapons decommissioned under the pact could be stored and the details are "negotiable." "But the devil is in the details: how much, how long and how quickly it might go back to operational and ... jeopardize strategic stability," he said.
Ivanov was upbeat about his U.S. trip, praising Bush as a "visionary man" and suggesting Bush and Putin are pursuing closer ties despite opposition from some within their own countries.
Bush "understands that the times of the Cold War are definitely over, and that both leaders should be bold and imaginative enough to try to maybe overpower the bureaucracy of both countries, which sometimes has its own vested interest."
Turning to Iraq, Ivanov said Russia believes Saddam Hussein's regime may be developing weapons of mass destruction but that no action beyond existing UN sanctions should be taken unless that is proven. "We calculate that there might be a problem in Iraq with weapons of mass destruction," he said. "That's why we support strongly the idea that a huge team of international monitors should go to Iraq, investigate whatever they wish [and] finally have a clear answer, yes or no."
Asked if Moscow would support military action against Saddam, Ivanov said only that the United States has not informed Russia of such a decision.
But he said, "The problem is not with Saddam Hussein. The problem is with weapons of mass destruction."
TITLE: IN BRIEF
TEXT: Canada Crash Trial
MOSCOW (AP) - Prosecutors on Friday demanded the maximum five-year sentence for a former Russian diplomat to Canada accused in the death of a woman hit by the car he was driving.
Andrei Knyazev, formerly the third-ranking official at the embassy, was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident, and acted recklessly because of his status as a diplomat, prosecutor Alexander Tikhonov argued in court.
Knyazev has denied he was drunk after a day of ice fishing, and his lawyer, Andrei Pavlov, said the accident occurred because of poor weather. He faces a charge of involuntary manslaughter.
A verdict in the trial, which began March 11, is scheduled Tuesday.
Sub Captain Found
MOSCOW (AP) - Investigators of the sinking of the Kursk nuclear submarine have completed identifying the remains of the crew with the identification of the vessel's captain, officials said Saturday.
The remains of Captain Gennady Lyachin were the last to be identified, prosecutors said.
The Kursk sank during naval exercises in August 2000. All 118 crew members were killed.
"We have identified 114 bodies of submariners," Vladimir Mulov, the Northern Fleet prosecutor, said in televised remarks. "The last of them was identified Friday as the commander, Captain Gennady Lyachin."
Mosque Explosion
MOSCOW (AP) - An overnight explosion leveled a mosque in Chechnya's second-largest city, and authorities said Monday the blast had probably been caused by a gas leak.
The explosion damaged neighboring buildings in Gudermes, tearing corrugated aluminum off roofs and blowing out windows. It left a single, red-brick tower of the mosque standing amid a sea of rubble. No casualties were reported.
Russian media said some witnesses had reported finding shrapnel in the ruins of the mosque and speculated that the mosque had been targeted in a terrorist attack. The Federal Security Service said it had discovered a stash of weapons and extremist Islamic literature in the mosque last year, Interfax reported.
Vsevolod Chernov, the chief prosecutor of the Moscow-appointed Chechen administration, said the blast was most likely caused by a natural-gas leak.
Alcohol Deaths Up
Moscow (SPT) - More than 37,000 Russians died last year from alcohol poisoning, Deputy Health Minister Gennady Onishchenko announced Monday at a meeting in the State Duma of the committee charged with developing legislation in the alcohol sector.
This figure was up 11.3 percent compared to the previous year Onishchenko said, citing State Statistics Committee data. The most alarming increase was observed in the Voronezh region, where the number of fatal alcohol poisonings increased by 3.6 times, he said.
Onishchenko added that some 14 million decaliters of perfume and cosmetic products were purchased annually as a cheap alternative to vodka.
Onishchenko said that the ratio of male to female alcoholics was six to one - an increase compared to the ten to one ratio of previous years. Female alcoholism is most prevalent in Magadan and Chukotka, he said.
TITLE: Air Force Decides on Yakovlev
AUTHOR: By Lyuba Pronina
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - After almost a decade of debate, the Russian Air Force has named the Yakovlev Yak-130 as its new trainer jet, rebuffing former Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov who had only the day before named the rival MiG-AT as the winner.
Recently appointed air force Commander-in-Chief Colonel-General Vladimir Mikhailov approved the decision of the government tender commission Saturday, Interfax reported.
Air-force officials would not comment on the decision Monday, but Konstantin Popovich, Yakovlev's chief designer for the Yak-130, said in a telephone interview he expects Yakovlev to sign a contract with the air force within a month.
"Changes need to be made to the air force's final tactical and technical requirements for the jet, as specified by the tender commission, which should take a month to resolve," Popovich said, adding that the jet already met 98 percent of air-force requirements.
Design on the $8 million to $12 million Yak-130 prototype began in 1992, with the maiden flight taking place in 1996. Popovich said Yakovlev will now build a jet at the Sokol production plant in Nizhny Novgorod, and begin test flights with the air force next year. A further four aircraft will be delivered in 2003.
The air force is due to begin decommissioning its current fleet of Czech-made L-29 and L-39 trainers in 2005, and needs to replace them with at least 120 Yak-130s over a period of five to seven years, Popovich said, adding, however, that "these plans can be changed due to [the air force's] financial constraints."
The air force has not received any new jets for a decade and has been focusing its meager resources on modernizing its current fleet of Sukhoi and MiG fighter jets until new-generation technology is available later in the decade.
Previous air-force commander General Anatoly Kornukov has said repeatedly he was not happy with the Yak-130's rival, the MiG-AT, dismissing the aircraft's French-made Larzac 04-R20 engines as "yesterday's" engines. When he resigned earlier this year, Kornukov reiterated both the air force's opposition to having a jet with foreign components and its desire to have a trainer with the functions of a combat aircraft.
"From the beginning, we designed the Yak-130 with the functions of both a trainer and a combat jet," Popovich said.
Yakovlev's victory puts a cap on any export opportunities the Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG might have been eyeing, industry experts said.
Konstantin Makiyenko, deputy head of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies think-tank, said that with the air force's rejection of its trainer, MiG-AT stands no chance on international markets.
MiG would not comment Monday.
TITLE: Russia Makes Progress as Noise Row Rumbles On
AUTHOR: By Lyuba Pronina
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - The government has made some headway as it scrambles to circumvent a European Union noise ban that would effectively ban two-thirds of all Russian airplanes from EU skies as of April 1.
German Transportation Ministry spokesperson Felix Stenschke said by telephone from Berlin on Friday that Germany would allow Russian planes to continue to land in his country's airports past the April 1 deadline.
Stenschke said that under a deal hammered out last week in Moscow between a visiting German Transportation Ministry delegation and a team led by Russian Transportation Minister Sergei Frank, Russian planes will be exempt from the ban "for several weeks, but only in extraordinary circumstances if nothing else is possible." He declined to elaborate.
The head of European Commission airport policy, Eckard Seebohm, said in a telephone interview from Brussels on Friday that it is now up to the 15 individual EU member countries to negotiate any concessions regarding the ban.
Seebohm said that there is room for derogation in the noise ban legislation. "There are discussions between the EU and member states and Russia on what this in practice means," he said. "They have to decide which exemptions they consider justifiable within the constraints of the EU directive."
Just two weeks before the ban - which will hit popular Russian craft such as the Il-76 cargo plane and Il-62, Il-86 and Tu-134 passenger liners - the government is stepping up its lobbying activities, deploying officials to EU nations in a final attempt to win concessions.
One of the arguments being made by the government is that Europe will lose $1 billion per year in revenue from Russian tourists.
Alexander Neradko, the deputy transportation minister in charge of civil aviation, flew to Italy on Sunday to begin negotiations with Rome, while Russian officials are hopeful that current negotiations with popular tourist destinations Spain and France will soon bear fruit.
And Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko is expected to fly to Brussels on March 26 to meet with EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten regarding the ban.
"Negotiations are continuing," Stanislav Ovcharenko, head of the State Civil Aviation Service's licensing department, said Friday. "We are getting some easing in places," he added, declining to elaborate.
Ovcharenko said that his service is facilitating negotiations between domestic airlines to redistribute their passenger flows on routes affected by the noise ban from airlines with noncompliant planes to airlines with compliant planes.
By Thursday, Ovcharenko said, the State Civil Aviation Service will have a plan in place on exactly how to do this.
"Practically all scheduled flights to Europe will be covered using modern Il-96s, Tu-204s and upgraded Tu-154Ms, and we are now working on the charter segment," he said.
It was not immediately clear Friday how this will be handled from a legal point of view.
Transportation Ministry spokesperson Alexander Filimonov said the ministry is busy compiling final data on the capacity of each airline involved and the airports that will be available to them.
TITLE: Andersen European Divisions Want Out
AUTHOR: By Jonathan Fowler
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: GENEVA, Switzerland - European divisions of the Andersen accounting network said Monday that they aim to quit the international firm amid an investigation into its role in the collapse of the U.S. energy giant Enron Corp.
Andersen Switzerland spokesperson Claude Baumann said that the branch planned to leave Andersen Worldwide and merge with a rival company.
"We are still in discussion with our competitors," Baumann said. "Probably in the next few days something will come up." He declined to give further details.
Geneva-based Andersen Worldwide is the overseeing body of Andersen, a global network of professional-service companies in 85 countries, including Arthur Andersen in the United States.
In the first indictment in the Enron case, a U.S. federal court last week charged Chicago-based Andersen with obstructing justice by destroying thousands of documents and deleting computer files about its audit of Enron. Andersen denies the charges.
Andersen auditors reportedly signed off on questionable accounting practices that, when uncovered late last year, led to Enron's December collapse - the largest in U.S. corporate history.
Although the Andersen network's structure means the foreign divisions are not legally affected by the U.S. case, the Enron investigation has harmed Andersen's international reputation.
Several divisions of Andersen Worldwide have held merger talks with the other Big Five accounting firms that dominate the global market.
"We're studying all the options without panicking," Andersen Switzerland partner Edgar Brandt was quoted as saying in the Geneva daily Le Temps.
Brandt said he believed that Andersen's European divisions should work together to find a solution.
"In Europe, Andersen's united force would be reduced by individual negotiations," he told Le Temps. "Each national division can, of course, negotiate alone, but it will soon realize that its interests lie in working together."
Bartek Pawlak, a spokesperson for Andersen's Polish division, said the company started talks late last week with its competitors' Polish branches.
"The point is to lead the negotiations to a moment when we can announce officially that we are going with one or another company," he said. "We are trying to take into account all possibilities, but it is too early to get into any details. It is all a question of delicate negotiations."
A spokesperson for Andersen's German division, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that partners had given the group's managers authority to break relations with Andersen Worldwide, though that step had not yet been taken. She declined to give further details.
Baumann said he could not say whether Andersen Switzerland would have to pay Andersen Worldwide a fee for quitting the network.
But, he said, "we are probably in a different case" than Andersen Consulting - now called Accenture Ltd. - which had to pay about $1 billion when it left Andersen Worldwide in 2000.
Staff who answered calls to Andersen Worldwide's headquarters said managing director Xavier de Sarrau was away from the office and no one else could comment.
Several blue chip corporate clients have dumped Andersen in the United States. The company has held talks with all the other Big Five firms about a possible sale of some or all of its assets. But talks have faltered over concerns about Andersen's potential liabilities from the Enron case.
Last week the London Times newspaper reported that Andersen's British division had reopened merger talks with Deloitte & Touche, one of its main rivals. The goal, the report said, was to head off a potential exodus of clients following allegations that Andersen UK shredded Enron-related documents.
Andersen UK has denied destroying documents.
In Spain, the daily El Pais reported that Andersen Espana had held informal talks with Big Five competitor KPMG after deciding to quit Andersen Worldwide.
TITLE: Russia Hardens Position on Chicken
PUBLISHER: Combined Reports
TEXT: MOSCOW - Despite the ongoing negotiation efforts of American officials on Friday, Russia hardened its position over a ban on U.S. poultry imports, ruling out any chance of lifting it until the United States meets its quality standards.
"If the Americans want to bring in their meat, they must ensure that it corresponds to our standards," Sergei Dankvert, Russia's first deputy agriculture minister, said Friday.
Russia imposed a ban on imports of U.S. poultry March 10, citing quality concerns. Dankvert said the meat did not comply with Russian regulations on content of antibiotics and arsenic.
Earlier last week, Russia said it had discovered salmonella in 16 samples of imported U.S. poultry.
Washington has dismissed Russia's safety concerns and said the ban could affect broader U.S.-Russian trade relations, noting Russia is in line to join the World Trade Organization.
The U.S. ambassador to Moscow, Alexander Vershbow, said his country's negotiators were prepared to talk "day and night" to resolve the conflict.
Prime Tass quoted Vershbow as reaffirming the pledge on Monday, saying that the U.S. delegation will stay as long as it takes to get the issue resolved.
"We continue to believe we have the best food-safety system in the world and that there is absolutely no danger from the American-poultry exports to the Russian market," Vershbow said during a break in Friday's talks.
About half of all U.S poultry exports are to the Russian market, and poultry accounts for 20 percent of total U.S. exports to Russia, or around $640 million, according to data from the U.S. Trade Representative's office.
Dankvert said differences between the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Trade Representative's office, the Food and Drug Administration and their Russian counterparts would not be solved quickly.
"If in 1996 [when the last protocols were signed] the standards were higher than in 1991, in 2002 the demands are much higher than in 1996," Dankvert said. "The problems can be solved quickly in only one way - if [the United States] will accept all our demands and give guarantees from their farmers that their products correspond to our norms."
A 12-strong team of U.S. experts and diplomats are holding talks in Moscow, trying to persuade their Russian counterparts to lift the ban as soon as possible.
But Dankvert said the talks would have to continue as Russia had raised a number of issues. "Experts are finding more and more differences in quality standards applied here and in the United States," Dankvert said.
"Currently, 238 containers with 20 tons of U.S. poultry are being held at a port in St. Petersburg. They have the necessary licenses for export from the United States but do not have a license from Russian veterinarians," he said.
"There have also been cases when we received shipments of poultry meat accompanied by certificates for beef."
-Reuters, AP
TITLE: New Code Is Good for Workers and Bosses
AUTHOR: By Maxim Kalinin and Yana Vashchilova
TEXT: On Feb. 1, 2002, the regulation of employment relations in Russia was altered significantly when the long-awaited new Labor Code came into force. The code's provisions override any provisions in existing and future individual employment agreements and have an immediate effect in requiring employers to either introduce some new internal normative acts and regulations or change or remove others that already exist in order to be in compliance with Russian labor law.
There are a number of significant changes introduced by the new code. First, it expressly states that Russian labor legislation must be observed by all employers in the Russian Federation, irrespective of the type or nature of ownership of the employing entity, and that it applies to the employment relations of all foreign nationals working in Russia, unless stipulated otherwise in a federal law or an international treaty.
Second, the uncertainty surrounding the regulation of employment of all CEOs, including foreign nationals, that previously existed has been eliminated and, with the exception of a limited number of specific cases, the new Labor Code must be applied to them.
Finally, the protection of employee's rights has been improved significantly by the following changes: employees now have the right to refuse to perform tasks that are not stipulated in their employment agreement, or where there is an immediate danger to the employee's health or life; there are new regulations dealing with the determination of vacation time; there are new requirements for the protection of personal information and detailed regulations on health and safety in the workplace; and the creation of an obligation on the part of an employer to pay compensation to employees for delays in the payment of salaries and other employment-related compensation.
The code also includes a number of provisions that can be seen as positive by employers. A number of changes have been introduced with regard to the relationship between employers and trade unions. In reaching a decision over the termination of an employee, employers are no longer under obligation to comply with the opinion of the trade union, although it must still take it into account. The new code also grants employers the right to form a union of employers in order to represent their interests and protect their rights when dealing with trade unions or government authorities.
The code includes an extended list of acceptable grounds for the unilateral termination by the employer of an employment relationship and also introduces a new extended probationary period for some categories of new employees.
It should be noted that many of the fundamental labor-law provisions that had existed before the new code took effect will not change or, in a number of cases, will be altered only slightly. All the same, the new code does contain some significant new elements, so employers (including those hiring foreign nationals to work in Russia) should not only put in place employment documentation and practices in compliance with the new labor legislation, but they should also review their existing employment practices to ensure compliance with the new code.
Maxim Kalinin is a partner and Yana Vashchilova is an associate with Baker&McKenzie's representative office in St. Petersburg.
TITLE: Chris Floyd's Global Eye
TEXT: The rule of law is dead. Even as a fiction, a dream of human betterment - of "civilization," to use that word we hear so often on the lips of warlords and terrorists these days - the idea of law has been discarded, trashed: just so much excess baggage thrown aside in the relentless, mindless pursuit of raw power.
And perhaps the most remarkable thing about this regression, this throwback to our most primitive and brutal instincts, is that it's being carried out in plain sight, openly, proudly. The defenders of "civilization" no longer even pretend to be bound by law, by moral codes designed to quell the raging beast inside us all and draw us on toward higher notions of justice, liberty, and the integrity of the individual. Instead, they exult in their desecration of these ideals - and are exalted for it.
This week, the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush admitted it was snatching suspected terrorists in secret operations around the world and "rendering" them without due process or any legal hearing at all to repressive regimes where they can be beaten and tortured to extract information - then killed when their usefulness is over. Their families too can be threatened with imprisonment or death: another useful extraction tool for the CIA and its proxies.
"After Sept. 11, these sorts of movements have been occurring all the time," a U.S. diplomat told the Washington Post. "It allows us to get information from terrorists in a way we can't do on U.S. soil."
Note the usual neat elision there - from "suspected terrorist" to "terrorist." In fact, the CIA "rendering" operations take place outside all legal jurisdiction; there is no standard of evidence or level of proof required to brand someone - anyone - a "terrorist suspect" and put him on the next secret plane to Cairo or Amman.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands of people have already been "disappeared" in this way, without legal counsel, without extradition, on nothing more than the word of an ambitious junior operative or a local informer - or even a cranky neighbor.
It's not always done in secret, of course. In January, American forces openly seized five Arabs in Bosnia and sent them to the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for interrogation - the kind you "can't do on U.S. soil," no doubt. This despite the fact that the men had earlier been freed by the Bosnian Supreme Court for lack of evidence against them - and that the Bosnian Human Rights Chamber had issued an injunction protecting them from seizure pending further legal proceedings. That would be the same Human Rights Chamber set up by the United States after the Bosnian war to "protect human rights and due process." From everyone except the United States, obviously.
Nor are U.S. residents exempt from rendering. In January, just after the release of "Black Hawk Down," the story of kindly American soldiers being butchered by nasty, bug-eyed Somalis, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft grabbed three dozen Somali-Americans from their homes, classrooms and businesses and deported them - without charges, without hearings, "not shriving time allowed" - to Mogadishu, the Times of London reports. These were men, and one woman, who had been in the United States for many years, some of them from infancy. They had fled with their families from the murderous warlords who ravaged their country, and had found peace and prosperity in America.
But now it was over. They were seized by Ashcroft's immigration officials: they were beaten, shackled, boarded onto planes and dumped in Somalia without papers, passports or any means of support. Most of them don't speak the language, or even dare walk the streets, where foreigners - especially Americans - are viewed with hostility. They're now trapped in a fleabag hotel, broke, desperate, and besieged by local media screaming about "the terrorists."
Why were they taken? No one knows; or rather, no one will say. Ashcroft's minions claim they are "investigating" the situation, but will give no details. They never do. Perhaps some Somali warlord pointed to a rival clan, some past enemy - and their children - and whispered the magic words: "al-Qaida." After all, the Somali gangleaders are now courting Bush's favor, hoping to get the kind of money and weapons the Americans are doling out to their favored drug-dealers and warlords in Afghanistan, where dozens of innocent civilians have been killed by U.S. air strikes called in by mercenary chieftains knocking off their rivals.
That's the world the "defenders of civilization" have given us. They strut out in their $1,000 suits and preach to us about "civilized values" and "enduring freedom" while they pay their murderers and wave their cattle prods and "expand their nuclear-attack options," plotting the deaths of millions. They're teaching every budding terrorist, every aspiring dictator, every mafia goon that violence, death and dominance are the truest human values, the way to wealth and glory.
So forget law. Law is dead. There is no law. There is only the reality of power. They can take you tonight, anywhere in the world, beat you and drug you and ship you to a dungeon in Jakarta if they want to. They can ram their cattle prods up your anus and slap their electrodes on your genitals and there's not a damn thing you can do about it. No one will hear you scream; no one will even know where you are. You don't exist anymore. You're not a person, you have no standing under the law. There is no law.
TITLE: Following One's Bliss to the Banks of the Neva
AUTHOR: By Galina Stolyarova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: It takes a lot of courage to change your life completely - and the risks do not always pay off. But they have for British composer Peter Dyson.
By the age of 47, he had given up his job as a civil servant, divorced his wife and sold his Essex house in order to come to Russia to study with St. Petersburg's Boris Tishchenko, widely known as Dmitry Shostakovich's favorite pupil. That was in 1996.
Dyson's new home has brought him new inspiration, with Russia serving as the backdrop for many of his recent compositions. The Murmansk State Chamber Orchestra gave three world-premiere performances of Dyson's concerto grosso for violin, viola, cello and string orchestra "After Winter, There Always Comes Spring" in Monchegorsk on March 14, Murmansk on March 15 and Kirovsk on March 16.
This concerto was inspired by Dyson's impressions of St. Petersburg winters. He still recalls the impact of his first Russian winter.
"My imagination wasn't prepared for it," he says. "For 20 years, I'd lived in a small village in East Anglia, where winter meant two or three falls of snow that melted in a few days."
Even after so much time in Russia, Dyson still appreciates what he calls "the seasonality" of his new home.
"It feels like making a real link back to the real world again," he says.
Dyson began composing at the age of 16, about the time that he first discovered classical music.
"I just wanted to see if I could do it," he said, remembering the classical concerts that he attended while going to school in Wales. "It was then when I decided that what I want to do in life is to write music."
In 1969, Dyson considered entering the Royal Academy of Music, but, at that time, the academy did not offer a major in composition. All students had to major in an instrument, and Dyson wasn't interested in this. So he sought out other ways to follow his heart.
"These days, you can't really survive financially by writing music, so you have to do something else. I started working as a music teacher, but after [a while] I realized that I didn't want to spend the rest of my life like that, and so I became a civil servant," Dyson recalls.
At the age of 17, Dyson received his first exposure to Russian classical music, and those initial impressions remain vivid for him to this day.
"[Albums] just appeared at that time in the U.K. They were seven shillings and sixpence. And there was a recording of Shostakovich's Second Piano Concerto."
From this beginning sprang a life-long connection with the composer who has had a profound influence over Dyson's tastes and musical development. He continues to be drawn to the power of Shostakovich's idiom, its intensity and the complexity of his composition.
Dyson began collecting as many of Shostakovich's works as he could find. He haunted libraries and hunted down the scores. But Dyson credits Solomon Volkov's memoirs of Shostakovich, "Testimony," with opening his eyes to the real, human Shostakovich.
"Debates still continue on whether the composer was a true Soviet artist or a smart dissident who managed to portray what he wanted to say about humanity in a less obvious way. It was shocking to discover what ... Volkov describes about Shostakovich's words about his own music."
While Dyson was visiting Russia in 1995, a friend unexpectedly arranged for him to audition with Tichshenko.
"It all seemed a bit unbelievable," Dyson says. "I hadn't thought of studying or anything like that. It was just a visit."
"I had a wonderful afternoon at Tishchenko's flat, presenting some of my works. I sung along with some of my tapes. And the following evening he rang and said, 'you've got your place at the conservatory.'"
Although it was a pleasant surprise, there was still much to sort out at home. It took Dyson seven months to uproot himself and prepare for a new life in St. Petersburg. He arrived in town on May Day 1996. He knew that he was not just coming for a visit.
"Such opportunities only appear once in your life. So you can't go for them half-heartedly," Dyson explains.
Dyson has been busy since his arrival. He formed the English Accent vocal quartet, of which he is a member. The group - which consists of a Russian soprano, a Russian alto, a British tenor and Dyson, a bass - mostly performs programs of Elizabethan and Jacobean music in local churches.
Dyson also regularly performs with Schola Cantorum, a Peterhof school that is the only one in Russia specializing in ancient music.
But he has encountered difficulties as well. Dyson has no work permit and his application for a residence permit will take about a year to be considered.
"I have been living off the money from the house ever since [my arrival]," he says with an optimistic smile.
He also volunteers at the philological department of St. Petersburg State University, teaching a course on British cultural identity at the beginning of the 21st century.
"I am drawing circles: I was born in Yorkshire, so my cultural roots are there. Then the second circle is that I am English, which has specific cultural roots and baggage that it brings with it. And then I am European," Dyson said. "I have always felt European because our cultural heritage is European, and that heritage extends out here into St. Petersburg. And therefore it doesn't feel like a strange place to come to."
Dyson says that in England he would be described as a "Leningrad composer," since to them his musical language is not English but Russian. However, many people in St. Petersburg perceive his music as distinctly English.
"I am an English composer. There are influences that come from the Golden Ages and from the Elizabethan period, which is the music that I sing," he comments.
In December 2001, the British label Olympia Compact Discs released Dyson's first CD, which received an encouraging review by Gramophone Magazine.
"There is much to admire in his music's emotional candour yet avoidance of naivety and gush," writes David Fanning in the magazine's most recent issue, calling the CD a very promising debut. "Stylistically, the later works grow seamlessly from the earlier ones."
Dyson feels that his music continues to reflect his experience of living in Russia. Sometimes, this comes in the form of visual impressions such as the stark outline of St. Petersburg buildings in the bright sunshine against a cold, winter sky. Sometimes, it comes from reading the poetry of Anna Akhmatova.
One of Dyson's most recent works was inspired by the tragedy of the Kursk nuclear submarine and was dedicated to the families of the 118 men who were killed when the Kursk sank on Aug. 12, 2000.
"Some of the sailors are buried at the cemetery at the end of the street where I live," Dyson notes.
The piece, which has not been performed yet, bears the title "Missa Brevis" and the subtitle, "I Heard a Seagull Crying in the Wind." The mass itself is in five movements, interrupted by four interludes that feature traditional Russian naval tunes, including "Varyag."
"If I manage to get it performed, people would be able to sing along with these tunes, arranged for saxophone and bayan," Dyson says.
Dyson has never regretted his decision to move to Russia.
"I can practice my craft on a regular basis now. Nothing distracts me," he says. "I am not split anymore. My grown children come to see me here, and I think they understand why I have done this."
TITLE: Nine States Reject Previous Microsoft Antitrust Ruling
AUTHOR: By D. Ian Hopper
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: WASHINGTON - Nine states unhappy with the federal government's antitrust settlement with Microsoft are pursuing stronger penalties against the software giant - sanctions that Microsoft says would cripple the company and destroy its flagship Windows operating system. Microsoft plans to argue that the penalties - which include forcing Microsoft to release a "modular'' version of Windows, in which Microsoft features can be removed in favor of third-party alternatives - are not just Draconian, but impossible to carry out.
"Third party applications that rely on [the removed Windows software] will stop working as they're supposed to,'' said Brad Smith, Microsoft's incoming general counsel. "It's going to create new security vulnerabilities in the Windows product because as people move code they're going to create holes in the software.''
"At the end of the day it wouldn't offer any benefits that would make those problems justifiable,'' Smith said.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly called the parties to a hearing on the case Monday.
In an earlier court interview with state lawyers, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer contended the penalties would force Windows off store shelves and cause the company to crumble.
"That's just not true or even close to true,'' Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller responded. "What it would do is perhaps introduce some competition to Windows. It isn't going to destroy Microsoft at all; It might make them compete.''
The states also want to force Microsoft to release the software blueprints of its Internet Explorer Web browser, tell software developers how every piece of Windows interacts with software and business-level server computers, and comply with enforcement provisions that are stronger than those agreed to by the federal government.
The proposed federal settlement would prevent Microsoft from retaliating against partners for using non-Microsoft products; require the company to disclose a limited number of its software blueprints so software developers can make compatible products; and make it easier for consumers to remove icons for extra Windows features.
The deal is not final until it is approved by Kollar-Kotelly, who is handling the settlement and the state trial as separate proceedings.
The states have to overcome several hurdles in order to win.
The attorneys general of Iowa, Utah, Massachusetts and Connecticut planned to be in the courtroom. The other members of the coalition are California, Kansas, Florida, Minnesota, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.
Microsoft has already filed to dismiss the states' claims, arguing that nine individual states don't have the authority to ask for penalties which would apply to the entire country.
Microsoft also wants to toss out anything that involves new markets like handheld computers and set-top boxes, which weren't part of the original lawsuit.
TITLE: WORLD WATCH
TEXT: Afghanistan: End in Sight
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afgha ni stan (Reuters) - U.S. Army General Tommy Franks, in overall charge of coalition forces in Afghanistan, said Monday that "Operation Anaconda" was drawing to a close. "Operation Anaconda will be completed in 12 hours," Franks said at Bagram Air Base on the outskirts of Kabul, which was the control point for the operation in the mountainous terrain around the Shahi Kot valley.
The last of the major battles ended last Wednesday when U.S., Canadian and Afghan troops stormed rebel caves and trenches near Gardez, about 60 kilometres south of Kabul. The focus then shifted to a guerrilla war as small bands of fighters from the Taliban and the al-Qaida network tried to dodge the allied dragnet.
Immigrant Ship
TANIA, Sicily (Reuters) - A ship packed with some 1,000 illegal immigrants heading to Sicily was intercepted by the Italian Navy on Monday.
"Our men who climbed aboard have spoken of seeing some 1,000 Kurds, including women and children," said a police spokesperson. When the immigrants saw the police vessel they threatened to throw children into the sea, apparently fearing they would be arrested. Two weeks ago, dozens of illegal immigrants drowned in separate accidents of the Italian coast. In the worst, as many as 50 people, believed to be North Africans, drowned in the Adriatic.
Train Attack Suspect
GODHRA, India (Reuters) The Indian railway police released a picture on Monday of a man named Haji Bilal, who has been arrested as the prime suspect for last month's burning of a train carrying Hindu activists which killed 58 people. The train attack in Gujurat's Godhra town on Feb. 27 triggered a wave of reprisals which left over 700 people dead.
Archbishop Assassinated n CALI, Colombia (WP) - On Saturday night in the southwestern city of Cali, the Archb ishop Isaias Duar te Cancino was assassinated.
Duarte was a close friend of Colombia's leading hard-line presidential candidate and a sharp critic of the country's leftist guerrillas. He was shot outside a church in one of Cali's most violent neighborhoods after a wedding ceremony.
The killing signaled a frightening turn in Colombia's long-running war, less than a month after President Andres Pastrana broke off peace talks with the country's largest Marxist rebel group. It also came on a day of scattered combat throughout the country, during which the Colombian army claimed it killed more than a dozen guerrillas, most of them inside a former government-sanctioned rebel haven that was used to host peace talks.
TITLE: Gusev Free Kick Enough To See Off Zenit
PUBLISHER: Combined Reports
TEXT: MOSCOW - A late goal by CSKA winger Rolan Gusev was enough to sink Zenit on Sunday, as the Moscow side maintained its undefeated league record.
Russia international Gusev, who joined CSKA in the close season from city neighbor Dinamo, curled a free kick past Zenit keeper Vyacheslav Malafeyev with a minute remaining to give the army side nine points from its opening three matches.
CSKA, playing without suspended captain and playmaker Sergei Semak, controlled the game from the start but failed to capitalize on its advantage until Gusev's late strike.
Russia international Semak was suspended last week for five games for an altercation with Alexander Kurtiyan in CSKA's season opener against Torpedo-ZiL Moscow.
On Saturday, defending champion Spartak Moscow took three points from a hard-earned 2-0 win at Krylya Sovietov Samara thanks to second-half goals by 18-year-old striker Dmitry Sychyov and captain Yegor Titov.
Spain. Valencia's hopes of staying at the top of the Spanish first division for the fifth week running were dashed after it slumped to a shock 2-1 defeat against relegation-threatened Rayo Vallecano on Sunday.
Valencia's loss at the hands of a side that started the day in last place and was reduced to 10 men midway through the second half means defending champion Real Madrid now returns to the top of the table. Real is level with Valencia on 53 points but leads the standings thanks to its superior goal difference.
Deportivo la Coruna follows in third, just two points behind, while Real Betis remains in fourth after it was held to a 1-1 draw at struggling Real Zaragoza.
The highlight game between Real Madrid and Barcelona ended 1-1. Zinedine Zidane put Madrid ahead and Xavi Hernandez tied it. Real Madrid, the eight-time European Champions Cup winner, has not won at the Nou Camp since 1983.
England. In England, Manchester United is trying to become the first team to win four Premiership titles in a row, but it can't shake off Arsenal and Liverpool.
The Gunners are a point behind with a game in hand and Liverpool is a further point back to make up in the tightest title race in years.
On Saturday, David Beckham scored two goals as Manchester twice came from behind for a 5-3 victory at West Ham.
On Sunday, a magical goal at 60 minutes by Frenchman Robert Pires gave Arsenal a badly needed victory, 2-1 at Aston Villa, that kept them in the thick of the title race. David Seaman stopped a penalty by Gareth Barry to protect Arsenal's 16-match unbeaten streak away from home.
Meanwhile, Liverpool won 2-0 at Middlesbrough on goals by Emil Heskey and Jon Arne Riise.
Scotland. Claudio Caniggia scored two goals and set up another in Rangers' 4-0 Scottish League Cup final victory over Ayr United on Sunday to help his club to its first domestic silverware in two years.
The 35-year-old Argentine hopes his performance at Hampden Park, described by Rangers boss Alex McLeish as "inspirational," will also boost his chances of winning a place in his country's squad for the World Cup Finals this summer.
Rangers struggled for over 40 minutes against first division side Ayr, which knocked out several premier division teams en route to the final and also meets Celtic in the semifinals of the Scottish Cup this Saturday.
Goalkeeper Stefan Klos made two great saves from Ayr's Brian McLaughlin and Pat McGinlay, before Caniggia intervened in the 43rd minute with a dribble past three tackles before setting up Tore Andre Flo to score with an angled shot.
Barry Ferguson doubled the lead at 49 minutes with a penalty, hotly disputed by Ayr, which claimed Russell Latapy had dived.
Caniggia then scored with a 75th-minute sidefoot shot from 10 meters before heading in a cross at 90 minutes.
"We needed something to get us going and Caniggia's run for Flo's goal did that," said McLeish, who replaced Dutchman Dick Advocaat at Rangers three months ago.
(Reuters, AP)
(For other results, see Scorecard)
TITLE: Red Wings Glide Toward Playoffs
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: NEW YORK - The Detroit Red Wings are coasting toward the playoffs with the NHL's best record. On Sunday, they left the struggling New York Rangers in their wake.
Darren McCarty's goal with 2:08 to play was the game-winner as the Wings beat the slumping Rangers 5-3.
McCarty picked up the rebound of Nicklas Lidstrom's blue-line slap shot and whipped it past Mike Richter, off both posts, and into the net for his fourth goal of the season and a 4-3 Detroit lead.
The victory, Detroit's 10th in 12 games, gave the Wings a league-high 104 points and a 16-point lead in the race for the best overall record, which ensures home ice throughout the playoffs.
The Rangers lost their third straight game and remained ninth in the Eastern Conference, one point behind eighth-place Montreal.
The Rangers thought they had broken a 3-3 tie at 6:42 of the third period during a scramble in front of Dominik Hasek. But referee Mick McGeough ruled that he had blown the whistle before the puck crossed the goal line.
"After looking at the replay, it was a goal," New York's Theo Fleury said. "I couldn't tell. I was tripped."
The Red Wings took a 1-0 lead at 6:43 on Chris Chelios' sixth goal of the season. Sergei Fyodorov picked off a bad pass by New York's Theo Fleury in the slot and left it for Chelios, who beat Richter with a 6-meter slap shot.
"It was a bad play on Theo's part," coach Ron Low said. "There was nowhere to go with the puck."
The Rangers tied it 42 seconds later when Michal Grosek jammed a rebound past Hasek.
Roman Lyashenko, acquired from Dallas on March 12, gave New York a 2-1 lead at 10:46 when he flipped a backhander over a fallen Hasek while being tugged to the ice by Jesse Wallin.
Canucks 3, Devils 2. The road to the playoffs for the Vancouver Canucks has been the road.
Todd Bertuzzi's behind-the-back pass set up Mattias Ohlund's power-play goal with 1:56 left in overtime on Sunday night, giving the Canucks a 3-2 win over the New Jersey Devils and their fourth-straight road win.
The win moved the Canucks into a tie with Dallas for the eighth and final playoff berth in the Western Conference. The Stars have played three fewer games.
Trevor Linden forced overtime with another power-play goal with 8:58 to play and goaltender Peter Skudra stopped 16 shots as Vancouver swept the two-game season series with New Jersey.
Sergei Nemchinov and Patrik Elias scored for the Devils, who are also making a late-season run to the playoff. The overtime loss brought New Jersey, who had won its last three games, within a point of the sixth-place Islanders in the Eastern Conference.
(For other results, see Scorecard)
TITLE: Bruins Drop Bearcats in Double OT
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: NEW YORK - Never count out UCLA in the NCAA tournament. A hot-and-cold regular season or so-so seeding don't seem to mean a thing to the Bruins in March, and Sunday they reached the round of 16 by knocking off Cincinnati, the West Regional's No. 1.
Playing with the sense of purpose that 11 previous UCLA teams displayed en route to national titles, the No. 8-seeded Bruins weathered two thrilling overtimes to upset the Bearcats 105-101.
The Bearcats never before had a top seeding in the NCAAs and became the first No. 1 team sent home this year. UCLA's next opponent is Missouri.
The Bruins were led Sunday by Dan Gadzuric's career-high 26 points, while Jason Kapono added 19.
"That's as talented an eight seed as there's ever been in the history of the tournament," Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins said. "They're terrific."
Southern Illinois hasn't been big on the national scene since Walt Frazier led it to the 1967 NIT championship, but the Salukis are building momentum.
Undaunted by an early 19-point deficit, 11th-seeded SIU came back to stun No. 3 Georgia 77-75 in the East Regional. The only other time the Salukis made the round of 16 was 1977. That was also the only time SIU won an NCAA tournament game.
The Salukis got 25 points from Jermaine Dearman on Sunday and advanced to play No. 2 Connecticut, which got past North Carolina State 77-74 behind Caron Butler's 34 points and nine rebounds.
"They were the aggressor early. We became the aggressor, and then Jermaine got us back into to it," SIU coach Bruce Weber said. "We set a goal - it sounded crazy back in the spring - to make the Sweet 16."
Duke 84, Notre Dame 77. Jason Williams, just 5-for-18 from the field, sank four straight from the foul line down the stretch as top-seeded and defending national champion Duke rallied for an 84-77 second-round victory over Notre Dame in the South Regional.
"I would rather have people who shoot free throws than people who don't want the ball," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. "Jason has wanted the ball his whole career at Duke and he will keep getting it as long as his career keeps lasting."
Eighth-seeded Notre Dame (22-11) got 20 points each from David Graves and Matt Carroll, but the Irish folded down the stretch. Their coach, former Duke assistant Mike Brey, couldn't pull off the program's tenth victory over a No. 1-ranked team.
(For other results, see Scorecard)
TITLE: Horry 3-Pointers See Lakers Through Against Mavericks
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: LOS ANGELES - This time, it wasn't Shaquille O'Neal or Kobe Bryant who delivered for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Robert Horry was the go-to guy this time, making two 3-pointers in the final three minutes as the Lakers continued their mastery of the Dallas Mavericks with a 105-103 victory Sunday night.
Horry had 19 points, eight rebounds, three assists, two steals and four blocked shots. His 3-pointer with 45.8 seconds remaining completed the scoring. The final six baskets - three by each team - were all from 3-point range.
"I just threw it up there and prayed," Horry said. "They just pack it in on Shaq, he causes a crowd. He kicks it out."
O'Neal had 28 points and nine rebounds; Rick Fox and Derek Fisher each scored 16 points, and Bryant had 14 points, nine rebounds and 11 assists for the Lakers. Fox also had eight rebounds and seven assists.
Horry, a 10-year veteran, was inserted into the starting lineup last month when Samaki Walker went on the injured list due to a hyperextended right elbow.
The Lakers, tied with Sacramento for the best record in the NBA (47-18), beat Dallas for the 41st time in 44 meetings - including 23 straight at home.
Michael Finley led Dallas with 21 points and 10 rebounds, but missed a 3-pointer as time wound down that would have given his team the victory.
Steve Nash and Nick Van Exel added 20 points each, and Dirk Nowitzki had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Mavericks. Van Exel also missed a 3-pointer after Horry gave the Lakers the lead for good.
The win was the fifth straight and 12th in 14 games for the Lakers.
(For other results, see Scorecard)