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While the wave of bird flu sweeping through Asia moved closer to Europe, claiming a third life in Turkey in January, medical experts from St. Petersburg’s Influenza Research Institute of the Russian Academy for Medical Science are about to begin testing their newly developed vaccine against the virus on humans later this month. An eleven-year-old girl died in eastern Turkey on Jan. 6 of what has been confirmed as the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu. Turkey’s Agriculture Ministry issued a statement on the same day claiming that the country has been cleared of bird flu after introducing quarantine and killing more than 10,000 birds at the site where the virus was initially discovered at a farm near Manyas, south of the Marmara Sea. “A report declaring the termination of the epidemic was sent to the World Organization for Animal Health on Dec. |
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LOCAL HEROES
Alexander Demianchuk / Reuters
Pavel Rosa of Dinamo Moscow kisses the trophy after the European Champions Cup final at the Ice Palace on Sunday. Dinamo beat Finland’s Karpat Oulu 5-4 to clinch the tournament. |
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VILNIUS — Lithuania’s government said on Monday it must decide soon on extending the Baltic’s state’s nuclear capacity by building a new nuclear power station. Economy Minister Kestutis Dauksys told a news conference Lithuania was closely examining another power station, in addition to the existing Ignalina nuclear power plant which had been previously earmarked for closure.
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Twenty-two people died in road accidents between Dec. 30 and Jan.4, with a total of 26 major road accidents during that period news agency RIA-Novosti reported, as the city counted the damage of the long New Year holidays. Nine people were also reported as having been injured by malfunctioning or misused fireworks, according to a report in local online newspaper Fontanka. |
All photos from issue.
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BEIJING — China’s environmental woes spilt visibly over its borders as a toxic slick flowed into Russia in December, but exports of pollution are becoming as common as sales of cheap T-shirts for the economic powerhouse. The country’s leaders are only starting to grapple with the political fall-out at home after years of pursuing economic expansion at almost any price. |
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DETROIT (Bloomberg) — Volkswagen AG, Europe’s largest carmaker, plans to build a manufacturing plant in Russia to capitalize on the country’s growing automobile market. The carmaker will begin construction this year and may produce as many as 300,000 cars annually at the facility within five years, Chief Executive Bernd Pischetsrieder said today in an interview with reporters at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. |
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High-level executives from the US and European Fortune 500 and 1000 listed companies were left marvelling at Russia’s IT outsourcing industry after being brought together with the country’s leading software outsourcers at ExecutEVE – the First Exclusive IT Outsourcing Event that took place in St. |
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One of the main factors hindering St. Petersburg’s economic development, the shortage of qualified labor, is to be the subject of a new city government program, the committee for economic development, industrial policy and trade announced on its web site December 26. |
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Leading analysts are predicting inflation to fall in 2006, and also see a strengthening of the ruble against the dollar, Interfax reported at the end of December. |
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Fantastic — that was the word dominating financiers’ reports at the end of 2005. For the first year since the 1998 meltdown, Russian indexes are out-jumping their rivals in other emerging markets. The dollar-denominated RTS index and the ruble-priced MICEX both burst through the 1,000-point mark in the second half of 2005 to rack up more than 80 percent growth since the start of the year. |
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One of the world’s leading international cosmetics and perfumery retailers, Watson, will use its recent acquisition of 24 local Spectr stores to develop its perfumery business in St. |
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St. Petersburg-based retailer O’Kay will next year invest $200 million in the opening of 10 new supermarkets. So that the company can float shares on the fund market, which it plans to do within three years, its shareholders have had to disclose information about ownership. |
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The G8 in Russia and the Call of Freedom in 2005, U.S. President President George W. Bush set before the nation the goal of “ending tyranny in our world. |
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Vacations are good though a bit boring. Such serenity comes to an end on Tuesday and no doubt I‘ll soon miss the relaxed lifestyle. But meeting friends, cooking and shopping seems a bit too quiet compared to last year’s routine. For the city economy 2005 was rich in loud proclamations and big expectations. |
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Oil Port Closure NOVOROSSIISK (Bloomberg) — Russia’s second-largest oil port, Novorossiisk, was closed to shipping for a fifth day Monday because of fast winds and rough seas, local ship agents said. Northeast winds of up to 101 kilometers (63 miles) an hour closed in on the Black Sea port, causing 2. |
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It was the year the courts died. The year 2004 was the year elections died, and next year we will probably hold a wake for civil society; but 2005 was the year the judicial system gave up the ghost. The judicial event of the year were the nine-year sentences handed down to Yukos executives Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev — which were later shortened to eight years by the Supreme Court. |
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One of the curious patterns perceptible in human history is that of rulers and plots: The more a ruler fears conspiracies against him, the more likely he is to die as a result of one. |
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I wonder whether people in Moscow and St. Petersburg, who 100 years ago rang out 1905, had any idea what a momentous year they had lived through. The armed uprising in Moscow had just been suppressed, but the year that began with the Bloody Sunday demonstration on Jan. 9 revealed the breadth and depth of popular discontent with tsarist rule. |
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Cheney Hospitalized WASHINGTON (Reuters) — U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney was taken to a Washington hospital early on Monday, suffering from shortness of breath, CNN reported. The vice president was taken to George Washington University Hospital around 3 a. |
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JERUSALEM — Israel is allowing candidates for an upcoming Palestinian legislative election to campaign in Arab East Jerusalem as long as they do not belong to militant groups, the Israeli internal security minister said on Monday. |
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LONDON — Manchester United were held to a humiliating goalless draw by minor league Burton Albion in the FA Cup third round on Sunday as Alex Ferguson’s policy of playing a weakened team backfired for the second year running. United, Cup winners on a record 11 occasions and runners-up last season, fielded only a handful of first team regulars and looked distinctly ordinary on a sandy, bumpy pitch against a spirited Conference side of part-timers. |
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Issues Archive