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MOSCOW — Russia’s billionaires nearly doubled their fortunes over the last year on the back of sky-high commodity prices, according to Forbes magazine’s annual list of the world’s richest people. The combined net worth of the country’s billionaires shot up from $90.6 billion in 2005 to $172.1 billion in 2006, Forbes said. |
All photos from issue.
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A syndicate of Western banks has filed a petition in the Moscow Arbitration Court for Yukos to be declared bankrupt, the oil firm said Friday, suddenly opening the way for the state to swallow up the remains of a company that has experienced the biggest reversal of fortunes since the Soviet collapse. |
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MOSCOW — The European Court of Human Rights has ordered Russia to pay $41,700 in compensation to a Rostov woman over her illegal arrest and beating in the second ruling this year in favor of a victim of police brutality. |
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ROSTOV-ON-DON — Thousands of police are searching Chechnya’s southern mountains for rebel warlord Shamil Basayev, Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov said Friday. “Up to 3,000 police are involved in a round-the-clock operation to capture Basayev,” Kadyrov said, according to a spokesman for Chechen President Alu Alkhanov. |
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MOSCOW — The teenage son of a State Duma deputy was abducted and beaten Friday by unidentified men, who freed him several hours later with a warning for his father, Interfax reported. |
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As Anatoly Chubais, the CEO of electricity giant Unified Energy Systems, battled blackouts in an unusually cold winter, his brother Igor was engaged in a very different struggle: the search for Russia’s roots and historical destiny. “When we were told about ‘the rotten West’ [during the Soviet era], we didn’t believe in it,” Igor Chubais said during a recent interview in his Moscow apartment. |
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MOSCOW — The government agency tasked with regulating the media is seeking to shut down a popular, independent online news agency in the Altai region called Bankfax after an anonymous reader posted a reprint of a caricature of the Prophet Mohammed on its forum and called for the destruction of Islam. |
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Shut out of the Kremlin-dominated political arena, liberal politician Irina Khakamada is trying to reach out to people with a new book — a serious, if informally written, guide to a woman’s place in the male-dominated world of Russian politics. Along with tales from the Kremlin, it offers tips on everything from fashion to how to avoid unwanted sexual advances from other politicians. |
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The construction of new nuclear storage facilities in Leningrad Olbast is unavoidable, experts have said, citing the critical level of radioactive waste in the region. “Russia has accumulated about 500 million cubic meters of radioactive waste, the total activity of which is 1. |
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The European Media Group has expanded its Russian portfolio with the acquisition of four radio stations: Radio 7 and Melodia in Moscow, Melodia and Eldorado in St. |
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MOSCOW / ALGIERS — Algeria has agreed to buy $7.5 billion worth of combat planes, air defense systems and other arms from Russia, the head of Russia’s state arms exporter, Rosoboronexport, said Friday. Russia also agreed to write off $4.74 billion of Algeria’s Soviet-era debt during a visit by President Vladimir Putin to the North African oil-exporting country, the first by a Russian leader in half a century. |
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MOSCOW – Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he suspected Washington was holding up Russian entry to the World Trade Organization (WTO) for political reasons. |
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MOSCOW — The chief of the country’s anti-monopoly watchdog vowed Friday to step up competition protection and accused those who had violated Russia’s anti-monopoly legislation of fuelling spiraling levels of inflation. Such businesses generate about 30 percent of Russia’s inflation, Federal Anti-Monopoly Service chief Igor Artemyev said at a breakfast organized by the Russian Managers Association. |
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With demand for IT specialists growing at 25 percent to 30 percent a year, software companies and universities are joining forces to offset a state system of education that is failing to keep pace with the booming industry. |
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This has probably happened to you. Say, if you have a child in a Russian state school. At some point or another you will hear something about a “donation.” The better the reputation of the school, the more you will have to “donate” and the more frequently. |
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When I first heard someone say “It’s not a good place to live because there aren’t enough jobs” (it was in San Diego, California) it sounded very strange. |
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When the new Labor Code went into effect in February 2002, many believed that it spelled the end of alternative trade unions. The code stipulated that only one union could represent the employees of any given enterprise. It therefore came as no surprise that the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia, or FNPR, a conservative holdover from official Soviet-era trade unions and a close ally of the United Russia party, hailed the new code as an historic victory. |
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U.S. government secrecy will not be an issue, I told myself optimistically, as I began to research a history of the Cuban missile crisis. After all, the classic showdown of the Cold War occurred more than four decades ago, well outside the 25-year period established by the administrations of both Bill Clinton and George W. |
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Last Friday, I turned 50. Growing up, I always knew that the 20th Congress of the Soviet Communist Party — the one that denounced Stalin’s personality cult — took place in 1956. |
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SHELKOVSKAYA, Russia — It started just after the midafternoon recess. As they lined up to return to class, Zareta Chimiyeva saw a girl in front of her collapse and begin convulsing wildly. Only a few minutes later, Zareta was at her desk when she smelled “a bad smell,” and started feeling ill. She rushed out of the classroom but made it only as far as the stairs. |
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AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE WASHINGTON — U.S. Republicans jockeyed for political advantage as they weighed the results of a “straw poll” of party faithful that provided an early test of several would-be contenders in the 2008 presidential election. Some 1,500 movers, shakers and donors gathered in Memphis, Tennessee for the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, with half a dozen prominent Republicans positioning themselves for the coveted top prize in U. |
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ROME — “Time and age have no effect on me,” Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi recently boasted, showing off the wonders of a face-lift and hair transplant that make him look younger than his 69 years. |
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ST. PETERSBURG — Denmark’s leading media law expert has described the cartoons which set off uproar in the Muslim world as “a magnificent specimen of Danish culture and newspaper tradition.” Oluf Jœrgensen gave his view of the 12 drawings of the prophet Mohammed that led to deadly riots worldwide in an interview with Illustreret Bunker, a Danish student monthly. |
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AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE SYDNEY — Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II began the first official function of her 15th visit to Australia with a visit to Sydney’s harbor that she described as rich in memories and symbolism. |
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MOSCOW — Russian champions CSKA beat last year’s runners-up Spartak 3-2 in a Moscow derby on Saturday to win the Supercup, the annual curtain-raiser to the season. The army side, who also won the UEFA and Russian Cups last year, twice came from behind to beat their arch-rivals, CSKA’s Brazilian newcomer Jo scoring the winner eight minutes from time. |
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SKA St. Petersburg continued its late season skid by self-destructing in a 2-1 loss to Khimik Voskresensk in the final game of the regular season of Russia’s Professional Hockey League at St. |
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AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE SAKHIR, Bahrain — Defending world champion Fernando Alonso resisted the reinvigorated threat of legendary former title-holder Michael Schumacher to win the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix. The 24-year-old Spaniard, the youngest champion in F1 history, steered his Renault through the torrid heat of a perfect sunny day in the Gulf to secure the ninth victory of his career. |
Temp: -2°C overcast 
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