LOCAL NEWS

Fashion Show Sparks Debate

As the most significant regional fashion event, Defile na Neve, prepares to open its 13th season in April, industry experts are surprised by the absence of graduates’ debuts at the show.

“We expected interest from the graduates of Russia’s colleges with their degree collections, but this season we won't have any of them at all,” said Irina Ashkinadze, head of Defile na Neve, speaking at a press conference last week.

NATIONAL NEWS

EIGHT JAILED IN NOVOSIBIRSK FOR ATTACKING IMMIGRANTS

MOSCOW — A Novosibirsk regional court on Tuesday found eight skinheads guilty of carrying out four racially motivated attacks on Tajik and Uzbek immigrants, but threw out charges they had incited ethnic hatred.

Five defendants were sentenced to six to 10 years in prison in Novosibirsk, while the other three were given suspended sentences, Interfax reported.

2 POLICEMEN CONVICTED OVER SUSPECT’S DEATH

MOSCOW — A Moscow court on Wednesday convicted two police officers of negligence in the death of detainee Alexander Pumane, who was picked up driving a car rigged with explosives in 2004.

On Eve of Conscription Draft, Ryzhkov Asks Ivanov to Resign

MOSCOW — Days ahead of the spring draft, liberal State Duma Deputy Vladimir Ryzhkov walked into a Defense Ministry office on Wednesday to submit a letter urging Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov to resign over a hazing that forced the amputation of a conscript’s legs and genitals.

Valentina Melnikova, a fellow co-leader of the opposition Republican Party, also got inside the ministry’s mail department at 19 Ulitsa Znamenka, which is within sight of the Kremlin, but guards behind the door pushed out activists and reporters who tried to follow.

LOCAL BUSINESS

TRADEMARK AMENDMENT PROTECTS OWNERS’ RIGHTS

New legislation is set to prevent the unauthorized use of registered trademarks on the internet. Although designed to protect property rights, experts said the reforms would lead to a number of contradictions.

If amendments to the fourth part of the Civil Code are approved, a domain will become a legally protected item.

PUTIN: U.S. DELAYING WTO ENTRY

MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday accused the U.S. of “artificially” holding back progress in talks on Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organisation, adding to a chill in relations between the two countries.

IN BRIEF

Sibneft Center

ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — St. Petersburg’s legislative assembly has approved a law on the construction of a business center for the use of Sibneft, the oil giant bought last year by Gazprom for $13.1 billion. In contrast to previous proposals, the project will be entirely financed by the city budget, Regnum news agency reported Wednesday.

SUAL TO INVEST $6BLN INTO PLANTS

MOSCOW — SUAL plans to pump $1 billion into factory upgrades and up to $5 billion into construction of new facilities in a bid to almost double aluminum production by 2013, company vice president Dmitry Yudin said Wednesday at a metals conference.

Report Forecasts Booming Decade for Tourist Market

Over the next ten years the country’s tourism market will boom, making it a world leader in the field and acting as a catalyst for wider economic and social development, a recently published report has claimed. The research on Russia’s tourism industry was presented by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) at the Astoria Hotel last week.

OPINION

THE TRICK TO UNDERSTANDING UKRAINE

Ukraine has held its first elections after the Orange Revolution. Without any qualification, they were free and fair with a high participation of 67 percent, showing that Ukraine has matured as a democracy. At the same time, Ukraine has become a parliamentary system, which will reinforce democracy in the country.

EVEN CATS CAN BE DANGEROUS

As she was walking to her car from the office of the United Civil Front last Tuesday, Marina Litvinovich, a top aide to Garry Kasparov, was attacked from behind.

CULTURE

REBEL IN THE DESERT

The Scottish band Simple Minds, which rose to prominence in the 1980s and influenced such bands as The Killers and The Bravery, is to perform in St. Petersburg on the strength of what singer and songwriter Jim Kerr describes as a “landmark” new album.

STANISLAW LEM (1921-2006)

Stanislaw Lem, a Polish science-fiction writer who, in novels like “Solaris” and “His Master’s Voice,” contemplated man’s place in the universe in sardonic and sometimes bleak terms, died Monday in Krakow, Poland.

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW

A troika of new one-act ballets and a reconstructed 19th century classic were highlights at the Sixth International Mariinsky Ballet Festival which concluded last week.

The quintessential 19th-century romantic French ballet, “Ondine,” originally created by Jules Perrot for London’s Covent Garden in 1843, has been successfully revived at the Mariinsky Theater by French choreographer Pierre Lacotte, Europe’s ultimate restorer of 19th century choreographic relics.

LOOKING FOR IVAN

Far from a single type, the soldiers who fought for the Soviet Union during World War II were as unlike each other as the civilians they defended, historian Catherine Merridale shows.

Chernov’s choice

Chumbawamba, the British radical pop band, performs in the city this week. According to singer and trumpet player Jude Abbott, the set will be largely based on the band's latest album, “A Singsong and a Scrap,” a folky collection of songs that includes Italian WWII song “Bella Ciao” and an unlikely a cappella cover version of “Bankrobber” by The Clash.

WORLD

BOMBS ARE OUT, BUSINESS IS IN, AS MOB STAYS OUT OF ELECTIONS

PALERMO, Italy — Years ago, when the Mafia wanted to influence elections in Sicily, it did not think twice about setting off a bomb or leaving a headless goat on a doorstep as a not-so-subtle message about whom to vote for.

Now, as Italy approaches April’s general election, the Sicilian Mafia has kept a low profile, a wait-and-see attitude aimed at not drawing attention to itself.

IN BRIEF

Woman PM Sworn In

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Jamaica’s first woman prime minister took office Thursday, pledging to tackle a crime rate that has made the Caribbean island one of the most dangerous places in the world.

SPORT

Jagr Breaks Record In Assist Feast

NEW YORK — Jaromir Jagr played his way into the New York record books on Wednesday, notching four assists in the Rangers 5-1 win over the cross-town Islanders to set the club’s single-season points record.

Jagr, who started the game tied for the record with Hall of Famer Jean Ratelle on 109 points, assisted on four straight goals to set a new mark at 113.