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Pollution, crime and the climate are just a few of the factors that make St. Petersburg one of the least attractive cities in the world for expatriates to live in, according to a new report. In a new survey by ECA International, a human resources organization, based on 257 cities worldwide, St. Petersburg is placed in the bottom third in terms of being a desirable city to live, work and have a family for foreigners coming from abroad. The city’s high pollution, high crime rate and harsh northern climate are cited as factors that have put St. Petersburg at 174th on the list among Western European expatriates, 182nd among North Americans and 225th among Asians. Four Russian cities, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk are all in the bottom half of the 257 cities evaluated in all three regional categories. |
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FASHION CAPITAL
Modny Pr / For The St. Petersburg Times
A model sporting a design by the St. Petersburg fashion house Kogel (designers Asya Kogel and Nadya Orlova) at the Moscow Fashion Week which came to an end on Thursday. |
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MOSCOW — A cult leader who promised to resurrect children killed in the Beslan school attack has been detained on suspicion of fraudulently obtaining money from parents of the victims, Moscow prosecutors said Thursday. Police detained Grigory Grabovoi during a seance Wednesday evening at the Kosmos Hotel in northeast Moscow. Around 30 followers tried to prevent the police from taking him away, but police were able to take him out through a back entrance, NTV television reported.
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Zenit St. Petersburg gave Sevilla a fright in the UEFA Cup quarterfinal second-leg tie on Thursday night, but could not do enough to overturn the 4-1 loss suffered in Spain a week ago. The Spaniards were certainly made to work for their 1-1 draw on a night of pelting snow that also saw each side have a player sent off and a Sevilla penalty clawed away. |
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MOSCOW — The Constitutional Court on Thursday ruled that grave crimes committed by the military in Chechnya would be tried by military tribunals until the use of juries is introduced in the southern republic, Chechen and Russian officials said. |
All photos from issue.
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STRASBOURG, France — The European Union vowed on Wednesday to keep up pressure on Belarus to open up to democracy and free activists, as EU lawmakers gave a warm reception to the country’s opposition leader. The EU is set next Monday to ban President Alexander Lukashenko and about 30 other officials from entering the bloc after a March 19 presidential election it condemned as rigged, and the arrests of hundreds of opposition protesters. |
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MOSCOW — Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Wednesday that the military should be empowered to investigate itself, in an effort to shield the armed forces from outside prosecutors investigating high-profile hazing incidents. |
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MOSCOW — Two Council of Europe envoys on Wednesday urged Russia to fulfill its pledge to abolish the death penalty as it prepares to take over the rotating presidency in the continent’s top human rights body. Belgian Senate member Luc Van den Brande and Theodoros Pangalos of Greece, who monitor Russia’s compliance with its commitments to the council, told reporters Russia’s failure to abolish capital punishment was a concern. |
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Local construction companies face an imminent crisis if they continue to be overlooked in the lucrative market of foreign-investment projects, industry experts said Wednesday at a press conference at Rosbalt news agency. To support local firms in their bid to win contracts, City Hall and professionals from the construction industry have proposed introducing voluntary accreditation that would provide foreign investors with reliable information about local firms. |
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Local innovator, Mekhanobr-Tekhnika, is to use a waste-recycling plant as the basis for a new technopark for small and medium-sized companies, the company announced in a statement Tuesday. |
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VolgaTelecom Bond ST. PETERSBURG (Reuters) —Regional fixed-line operator VolgaTelecom plans to issue a seven-year 3 billion ruble ($108.9 million) bond this summer, a company source said on Thursday. “The company plans to place the bonds this summer depending on the current climate of Russia’s ruble bond market,” the source told Reuters. |
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MOSCOW — Moldovan and Georgian officials on Wednesday denied Russian allegations that they produce poor-quality wine and questioned the validity of Russia’s March 27 ban on wine imports from their countries. |
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This American television season, the Fox TV hit series “24” revolves around the threat of chemical terrorism. Thus far, a gang of Russian separatists has stolen pressurized canisters from the U.S. military containing “Sentox” nerve gas (presumably sarin) and planted them in the ventilation systems of a shopping mall and the Los Angeles office of the (fictional U. |
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Several months have passed since former presidential chief of staff Dmitry Medvedev was picked to head up the government’s new national projects program. |
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 Yury Mukhin, the first electric guitar player in the Soviet Union, once rubbed shoulders with the nation’s elite. Then he fell into obscurity — until a sudden change of fortune last year. He was more into melodies and musicianship than the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle, which is probably why Yury Mukhin is still around to talk about being the Soviet Union’s first electric guitarist, charming his KGB minders and sleeping on the balcony of cosmonaut Yury Gagarin. |
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An outdoor exhibition, “Geography,” running through May 3, on the wall of the Twelve Collegia Building and at the winter garden gallery of the St. Petersburg State University chemistry faculty presents paintings by Leonid Yatsenko. |
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Chumbawamba performed in St. Petersburg last week after last year’s no-show, turning up with something that local music fans have rarely experience — a minimum of instruments (guitar, accordion and sparsely used trumpet) and five voices, the good half of the concert being a cappella. |
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A concert by French jazz musicians takes place at the Music Hall on Sunday as part of the second “Le Jazz” program of concerts to be held in Russia. Headlining the program is accordionist Richard Galliano and his Tangaria Quartet. |
 Experimental singer and songwriter Nina Nastasia on tour in St. Petersburg Nina Nastasia, an interesting New York-based singer and songwriter who puts her unusual, strangely mesmerizing songs into sometimes bold experimental arrangements, was one of the favorite artists of the late British DJ and music guru John Peel in the last several years. |
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The latest in a slew of novels written by women in English about the Siege of Leningrad, Debra Dean’s debut is a lyrical account of a Siege survivor and her later battle with Alzheimer’s Disease set in the Hermitage during World War II and modern-day Seattle. |
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KATHMANDU, Nepal — A fierce attack on a town by Maoist guerrillas left 22 people dead in Nepal, hours before a general strike against the king’s grip on power shut down the Himalayan nation on Thursday, authorities said. The leftist rebels, who have been fighting for the last decade to topple the monarchy, struck Malangwa, a town 350 kilometers southeast of Kathmandu, late on Wednesday. |
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Hamas Official Freed GAZA (Reuters) — Israeli security forces took a member of the new Hamas-led Palestinian cabinet into custody on Thursday at a roadblock on the outskirts of Jerusalem and released him five hours later. |
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TURIN, Italy — Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger praised the way his team controlled their goalless Champions League quarterfinal second-leg against Juventus on Wednesday to book their first semi-final appearance. “I felt that overall we controlled the game well and as long as Juventus didn’t score the game was not on for us,” said the Frenchman, whose team face Spain’s Villarreal in the last four. |
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Issues Archive