|
|
|
 MOSCOW — Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev, Russia’s most wanted man, was killed overnight, handing a huge boost to President Vladimir Putin on Monday as he prepares to host the Group of Eight summit in St. Petersburg.
FSB security chief Nikolai Patrushev said Basayev, who had claimed responsibility for the bloody 2004 Beslan school siege, had been about to mount an attack in southern Russia to mar the weekend G8 summit Putin will chair in St Petersburg. |
|
The international spotlight falls on St. Petersburg this weekend as it hosts the G8 summit, but while the publicity from the top event is expected to bring numerous benefits later — such as a boom in foreign tourists — security arrangements now are adversely affecting many aspects of life in the city, from traffic routes to court hearings, from volleyball games to funerals. |
|
MOSCOW — Police said Friday that the bodies of two elderly men were recently found in Bittsevsky Park, indicating that a suspect arrested in late June may not be the serial killer linked to more than a dozen attacks in the park since December.
The latest victims died after being repeatedly struck on the head — the trademark style of the so-called Bittsevsky Maniac, a police spokesman said. |
|
MOSCOW — Burda Publishers is closing its popular magazine Cool only a week after the Prosecutor General’s Office demanded that the publication and two other youth-oriented titles be shut down for “exploiting” teenagers’ interest in sex and drugs. |
|
The Associated Press
KIEV — Ukraine’s pro-Russian Party of the Regions has formed a coalition with two other parties in parliament and proposed its leader, Viktor Yanukovych, as prime minister — a stunning reversal of fortunes that sets the stage for further political conflict.
“Revolutions and rallies are over. |
All photos from issue.
|
|
|
|
|
St. Petersburg businesses are uncertain about what the G8 meeting will do to their profits over the weekend, but think that the summit on July 15-17 will be beneficial for the city’s image.
Those who operate tours, sell souvenirs, and run restaurants believe that the summit will improve St. |
|
MOSCOW — After approving a bill on extremist activity that critics say will help stifle the opposition ahead of national elections, State Duma deputies adjourned Saturday for summer vacation. |
|
MOSCOW — Russia will use robots to defend its borders, and President Vladimir Putin does not remember the first time he had sex.
After wrapping up an online conference last Thursday, Putin took a few minutes to answer several of the most-popular questions sent in by Russian Internet users, Kommersant reported Friday. |
|
Beauty, darkness and nostalgia define St. Petersburg for Marco Ricci, Consul General of Italy in St. Petersburg, who is due to start a new job as head of the commercial section of the Italian embassy in Moscow soon after the meeting of the G8 leaders this weekend. |
|
WARSAW, Poland — A leading human rights watchdog has downplayed the notion that Russia lags behind Europe in respect for human rights and lays the blame for the negative portrayal on a misinterpretation of the numbers of human rights complaints received by the European Court of Human Rights. |
|
Chaika’s Pick Approved
MOSCOW (AP) — The Federation Council on Friday approved the new Prosecutor General Yury Chaika’s decision to replace five top deputies and the country’s chief military prosecutor. |
|
|
|
|
MOSCOW — Gazprom reported Friday a 49 percent rise in net profit due to greater gas sales, higher prices and new oil assets, but the results missed expectations and the shares fell.
The world’s largest gas producer, which covers a quarter of Europe’s needs in the fuel, said its net profit audited to International Accounting Standards rose to 311 billion rubles ($11. |
|
MOSCOW — The late delivery of new excise labels for imported wines and spirits, due July 1, is denting grocery chains’ sales and leaving drinkers with a narrow choice of local vodka and beer. |
|
WASHINGTON — The United States said it is beginning negotiations with Russia on a potentially lucrative nuclear energy accord, but made clear any deal would be conditional on Moscow’s full cooperation in US attempts to block Iranian nuclear ambitions. |
|
Bank Ups Assets
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — International Bank of St. Petersburg increased net assets to 17.3 billion rubles ($644 million) in the first half of this year, giving a 12 percent increase on the same period last year, Interfax reported Friday. |
|
MOSCOW — The State Duma voted on Friday to approve the second of three readings of a law to give tax breaks to firms developing new oil deposits or trying to extract the last drops from old wells.
The law aims to increase exploration by setting a zero rate of mineral extraction tax on certain greenfield sites, giving oil companies an incentive to develop resources that have previously been too remote or complex to be economically viable. |
|
MOSCOW — Russian-Ukrainian relations have soured in yet another field as legislators Friday called for all Ukrainian metals to be stopped from entering the Russian market. |
|
MOSCOW — Billionaire Roman Abramovich has placed a bid for a stake in Rosneft, giving a boost to the Russian oil group’s planned initial public offering, the Financial Times newspaper said Saturday.
The newspaper, citing unidentified people familiar with the details, said Abramovich made the bid earlier last week. |
|
MOSCOW — For hundreds of thousands of people across Russia and the former Soviet Union, the person they credit with giving them the power to take control of their lives is not Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin but a tall Swede with an uncanny resemblance to Arnold Schwarzenegger. |
|
Competition on St. Petersburg’s broadband market is heating up — a third company with citywide coverage has announced its arrival on the market, which is only good news for consumers.
Only two local ADSL-providers offer coverage over the whole city — one of them is Web Plus, which has been developing its service since 2000, and Northwest Telecom, a local telephone monopoly. |
|
We interviewed the director general of Television Company Saint-Petersburg (TCT), Viktor Pinchuk, to find out more about the third pretender on the citywide broadband market. |
|
At their annual gathering each summer, the leaders of the rich world promise to fix some pressing global problem — and usually fail to deliver. This month’s Group of Eight summit in Russia takes statecraft to a whole new level. Global leaders have “energy security” on the agenda. |
|
The Ukrainian magazine Korrespondent and investment company Dragon Capital recently compiled a list of that country’s richest people. The list includes only 30 names, and the total worth of the Ukrainian top 30 is a bit more than $38 billion. |
|
Thanks to unprecedented oil prices, the Kremlin has tons of money. It is now trying to use this windfall to modernize the country and has given tasks to both of the likely presidential successors. First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has been assigned the four national projects, but it is becoming clearer there that the money is simply going to go to the bureaucrats. |
|
|
|
|
A recent game of musical chairs in Russia’s law enforcement agencies saw Vladimir Ustinov, the long-serving prosecutor general who managed the case against Mikhail Khodorkovsky and the dismantlement of his company, Yukos, exchange posts with Justice Minister Yury Chaika. |
|
President Vladimir Putin’s contact with the Russian public via the Internet last week was illuminating. The questions submitted for Putin were as interesting as the answers the president gave. |
|
“Read Dostoevsky.” That was the advice presidential deputy chief of staff Vladislav Surkov, reportedly President Vladimir Putin’s top ideological aide, offered Westerners seeking to better understand Russia. What exactly did he mean? And why Dostoevsky instead of, say, Gogol, whose characters, grotesque in their greed, would be right at home in post-Soviet Russia?
That Russians elude understanding — because they are too different, too deep or too irrational — is an image promoted by both Russians themselves and foreigners. |
|
In the mystic haze of midsummer, a most unlikely Oberon stepped forth last week to fling a spray of fairy light across the murk, rousing the ill-enchanted sleepers with the hope that dawn had finally come again. |
|
|
|
|
Nielsen Hitched Again
NEW YORK (AP) — Brigitte Nielsen, the model and actress, married her fifth husband, Mattia Dessi, on Saturday — 17 months after a ceremony that wasn’t legal because she hadn’t finished divorcing hubby No. 4, People magazine reported on its web site. |
|
JERUSALEM — When Roman Polanski adapted the story of orphan Oliver Twist to the big screen, he drew inspiration from his own childhood during World War II, the director told a news conference on Sunday. |
|
DILI, East Timor — Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos-Horta took office as East Timor’s new prime minister on Monday, a move aimed at ending weeks of political crisis in Asia’s newest nation.
President Xanana Gusmao swore in Ramos-Horta under the watchful gaze of rifle-carrying Australian commandos heading a 2,500-strong international peacekeeping force in East Timor. |
|
Kosovo War Crimes
THE HAGUE (Reuters) — Former Serbian President Milan Milutinovic, a close ally of late Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, went on trial in The Hague on Monday with five others also accused of war crimes in Kosovo in 1999. |
|
|
|
|
LONDON — Amelie Mauresmo won an emotional first Wimbledon singles title on Saturday, recovering from a torrid start to beat Justine Henin-Hardenne 2-6 6-3 6-4.
The world No. 1, who also took this year’s Australian Open when a sick Henin-Hardenne retired, is the first Frenchwoman to win here since Suzanne Lenglen in 1925. |
|
LONDON — Roger Federer wrapped up his fourth consecutive Wimbledon title on Sunday, finally subduing Spain’s Rafael Nadal 6-0 7-6 6-7 6-3.
It looked as though the world No. |
|
BERLIN — Italy won the World Cup for the fourth time on Sunday when they beat France 5-3 on penalties after the teams finished level at 1-1 in a dramatic final that saw French captain Zinedine Zidane sent off in extra time.
After David Trezeguet hit the bar with his spot kick the Italians kept their nerve to end their penalties curse with fullback Fabio Grosso converting the fifth and decisive kick. |
|
PARIS — France woke up with the bitter taste of defeat on Monday after its 5-3 loss on penalties to Italy in the World Cup final, but the question on everyone’s lips was: “Why did Zinedine Zidane do it?”
In his last game for his country, the French captain and midfield genius was sent off for head butting an opponent, an ignominious end to a glorious career and that ensured he missed the penalty shoot-out that decided the game. |
|
There was more than a hint of anticlimax at Kirov Stadium on Thursday.
FC Zenit St. Petersburg failed to give its historic home a winning sendoff and Dick Advocaat missed the chance to kickstart the club’s season in his first game in charge.
The 56-year-old stadium, a monument to the Soviet era, is to be demolished to make way for a new one that will conform to standards set by UEFA, European football’s governing body. |
Temp: -2°C moderate or heavy snow showers
Issues Archive