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MOSCOW — Russia said on Thursday it had achieved a breakthrough in talks with the United States on joining the World Trade Organization, but the U.S. side said no final deal had yet been reached.
Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying that Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin should sign a WTO protocol in St. Petersburg on Friday or Saturday, when the annual Group of Eight summit begins.
“I hope that a protocol will be signed before the G8, tomorrow or the day after,” Kudrin was quoted by Interfax as saying. |
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Alexander Demianchuk / Reuters
A bird flies above a sign in the form of the logo for the G8 summit, which is displayed on Moskovsky Prospekt on the way into the city from Pulkovo Airport. |
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Activists of the Second Russian Social Forum, a protest event organized by antiglobalist and opposition movements to coincide with the meeting of the Group of Eight heads-of-government summit this weekend, are crying foul as the police continue to arrest their members.
More than a dozen activists, including two Germans and one Swiss citizen, have been arrested and sentenced for 10 to 15 days in jail this week on grounds such as “urinating on a street,” “swearing at the police” and “violence,” said Vladimir Soloveichik, a left-wing politician and one of the forum’s organizers.
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PARIS — Russia and France condemned Israel’s strikes in Lebanon on Thursday as a dangerous escalation of the Middle East conflict but the United States said Israel had the right to defend itself.
President Bush defended Israel’s attack on Beirut airport, but warned the Israelis they should be careful not to weaken the fragile Lebanese government. |
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Sixty percent of respondents polled in G8 member states have no idea that their heads of government are meeting in St. Petersburg this weekend, according to recently released research. |
All photos from issue.
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Changes to telecommunications legislation have left a number of questions unanswered, even now that they have come into effect. One thing is clear; the changes have led a to serious restructuring of the telecommunications market, the effects of which have been felt by everyone – subscribers and operators – in both the mobile and fixed-line spheres. |
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MOSCOW — Russia will host joint field exercises with the United States on nuclear safety issues by the end of 2006, the Federal Atomic Energy Agency said Wednesday.
The move is one of a series of measures to boost nuclear security cooperation between the two countries, as agreed on by agency chief Sergei Kiriyenko and U. |
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MOSCOW — Rosneft looked to be heading for a valuation of more than $73 billion as bankers closed the books for bids Wednesday in the biggest Russian initial public offering in history. |
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The flagship U.S. network television show “The Today Show” visited St. Petersburg to broadcast live from Palace Square on Wednesday, offering American viewers a glimpse of the city in anticipation of the G8 summit taking place this weekend.
The show featured a pre-taped interview in which co-anchor Matt Lauer questioned President Vladimir Putin on democracy, Iran and North Korea. |
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In Shamil Basayev, public relations and terrorist cunning met in a diabolical combination. He cultivated his image as Russia’s public enemy No. 1. His most hideous operations, the seizure of the theater in Moscow in 2002 and of the school in Beslan in 2004, were orchestrated with the aim of terrifying the Russian public, attracting world media attention, embarrassing the Kremlin to the greatest possible degree and winning support from jihadists abroad — and in his own terms he succeeded. |
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Everyone knows that official holidays are little different from natural disasters in Russia. The older generation remembers how the Soviet Union prepared for the 1980 summer Olympics in Moscow. |
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 On the occasion of Bastille Day on Friday, the new director of the French Institute talks about French culture in St. Petersburg.
L’Art de vivre, or the art of living, is the essence of French culture for Helena Perroud, who is in her first year in St. |
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An exhibition of work by one of the giants of American art is on show at the State Hermitage Museum.
On U.S. Independence Day, the State Hermitage Museum celebrated by opening an exhibition of work by the influential American artist Willem de Kooning. |
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A 12-hour rock concert by opposition artists scheduled to be held at the Kirov Stadium on Sunday has been shut down by city authorities as part of a general crackdown on anti-G8 and political opposition activists during the G8 summit.
The concert was to be part of the Second Russian Social Forum, a gathering of various opposition groups timed to coincide with the G8 summit and dubbed a “counter-summit. |
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PUSAN, South Korea — Efforts to bring North Korea back to disarmament talks were in tatters on Thursday as Pyongyang stormed out of a meeting with the South and a senior U.S. diplomat left the region after a week of shuttle diplomacy.
The deadlock threw the spotlight back on wrangling over a UN resolution censuring North Korea for its July 5 missile tests, which has pitted Japan against China and Russia. |
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TEHRAN, Iran — The Iranian president said on Thursday Iran would not abandon its right to nuclear technology in a defiant statement after Tehran’s case was referred back to the UN Security Council in its atomic dispute with the West. |
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LONDON — The tiny South Pacific Ocean archipelago of Vanuatu is the happiest country on Earth, according to a study published measuring people’s wellbeing and their impact on the environment.
Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica and Panama complete the top five in the Happy Planet Index, compiled by the British think-tank New Economics Foundation. |
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PARIS — The Zinedine Zidane mystery is not quite solved yet.
In his first, highly awaited comments since the World Cup final, the French soccer star only partly explained what caused him to react in fury and head-butt an Italian opponent: repeated harsh insults about his mother and sister. |
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MOSCOW — Russia’s reigning champion CSKA Moscow kept its place on top of the Premier League after Kazan blew a chance to move into first place.
Kazan is tied with third-placed Nalchik on 21 points after being held to a 1-1 home draw by Torpedo Moscow on Wednesday, and that result left CSKA, which suffered an unexpected 2-1 defeat at the hands of minnows Rostov on Monday, top of the table with 22 points from 11 matches. |
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ROME — Athletics’ newest star Xavier Carter takes his first steps on the big stage when he faces Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner in the 400 meters at Rome’s Golden Gala meeting on Friday.
Carter was virtually unknown in Europe until Tuesday when he sped round the outside lane in Lausanne to win the 200 meters in a time of 19. |
Temp: -2°C moderate or heavy snow showers
Issues Archive