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St. Petersburg's Channel 5 television station is to go national from Sunday, aiming to create an alternative discussion platform for those viewers who are unhappy with the current state of Russian television, the channel's management announced Wednesday."In Russia, there's an unmet demand for lively debates broadcast live, new faces, including experts and commentators; but most importantly, there is a serious absence of a place where people can discuss matters that truly worry them," said Alla Manilova, chair of the board of the directors of the Channel 5, speaking at a press conference Wednesday.
The channel broadcast nationally before 1998, when its federal airwaves were removed, but Manilova said that was simply a case of a regional television broadcast country-wide. |
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Dmitry Timofeyev / Reuters
Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II (c) stands over the coffin of Empress Maria Fyodorovna in the Peter and Paul Cathedral on Thursday. |
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PETROZAVODSK, Republic of Karelia — Sorting out customs formalities on the St. Petersburg-Helsinki train while in motion, rather than on the Russian-Finnish border and giving small regional towns the authority to sign direct agreements with foreign cities across the border, were among the ideas voiced at the Cross-border Co-operation between the Russian Federation and the European Union international conference being held in Petrozavodsk this week.
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ROME — Italian police on Wednesday located a 10-year-old Belarussian orphan girl kept in hiding for nearly three weeks by an Italian couple who feared she would be abused if she returned to the orphanage in her home country.The case of the girl, identified in Italy as Maria to protect her identity and in Belarus as Vika, short for Viktoria, has gripped Italy and stirred a dispute between the two countries — with Minsk complaining formally about what it called her "deliberate abduction. |
All photos from issue.
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CHELYABINSK — A Chelyabinsk military court on Tuesday convicted Junior Sergeant Alexander Sivyakov in a high-profile trial that has focused public attention on the problem of hazing in the armed forces.Prosecutors showed that Sivyakov forced Andrei Sychyov, a first-year conscript at the Chelyabinsk Armor Academy, to squat for several hours while beating him last New Year's Eve. |
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Gifts donated by schoolchildren in the U.K. to children cared for by the charity A Heart for Russia were delivered in St. Petersburg on Saturday.The parcels were collected in the U. |
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MOSCOW — Georgian authorities detained four Russian military officers and 12 civilians on Wednesday on spying charges, and Interior Ministry forces surrounded Russian military headquarters in Tbilisi to demand the handover of another officer, Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said.Moscow has threatened sanctions against Georgia if the officers are not released, Interfax reported. |
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The number of tourists visiting St. Petersburg is set to increase by up to 15 percent this year, local analysts have said. City authorities believe they can preserve this kind of growth without the advantages of being a special tourism zone.Earlier this year the Russian government announced a tender to award special tourism zone status and tax concessions to regions where tourism was not fulfilling its potential. |
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Baltika SalesnST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — Baltika brewery increased sales by 16 percent in July-August this year compared to the same period last year, Interfax reported Tuesday. |
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MOSCOW —A 16-page booklet unveiled Wednesday tells Russians what to do when faced with a corrupt official bent on extracting a backhander."Over the past 10 years, the number of bribes has increased by 10 times," said Andrei Przhezdomsky, the booklet's author and a member of the Public Chamber, set up by President Vladimir Putin to improve links between government and society. |
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Russia lost some of its competitive edge over the past year due to investor worries about bureaucratic favoritism, restrictions on foreigners and unethical corporate behavior, according to a new report. |
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A court in Chelyabinsk has sentenced Sergeant Alexander Sivyakov to four years in prison for causing Private Andrei Sychyov to lose his legs and genitals. On Tuesday, the court ruled that the sergeant had forced Sychyov to sit, with his legs half bent, for so long that the private's veins became blocked, leading to gangrene and the catastrophic surgeries. |
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Europe's best-kept secret is not that old Europe has second thoughts about the euro. Its best-kept secret is that new Europe has second thoughts about the merits of democracy. |
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Early in his first term, President Vladimir Putin repeatedly said that Russia had to overtake Portugal. While he was speaking about economics and has not mentioned this goal in recent years, Portugal might not be a bad place to start when it comes to traffic safety.In 2004, when the World Health Organization made traffic safety its focus for the year, Portugal was singled out as having the worst road fatalities record per capita in Europe. |
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 The walls tell stories in the picturesque Swiss town of Lucerne.LUCERNE, Switzerland — Engulfed in frescoes and murals, Lucerne is a town of noble pastimes. Classical concerts, art vernisages, panoramic boat trips, idyllic promenades and fine dining define the circle of Lucerne's premier temptations. |
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Promoter Tusovka invites Finnish rock acts and DJs in the spirit of cross-border musical co-operation.Short distances notwithstanding, Finnish rock music went virtually unheard in St. |
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The Kaiser Chiefs played in Moscow back when the now-huge band had released only its first single and was obscure even in the U.K. New York-based Scissor Sisters, which recently topped the charts in the U.K. and added a third concert to a couple of sold-out Wembley dates, played in Moscow just after it had released its infectious recording debut. The Fall, seen by many as the U.K.'s all-time best band, has played in Moscow twice.None of these relevant bands have ever performed in St. Petersburg, where music promoters seem to be focused on throwaway lounge electronic acts, danceable and the drink-happy Slavic sound of such bands as Goran Bregovic and His Wedding and Funeral Band or, of all things, a gastronomic festival. |
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 A host of international, experimental, avant-garde and simply weird artists will land in St. Petersburg to take part in the APosition Music Forum this weekend, but there will be also a room for a political statement. |
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Earlier this month the State Hermitage Museum hosted an important international symposium on the role of the museum in the contemporary art market.Raising curatorial issues about modern art collections with the directors of some of the world's most important classical museums, including Hermitage director Mikhail Piotrovsky, "The Museum and the Art Market" event also invited experts from the commercial art market including dealers, auctioneers and critics. |
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Despite numerous complaints by city residents, the Sixth "Contemporary Art in the Traditional Museum" Festival opened without a hitch last weekend.To be fair, the complaints were part of the opening event, in the form of one of the works of art — a performance by the "Complaints Choir" of St. |
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KABUL — Militant attacks in eastern Afghanistan, near the border with Pakistan, have tripled in some areas, the U.S. military said on Thursday, despite a peace agreement on the Pakistani side meant to end the violence.A Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan has spawned the worst violence since U. |
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EU-Iran ProgressnBERLIN (Reuters) — Europe failed to reach a deal with Iran on halting nuclear enrichment during talks in Berlin on Thursday, but progress was made and further discussions will take place, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said. |
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LONDON — Holders Barcelona left it late to snatch a 1-1 Champions League draw at Werder Bremen while a Didier Drogba hat-trick guided Group A rivals Chelsea to a convincing 3-1 win over Levski Sofia on Wednesday.The place to be for excitement, though, was Anfield where Liverpool led Galatasaray 3-0 early in the second half before squeezing home 3-2 in a heart-stopping finale. |
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NEW YORK — Albert Pujols smacked an eighth inning three-run homer as the faltering St. Louis Cardinals snapped a seven-game losing skid with a 4-2 win over the San Diego Padres on Wednesday. |
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MOSCOW — Ivan Ivanovich Sergeyev, known as the father of Russian golf, remembers a time when he was unable to even talk about his sport."Forget about playing it, it was forbidden even to mention such a word," Sergeyev told Reuters in an interview.
"Like tennis, it was considered a bourgeois game, not worthy of the clean-living image of a Soviet citizen. |
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SEOUL — India's Sania Mirza rallied past top seed Martina Hingis 4-6 6-0 6-4 in the second round of the Korea Open on Thursday, gaining quick revenge on the former number one for a defeat in Kolkata last week. |
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