LOCAL NEWS

GERMAN SCHOOL PREPARES TO OPEN

The German federal government will be opening a school in St. Petersburg on Sept. 1 where almost all subjects will be taught in the German language.

The school, which is ready to receive German, Russian and foreign pupils, will offer the traditional German school program and German school certificate.

“Our goal is to become one of the top schools in St. Petersburg,” said Marcus Stadthaus, head of the Culture and Press Department at the German Consulate in St. Petersburg.

At the preliminary stage the school will offer its program to pupils from the first to the seventh grade. Later the school will add another grade each year, up to the 12th. The school will also have a kindergarten which children can attend from the age of three.

WINNIE THE POOH DEBUTS ON EXTREMISM LIST

MOSCOW — Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Winnie the Pooh share a dubious honor: Anyone who depicts either of them with a swastika can be punished under the law.

The Justice Ministry published the latest — and biggest — update to its list of extremist materials on its web site this week, and many of the 414 new entries are so vague or controversial that analysts say they threaten to discredit the list all together.

CHARITIES COME TO AID OF ORPHANAGE FOR NEW SCHOOL YEAR

Two local charities have joined forces in a campaign aimed at helping children at a Gatchina-based orphanage to get school supplies. Usually, the city’s orphans get everything they need free from stores, but this year many shops have stopped donating school supplies, citing financial difficulties resulting from the economic crisis.

POWER INDUSTRY TO FACE TIGHTER CONTROLS

MOSCOW — As the power industry recovers from the shock of last week’s disaster at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydropower plant, the government was told to develop regulations to keep price volatility — for wholesale power and generators’ shares — in check.

NATIONAL NEWS

DRUNKS, UNDER-14S FACE LIMITS ON DOG-WALKING

The St. Petersburg administration discussed the first draft of a bill on walking dogs last week, with plans to fine owners for walking dogs without muzzles, Fontanka reported.

The draft bill was drawn up on the orders of St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko following a series of vicious dog attacks in the city and its suburbs this summer.

Matviyenko also promised that lawmaker will take into consideration the opinion of dog owners, who have complained that they have witnessed a wave of aggression towards dogs.

The draft bill proposes dividing dogs into two groups — those under 30 centimeters in length or younger than three months and those that are over those limits.

DEMOCRATS MARK OWN FLAG DAY

While the authorities celebrated Russian Flag Day with pomp and ceremony on Saturday, they attempted to hush up a meeting dedicated to the victory over the 1991 coup — an event which took the then-banned tricolor flag as its emblem.

ALLEGED HIJACKERS OF CARGO SHIP IN COURT

MOSCOW — The eight suspected hijackers of the Arctic Sea cargo ship that went missing in the Atlantic Ocean appeared in a Moscow court on Friday to be formally charged with piracy and kidnapping.

“We were saving ourselves, we were drowning,” Igor Borisov, 45, told the  Basmanny District Court.

IN BRIEF

Korean Drowns

ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — A Korean boy fell off the St. Petersburg museum ship Aurora and drowned in the Neva River on Monday, Interfax reported.

LOCAL BUSINESS

WATCHDOG THREATENS TO REIN IN OIL GIANTS

MOSCOW — Anti-monopoly chief Igor Artemyev promised an imminent crackdown on the country’s oil producers if they continue their tactics of collusion, saying rules going into effect Sunday would give him expanded powers to punish violations.

“Greediness must be contained,” Artemyev said at a news conference Friday.

PAYMENTS DOUBLED FOR DAM VICTIMS

MOSCOW — Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Friday ordered that compensation be doubled to 2 million rubles ($63,200) to the families of victims killed in the Siberian dam disaster.