LOCAL NEWS

FORUM MOOD IS BRIGHTER THAN LAST YEAR

The climate, as always, was on people’s minds as the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum got underway Thursday, with ministers touting favorable investment conditions and business leaders just happy to see the sun.

Last year’s forum, the 13th by organizers’ count, managed to justify its unlucky number in every way.

WORLD BANK CUTS GDP FORECAST TO 4.5%

MOSCOW — The World Bank cut Russia’s 2010 gross domestic product growth forecast to 4.5 percent from a previous 5 percent to 5.5 percent, citing poor first-quarter data and new global risks, and saying recovery is likely to be bumpy, Reuters reported.

In Brief

Scarlet Sails

ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — Aliye Parusa, the annual St. Petersburg school-leavers’ celebration, will take place in the city center on Saturday night. The large-scale event, which takes its name from Alexander Grin’s short story “Aliye Parusa” (Scarlet Sails), is expected to gather about 35,000 people on the Strelka of Vasilyevsky Island and Palace Square.

NATIONAL NEWS

COURT GIVES IMMUNITY TO PRESIDENTIAL STAFF

MOSCOW — A Moscow court has effectively pronounced the president’s men untouchables by throwing out a lawsuit against a member of the presidential administration on the grounds that such complaints infringe on the president’s immunity from prosecution.

The complaint was filed by the St. Petersburg-based Institute for Information Freedom Development, which had tried to sue a Kremlin official for ignoring its requests, the institute’s director, Yelena Golubeva, told the St. Petersburg Times on Wednesday.

But the Tverskoi District Court dismissed the suit against Mikhail Mikhailovsky, who heads the Kremlin’s department for processing citizens’ complaints.

Suing officials “who are directly subordinate to the president” in court “means a direct or indirect interference in the constitutional and legal … activities of the president who enjoys immunity as the head of state,” the court said in the late April ruling, posted on the institute’s web site, Svobodainfo.

RURIK DYNASTY CLAIMS KREMLIN

MOSCOW — Descendants of the 1,000-year-old Rurik dynasty, which ruled Russia until the 16th century, have demanded unrestricted access to the Kremlin in the name of “historical justice.”

The Moscow Arbitration Court held a preliminary hearing Wednesday on the lawsuit filed by the Princes foundation, which represents the descendants of Rurik, a legendary Viking considered the founder of Kievan Rus.

OPINION

RUSSIA’S ZONE OF RESPONSIBILITY

Until only recently, the territory of the former Soviet Union appeared to be a vast geopolitical battlefield on which major world powers fought it out for the choicest “trophies.” Today, everything has changed. Almost every major power has run up against its own dire economic and political problems.

ALL EYES ON LUZHKOV AND RAKHIMOV

With the reappointment of Nizhny Novgorod Governor Valery Shantsev and the appointment of long-time Sakha Prime Minister Yegor Borisov as governor of that region, President Dmitry Medvedev has now appointed 42 governors, or more than half of Russia’s total.

CULTURE

TO SEE PICASSO AND DIE

With the National Picasso Museum in Paris closed for renovation until 2012, its collection — the largest in the world — is currently on tour. The masterpieces have already created a furor in Moscow, and now it is St. Petersburg’s turn. The exhibition that has set record attendance levels of 3,000 to 4,000 people a day opens in the State Hermitage on Saturday.

WORD’S WORTH

×àñòíûé: private, individual, specific, particular.

×àñòíûé is an interesting word. The adjective from the noun ÷àñòü (part of a whole), it describes things that are individual in some way or concern individual people, their money and rights.

BEST OF THE FESTIVAL FAVORITES

St. Petersburg’s annual international film festival will award its griffin statuettes next week during the peak of the White Nights season.

The 18th “Festival of Festivals” opens on Wednesday, promising a wide variety of films from around the world. This year’s program includes 100 feature films by Russian, French, Israeli, Norwegian, Czech and American directors.

FAT FEST

Nutritionists and dieticians, beware: This review contains scenes of a calorific, waistband-stretching nature that health-conscious readers may find distressing.

FEATURES

THE ART OF PIETRA DURA: KEEPING A TRADITION ALIVE

Artistic duo Marina Karpova and Marat Akbarov are a rare find: Two of only a handful of St. Petersburg artists proficient in the ancient craft of pietra dura — the inlaying of highly polished marble and stones to produce bold, eye-catching murals and artifacts.

The technique, which originated in ancient Rome, is largely considered to be a decorative art and constitutes the joining of stones of various sizes to create an image.

DESSAY TO FIND HER VOICE AT MARIINSKY CONCERT HALL

Soprano Natalie Dessay, the internationally famed queen of belcanto repertoire, renowned for turning her concert programs into full-scale shows and injecting a heavy dose of drama into her every entrance, is coming to town for just one performance at the Mariinsky Concert Hall on Friday, June 18.