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President Vladimir Putin, accused by critics of trying to stifle the media, insisted that reports of the death of free speech in Russia were exaggerated. Putin, marking Press Day, said the state welcomed criticism. But at the same time, he sternly reminded journalists of their duties and responsibilities. |
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The St. Petersburg City Court heard opening statements Friday by psychiatrist and medical doctor Dmitry Isayev, who is charged with taking bribes to issue phony bills of questionable psychiatric health to draftees wanting to escape Russia's compulsory military service. |
 Just a month after President Vladimir Putin pleaded with fans to stop watering the deepening grass roots of presidential worship, a local businessman has installed a shiny brass plaque on a tree planted by Putin in 1995. The still diminutive maple tree was planted on Malodetskosyelsky Pros pect, opposite the Canadian Consulate, while Putin was still a member of late Mayor Anatoly Sobchak's government in an act of goodwill toward the Canadian government. |
All photos from issue.
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YESSENTUKI, Southern Russia - European parliamentarians arrived in the Caucasus on Sunday, voicing concern at the pace of Russian investigations into atrocities in Chechnya and at the kidnapping of a U.S. aid worker. Britain's Lord Judd, head of a delegation from the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly, traveled to Yessentuki to meet military prosecutors charged with acting on allegations of human rights abuses by Russian soldiers. |
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MOSCOW - Vladimir Semichastny, former head of the Soviet KGB security service and a key figure in the 1964 plot to oust Soviet leader Nikita Khru shchev, died Friday at age 77, the radio station Ekho Moskvy reported. |
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MOSCOW - Prosecutor General Vla di mir Ustinov tore into his colleagues and the country's businessmen and politicians Friday, saying the legal system was riddled with corruption and government officials took more bribes than ever. Ustinov launched his tirade a day after President Vladimir Putin praised prosecutors for their political independence and democratic outlook as he tries to fulfill an election vow to submit Russia to a "dictatorship of the law. |
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U.S. Asks About Arms PARIS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has raised with Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov the reported movement of nuclear weapons into Kaliningrad, a senior State Department official said Friday. |
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SYDNEY, Australia - The discovery in a core of ancient polar ice of evidence of a sudden Antarctic temperature rise thousands of years ago has added fuel to the debate on global warming. The find, by scientists working on an ice core taken several kilometers beneath the surface, is the first evidence of rapid warming in the Antarctic and matches existing evidence of warmer bouts in past eons in the North-Pole region. |
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ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson urged OPEC on Sunday to agree to a modest, two-phased oil output cut at its January meeting in order to spare the world economy any harmful effects from higher oil prices. |
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NEW YORK - Wall Street's new-found confidence is seen passing its biggest hurdle this week, with investors expected to toss aside poor results as the earnings season gets underway, and hoist the stock market higher. "The longer-term investors have changed their psychology and are now willing to put money to work in the market," said Paul Cherney, a market analyst at S&P Marketscope. |
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WASHINGTON - The Justice Department and states that brought the Microsoft Corp. antitrust case urged an appeals court on Friday to uphold findings that the software powerhouse broke the law and should be split in two to prevent future violations. |
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RUSSIA is currently considering a major reorganization of its electricity monopoly, Unified Energy Systems. Before moving ahead, however, the country should carefully consider California's experience in reforming its own energy system. This year, shortly after implementing a deregulation plan, Californians face rolling blackouts and the future of Silicon Valley, the driving force behind the state's recent economic boom, is imperiled. |
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Tax Withholding Rules Unclear in New System NOW that Russia's 13 percent income-tax rate has gone into effect as of Jan. 1 of this year, I thought it might be a good opportunity to address some of the issues that go along with this reduced rate. |
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MOSCOW - Ever given cash to a plumber who fixed your toilet or offered 50 rubles for a car ride from a restaurant? You, along with more than 90 percent of Russia's population, are participating in the country's shadow economy, according to Igor Klyamkin and Lev Timofeyev, authors of a new book "Shadowy Russia. |
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MOSCOW - New customs duties for the export of oil and oil products went into effect on Monday, with the higher price echelons seeing an increase in the tariff level. |
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MOSCOW - The EBRD and Tokyo are in preliminary talks about investing into a $10 billion project to further develop the oil and gas fields under the waters off Sakhalin Island. "We don't have many projects in the Russian Far East and so we are interested," Jean Lemierre, president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, told the Financial Times during a visit to Tokyo last week. |
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MOSCOW - While the nine-year wait continues for the government to set the rules for the conversion of large tracts of the country from public to private hands, the number of hectares owned by the state is actually growing. |
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MOSCOW - The good news for domestic producers? Spending in nearly every category of consumer goods is growing and sales in many retail sectors have reached or surpassed pre-crisis levels. The bad news? The drop in demand for imports that resulted from the 1998 financial meltdown is over, a yearlong nationwide survey of consumer demand has concluded. |
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MOSCOW - More than 50 billion cigarettes - equal to nearly every fifth cigarette produced in Russia last year - are in storage in the warehouses of the nation's tobacco factories, a glut that industry-watchers say is likely to lead to a consumer-friendly price war. |
 MOSCOW - Viktor Razbegin has a $50 billion building project that makes the Chunnel between England and France look like a high school science project. He wants to build a tunnel under the Bering Strait, connecting Chukotka to Alaska, and says it is not only technically possible, but promises to be economically rewarding. |
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Shooting Star With a red-blooded bang-banger about to set up shop in the White House (reports that the new administration plans to change the name of the country from "U.S.A." to "NRA" have not yet been confirmed), looks like it's open season for the ammo-avid over in that barrel-hugging, bullet-loving land of America. |
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Bush Too Fast In Deploying NMD System One of the most ideological positions Bush is taking with him to the White House has to do with an issue that should be purely a practical question: Will the nation's security be enhanced if it builds a missile defense system? On this issue Bush gives every impression of already having made up his mind. |
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Some Points Putin Might Have Made SATURDAY was Press Day and, in keeping with custom, President Vla dimir Putin took advantage of the holiday to congratulate Russian journalists and mouth a few platitudes about his commitment to press freedom in Russia. |
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IT was just as the car crested the hill above Kosovo's capital that I realized that the president of Zambia was right. Down below was Pristina, another banged-up eastern European city full of Soviet-style apartment blocks. |
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Sampaio Re-Elected LISBON, Portugal (Reuters) - Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio strolled to re-election for a second five-year term, maintaining the Socialist Party's firm grip on power. The final count late Sunday gave the 61-year-old lawyer 55. |
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LONDON - Real Madrid turned on the style to go three points clear in the Spanish first division while Nantes also stretched its French league lead despite being held to a draw. |
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LONDON - Mark Spitz, who won seven swimming gold medals at the 1972 Munich Games, has tipped Dutch Olympic champion Pieter van den Hoogenband for the World Sports Award for Men's Water Sports. Spitz, who arrived in London on Sunday, will be presented with the water sports award at the Royal Albert Hall on Tuesday. Van den Hoogenband took gold in the 100- and 200-meter freestyle, along with bronze in the 50-meter freestyle and 4x200 freestyle relay at last year's Sydney Olympics. Australian favorite Thorpe won three golds and two silver with two of the golds coming in relays. "He had the best performance in the Olympic Games," Spitz told Reuters. |
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 CHICAGO - Eric Daze scored with 79 seconds left in regulation as the resurgent Chicago Blackhawks rallied from a two-goal deficit for a 2-2 tie with the high-flying Colorado Avalanche Sunday. |
 MELBOURNE, Australia - Marat Safin provided the power and purpose and Anna Kournikova the fizz and color as the two Russians grabbed center stage on the first day of the Australian Open on Monday. Defending champion Andre Agassi, Australian crowd favorite Pat Rafter and Tim Henman, Britain's only real hope in the season-opening, grand-slam event, were all in good form as the trio eased past outclassed opponents into the second round. |
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Igelstrom Sets Record IMPERIA, Italy (Reuters) - Sweden's Emma Igelstrom set a European short-course record in the women's 50-meter breaststroke at a World Cup meeting on Sunday while compatriot Johanna Sjoberg completed a clean sweep of the butterfly and freestyle sprints. |
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