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MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin will kick back this weekend at Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's luxury villa on Sardinia, where he will go sailing, be serenaded by tenor Andrea Bocelli and get a chance to check out 400 cactuses planted especially for his visit. Putin, his wife, Lyudmila, and their two teenage daughters arrive Friday for a three-day stay at the 2,500-square-meter La Certosa residence on the island's northern Costa Smeralda, famous for its crystal-clear waters, white sand beaches and pink granite rocks. Berlusconi, a lover of what the Italian press refers to as "entertaining diplomacy," has special treats in store for his "caro amico Vladimiro," or "dear friend Vladimir" - the informal way Berlusconi addresses Putin. |
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 While the city's previous governor, Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Yakovlev, is traveling around the country inspecting the level of preparedness for the upcoming winter, the people who live in the apartment buildings at 24 and 26 Bulvar Novatorov don't have much faith that it will help them. |
 Although the current race to fill the vacant post of St. Petersburg governor has largely distracted public attention away from the city's 300th-anniversary celebrations, the list of events dedicated to the tercentenary still looks to provide some hectic times ahead. The events include festivals of the cultures of various countries, all sorts of sporting events, cultural happenings of various shades and a raft of more scholarly gatherings. |
All photos from issue.
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MOSCOW - Russia will not suspend construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran unless the UN International Atomic Energy Agency finds solid evidence that Iran is secretly pursuing a nuclear-weapons program, the Nuclear Power Ministry said Thursday. |
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Largest Heroin Bust DUSHANBE, Tajikistan (AP) -Russian border guards patrolling Tajikistan's border with Afghanistan have seized more than 330 kilograms of heroin in one day - the largest drug bust this year, officials said Thursday. |
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Subway, the American fast food chain that lost $1.2 million and eight years due to a conflict with a local partner, is making its second attempt to enter the St. Petersburg market. According to Alexander Popov, legal counsel and acting director of the Nevsky 20 company, which represents Subway Russia in the northern capital, the St. |
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Two pieces critical of U.S. visa practices and their impact on Russian applicants appeared recently in The St. Petersburg Times: "U.S. Visa Mess Hits Students' Summers," a staff news article, and "The Real Problem? Visas," an op-ed piece by Russian Ambassador to the United States Yuri Ushakov, reprinted from The Washington Post. |
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I don't know why exactly, but native St. Petersburgers aren't always happy when people move here from other places in the former Soviet Union - from Ukraine, for example. |
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 Culture Minister Mikhail Shvydkoi was in St. Petersburg this week for symbolic events at two of the city's leading cultural institutions. On Tuesday, Shvydkoi introduced Valery Fokin as the new artistic director of the Alexandriinsky Theater, after presiding at the handover of an historical military standard to the State Hermitage Museum. Moscow director Fokin promised a careful approach to the traditions of the venerable Alexandriinsky, which boasts the largest theatrical troupe in Europe, but declared his intention to "end the notorious traditional directing style" that has recently made the theater the butt of critical scorn. |
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 With 30 full-length albums in 23 years, a relocation from England to Holland and a huge cult following all over the world, the Legendary Pink Dots have certainly earned their name. |
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As summer limps toward its conclusion in a blaze of showers, St. Petersburgers are returning to the city. Local clubs, of course, are wise to this, and are preparing for the influx of potential clientele. Those clubs, that is, that chose to shut down for a while and have a break - unlike the heroic trio of Moloko, Griboyedov and Fish Fabrique. |
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No matter what you're looking for in a cafe, you probably won't find it at Kair. I say "probably" because Kair (Russian for "Cairo") does have one moderately distinctive feature: for 100 rubles, you can smoke apple tobacco out of a traditional Middle Eastern water pipe, either in the bright yellow dining room or in the walled-in concrete patio outside. |
 Drop into conversation that you've been to Bratislava and most people will probably gaze at you blankly in response. For years, just about its only distinction was being Czechoslovakia's third city, overshadowed not just by bigger, more beautiful Prague but also by Brno, no less. Point out that Bratislava is now in its second decade as capital of independent Slovakia and some people will still be none the wiser - take U. |
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 VLADIMIR, Central Russia - Even veterans of St. Petersburg's most exclusive cafes and clubs would be impressed by the hurdles they have to jump to get into the museum at Vladimir Central. |
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Dukh: new conscript (army slang) Dukh, like dusha, takes you through a universe of meanings, idioms and useful expressions. The most common meaning of dukh is "spirit." Dobry dukh is an angel or good spirit, zloi dukh is an evil spirit and Svyatoi Dukh is the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost. |
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In March 1950 there was a public debate in New York City, moderated by the eminent radical sociologist C. Wright Mills. The motion before the meeting was: Is Russia a socialist community? Proposing for the ayes was Earl Browder, a loyal Stalinist who had nonetheless been removed by Moscow (for some minor deviations) from the leadership of the American Communist Party. |
 Though you wouldn't know it from "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas," the original Sinbad was a merchant from Baghdad, a truth-stretching, tale-spinning protagonist of the celebrated Arabian Nights. If he appeared on the scene today, he might be detained by John Ashcroft rather than appear as the hero of a new animated feature. |
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Thomas Sacked INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (AP) - Rick Carlisle will likely get another chance to lead the Pacers. Carlisle is the top choice of Larry Bird, who, in his first move as Pacers president of basketball operations, fired Isiah Thomas on Wednesday and paved the way for the return of his former assistant. |
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