The Moscow Times

Market Matters: Struggling Stocks Spur New Record Oil Prices
Oil hit another record of just under $143 as global stocks tumbled last week, with the Dow briefly dipping into bear market territory as investors sought safety in gold, government debt and the Swiss franc.

News

Muslims Get Hand Traveling to Mecca
By Michael Schwirtz / NEW YORK TIMES SERVICE Gulsine Fatakhudinova, a 56-year-old Tatar Muslim, came lugging suitcases to pray at the lime-green mosque in central Moscow -- one of dozens of people who arrived one recent day bundled in the weighty coats, fur hats and other winter garb they would soon cast off, at least temporarily.

Beslan's Hospital Shocked Doctors and Putin
By Francesca Mereu / Staff Writer A dog plays with a kitten, scattering their meal of meat and macaroni over the entrance. An armed security guard looks on and laughs. The walls are covered with dark mold, and the plaster is peeling off. Patients walk carefully, trying to avoid gaping cracks in the well-worn, wooden floor.

Putin Is Time's Person of The Year
By Natalya Krainova and Alexander Osipovich / Staff Writers President Vladimir Putin was named Time magazine's person of the year on Wednesday, becoming the first Russian to win the title since Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev did it twice in the late 1980s.

A Mad Rush to Get Into Kindergarten
By Svetlana Osadchuk / Staff Writer Andrei Grechishnikov spends about two to three hours every day driving his two preschool-aged children from their home in the Moscow region town of Nakhabino to their kindergarten in the city's Tushino district. He considers himself lucky.

U.S. Congress Threatens to Cut Aid
The Associated Press Taking a symbolic swipe at Russia, U.S. lawmakers are threatening to withhold aid unless Moscow improves conditions for journalists, political activists and religious groups.

6 Duma Committees for Opposition
The Moscow Times Six of the 32 committee chairmanships in the newly elected State Duma will go to parties other than United Russia, which chaired every single committee in the previous Duma, a senior United Russia official said Wednesday.

Believers See Red Over Cola-Cola Ads
Reuters A group of Russian Orthodox believers have accused Coca-Cola of blasphemy over a marketing campaign showing the cross and onion-shaped church domes on outdoor refrigerators, Nizhny Novgorod prosecutors said Wednesday.

9 Independents File to Run for President
By Nikolaus von Twickel / Staff Writer Nine independent candidates, including former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and Soviet-era dissident Vladimir Bukovsky, have been registered as potential contestants in the March 2 presidential election, the Central Elections Commission said Wednesday.

Yashin Will Try to Unseat Yavlinsky
By David Nowak / Staff Writer Ilya Yashin, the 24-year-old leader of Yabloko's youth group, announced Wednesday that he would seek to unseat Grigory Yavlinsky as the party's leader and unite liberal politicians in a new political movement.

Business

Tomskneft Split Seen in Cards
Reuters Rosneft will split its Tomskneft oil unit 50-50 with Gazprom, boosting the oil business of the gas behemoth, sources close to the deal said. The deal will end a guessing game over the real owners of the 240,000-barrel-per-day oil unit. Rosneft had said it sold half of Tomskneft in July after buying the unit in May at a Yukos bankruptcy auction.

2-Year Ban on Meat From Poland Ended
AP, MT Russian and Polish authorities signed a memorandum Wednesday to end a two-year ban on exports of Polish meat to Russia, an Agriculture Ministry spokesman said, which could pave the way for closer ties between Moscow and the European Union.

Surgutneftegaz Elects New Chairman
Reuters Closely held oil firm Surgutneftegaz has elected a career oil manager, Vladimir Yerokhin, as its new chairman after the previous head of the board of directors, Nikolai Zakharchenko, resigned for health reasons.

State-Backed Agency Charged With Spinning Russia's Image
Reuters, MT An agency within the state-owned Development Bank will counter the flow of negative political news out of the country and lure foreign investors with positive information, the Economic Development and Trade Ministry said Wednesday.

Mordashov, Finns to Build Timber Mills
Bloomberg, Reuters The world's top magazine papermaker, UPM-Kymmene, agreed Wednesday to form a 50-50 joint venture with Sveza to invest more than 1 billion euros ($1.4 billion).

Art Loan to London Exhibit in Doubt
The Associated Press A federal cultural agency has canceled a major exhibition of French and Russian paintings set to open in London in January, fearing the art could be seized to settle private legal claims, a museum official said Wednesday.

City Wise

Oil Flows, City Prospers
By Ilan Greenberg / NEW YORK TIMES SERVICE Borat may have created a sense of ridiculousness about Kazakhstan, but its largest city shatters stereotypes.

Always a Dissident

A Draw for Ford but a Victory for All
By Boris Kagarlitsky The strike at the Ford factory in Vsevolozhsk, located right outside St. Petersburg, ended on Dec. 14. It was the longest and most intense standoff in post-Soviet times. The strike began on Nov. 20 and continued for three weeks.

Business in Brief
Inflation May Exceed 12%$16Bln for St. Pete MetroCar Imports to Rise by 43%Gazprom Ads Push Tower8% Increase in TNP FeesAlrosa Wins Angola PermitUkraine Gas Pipe RepairedBlavatnik's Comstar StakeUralkhim Seeks 2008 IPOBank Profit Nearly DoubledRussia Sees WTO in Q3

'What' Not 'Who' Will Shape Russia in 2008
By William Burns As the 200th anniversary year of formal diplomatic ties between Russia and the United States comes to a close, it is a natural moment to reflect on where we have been and where we are going. That is not exactly an easy thing to do these days. In our broader relationship, mutual frustration often obscures mutual interest.

Sushi Robot Revolution
By Nathan Toohey / Staff Writer The sushi-bot has arrived. No, it's not some B-movie mechanical monster with a brain made of sushi, but the brawn behind the new chain concept from Yakitoria: Bento Yakitoria.

Make a Gingerbread House
By James Marson The smell of gingerbread reminds children and adults throughout the world of the Christmas and New Year holiday period -- and in Russia, things are no different.

Travel News
By James Marson

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