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

Russian Qualification Makes Croats Heroes
By Kevin O'Flynn / Staff Writer When a national football team qualifies for a major tournament, they are typically greeted as heroes back home. But when Russia last week qualified for the European Championships, it was Moscow's small Croatian community -- not Russian footballers -- who were overwhelmed by gratitude from relieved fans.

Elections to Deliver Duller Deputies
By Nabi Abdullaev / Staff Writer Once a lively venue for arguments, fistfights and hurled objects, the State Duma -- a place Duma Speaker and United Russia head Boris Gryzlov once fittingly described as ""not a place for discussion"" -- has become increasingly sedate over the past four years.

Kasparov Gets 5 Days for Marching
By David Nowak / Staff Writer Opposition leader Garry Kasparov was among dozens of activists detained Saturday, as riot police eventually quashed a thousands-strong rally against President Vladimir Putin that spilled into the central streets.

Police Grab Dozens in St. Pete
Combined Reports Riot police detained dozens of opposition activists rallying Sunday in St. Petersburg against President Vladimir Putin's government, a day after the crackdown on an opposition demonstration in Moscow.

British Lawmakers Call for a Dialogue With Moscow
The Associated Press British lawmakers in a report Sunday urged the government to meet with their Russian counterparts to thrash out thorny judicial issues that have chilled ties between the two nations.

Litvinenko Case Going to Strasbourg
Combined Reports Alexander Litvinenko's widow is seeking a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights that Russia was complicit in poisoning the former Federal Security Service officer with radioactive polonium, her lawyer said Friday.

Leader of KGB Coup Dead at 83
The Associated Press Vladimir Kryuchkov, the former KGB chief who spearheaded a failed coup against Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, has died, officials said Sunday. He was 83.

Belarus to Bar 100,000 From Leaving
The Associated Press More than 100,000 people -- roughly one of every 100 citizens -- will be barred from leaving Belarus after Jan. 1, the interior minister told journalists Saturday.

Saakashvili Leaves Post Ahead of Georgian Presidential Vote
Combined Reports Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili stepped down Sunday to be registered as a candidate in the Jan. 5 presidential election, his chief spokesman said.

Ukraine Mourns '30s Famine Victims
By Olga Bondaruk / The Associated Press Accounts of the Stalin-era forced famine continue to divide historians and politicians.

Quick Deal in Ukraine Unlikely
The Associated Press Ukraine's newly elected parliament abruptly ended its first session Friday, dimming hopes for the quick formation of a government and an end to two months of post-election turmoil.

U.S. Missile Defense Offers Get Poor Reviews in Moscow
Combined Reports U.S. proposals for cooperation on missile defense fall short of ""real cooperation"" and would not prompt Moscow to abandon plans to suspend implementation of a key European arms treaty, Leonid Slutsky, deputy head of the State Duma's International Affairs Committee, said Friday.

Suicide Bomber Suspect in Bus Blast
By Nabi Abdullaev / Staff Writer A suicide bomber could have been responsible for a blast Thursday that tore through a commuter bus in North Ossetia and killed six people, a law enforcement source said Friday.

Dagestan Yabloko Candidate Dies From Gunshot Wounds
The Associated Press A candidate on the liberal Yabloko party's State Duma ticket in Dagestan died Saturday of wounds inflicted by unidentified gunmen who shot him in the entryway of his apartment building, the party said.

Ren-TV Says Crew Was Beaten
Combined Reports Five armed men wearing masks and camouflage burst into a hotel in Ingushetia early Saturday morning and dragged away three Moscow television journalists and a human rights activist, police and the activist said.

Putin Taking to TV in Pre-Vote Address
By Natalya Krainova / Staff Writer President Vladimir Putin will deliver a nationally televised address this week, ahead of the Dec. 2 State Duma elections in which he is heading the United Russia ticket, the Kremlin said Friday.

Syria to Attend Mideast Conference
The Associated Press The Bush administration was able to declare a clean sweep on Sunday when Syria, the last Arab world holdout, announced it would attend a high-stakes Middle East peace conference in the U.S. this week.

Close Contest Predicted in Croatian Parliamentry Vote
The Associated Press Croatians were voting in closely contested parliamentary elections Sunday, choosing between the ruling conservatives and the leftist opposition for a government to steer the ex-Yugoslav country into the European Union.

Australia's Rudd to Focus on Warming
The Associated Press Newly elected leader Kevin Rudd moved quickly Sunday to bring Australia into international talks on fighting global warming and to head off potentially thorny relations with the United States and key Asian neighbors.

Malaysia Crushes Ethnic Indian Rally
The Associated Press Police used tear gas and water cannons Sunday to crush a banned rally by more than 10,000 ethnic minority Indians -- a rare street clash that exposed Muslim-majority Malaysia's deep racial divisions.

Sharif Back in Pakistan After Exile
The Associated Press Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif returned home Sunday after years in exile, the latest political heavyweight to join Pakistan's deepening power struggle.

Germany Aims to Lift Standards at Top Universities
By Madeline Chambers / Reuters It may have brought the world aspirin, rocket science, quantum physics and the diesel engine, but Germany's days of scientific glory are long gone and it is now hunting for a new generation of Einsteins.

Chavez Gives Light to Poor Ahead of Referendum
Reuters The Venezuelan president pushes through social developments ahead of a Dec. 2 referendum.

Business

Shareholder Spat Hinders Ingosstrakh Acquisitions
By Simon Shuster / Reuters The country's second-biggest insurer, Ingosstrakh, will soon acquire three leading firms in the former Soviet Union, but its growth is being hampered by a shareholder dispute, its controlling shareholder, Basic Element, said.

Tigers, Diamond Hubcaps and a Place to Chill
By Max Delany / Staff Writer Toward the back of the cavernous exhibition hall, Alexander Svalov leaned nonchalantly against the body of the 2-meter-long saber-toothed tiger and smiled.

Novolipetsk to Control Maxi Group
Reuters Steelmaker Maxi Group said Friday that it would sell a 51 percent stake to Novolipetsk Steel by the end of the year after a deal to sell to billionaire Alisher Usmanov fell through.

Prokhorov Strikes a Deal With RusAl
By Douglas Busvine / Reuters Under the deal, Deripaska would get Prokhorov's blocking stake in Norilsk if Potanin does not buy it.

Strabag Signs 2 Russian Steelwork Deals
Reuters Austrian builder Strabag, whose IPO last month relied on investors' hopes for growth in Russia, has signed two steelwork deals worth a combined 484 million euros ($722 million) in Russia, it said Friday.

4 Agriculture Officials Face Charges of Accepting Bribes
By Maria Levitov / Bloomberg The Interior Ministry said in a statement Friday that it accused four Agriculture Ministry officials of accepting a bribe worth more than 16 million rubles ($660,000) and said arrest warrants had been issued.

Turkmens Aim for 30% Gas Price Hike
By Miriam Elder / Staff Writer Turkmenistan is hoping to hike the price of gas it sells to Gazprom by at least 30 percent next year, Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller said Friday, raising the possibility that the higher costs would be passed on to foreign customers.

Storchak Charged, Says He Is Not Guilty
By Darya Korsunskaya / Reuters Prosecutors charged Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak on Friday with attempting to embezzle $43 million, in a case that may damage his boss, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin.

Flowers, Virgin Circle Northern Rock
Reuters Richard Branson's Virgin Group and U.S. buyout firm J.C. Flowers are the two front-runners to buy ailing British bank Northern Rock, people familiar with the situation said Sunday, but shareholders are unlikely to get much from either.

Tourists Join Big Apple Shopping Spree
By Adam Goldman / The Associated Press As the holiday shopping season begins, foreign tourists are taking advantage of a weak dollar.

ECB Offers to Boost Liquidity
Reuters The European Central Bank said Friday that it would continue offering banks additional funds at least until the end of the year to counter renewed tensions in the money market, where interbank lending rates are climbing again.

Arbat & Main

The Legacy of Ilf and Petrov
By Mark H. Teeter Only one book published in Moscow in the spring of 1937 resounded with a good humor and joie de vivre utterly alien to the Great Terror then gaining momentum: ""One-Storied America,"" a travelogue by the two hallmark Soviet satirists, Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov.

Business in Brief
Evraz Secures $3.2Bln LoanGazprom OGK-6 OfferEnel May Buy Into OGK-5Rosneft in Chinese RefiningGazprom Eyes German FirmRitek Shares ManipulatedWest Siberian License SafeBrazilian Beef Ban OverKashagan Deal NearingPSA Car Plant AwaitedCoal Field Stake for Sale

Ask the Boss
By James Marson How do you see the new business visa rules affecting the expat job market?

A Disobedient Pioneer
By Maria Antonova / Staff Writer How a computer scientist changed course, became a teacher and rewrote the rules.

Restaurant News
By Nathan Toohey Bon, an upmarket restaurant best known for its artistic interior designed by Philippe Starck, has come under new management -- the Arkady Novikov Group.

Year-Round Oktoberfest
By Nathan Toohey / Staff Writer A beer restaurant called Munchen recently opened in place of the Ivan Kalita banquet hall.

Reflecting on Georgia's Smoky Rose Revolution
By Matthew Collin White smoke drifted low across Rustaveli Avenue for the second time in a month. But this time it was not the tear gas fired by riot police as they broke up anti-government protests.

Putin's True Face
By Richard Lourie I was a bit shocked by the photograph of President Vladimir Putin that the Financial Times ran on the front page of its Oct. 21 edition. The photograph showed Putin with a contemptuous sneer on his face.

Market Matters

No Escape From the Global Market Blues
By Catrina Stewart / Staff Writer Russian stocks suffered a battering across the board last week.

« to older

Features

Services

Tools

MT news

Testimonials

Sponsored links

News

Business

Arbat & Main

Market Matters

Currency Exchange

Weather

Hurdles Ahead.

Most Popular Stories.

Archive

Columnists