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

Bomb Explodes at Police Checkpoint
Reuters A bomb exploded on Friday at a police checkpoint in Ingushetia but no one was hurt, Itar-Tass reported.

TV Chief and Reporter Killed in 2 Attacks
By Matt Siegel and Anna Malpas / Staff Writers The head of Dagestani state television and a Dagestan-born reporter for Channel One television died in brutal killings Friday that seemed to raise more questions about law and order than free speech.

Strategic Sector Bill Clears 2nd Reading
By Natalia Krainova and Tai Adelaja / Staff Writers The State Duma on Friday passed in a key second reading the government's long-awaited bill limiting foreign investment in a swathe of strategic sectors, ranging from energy and defense to media and fishing.

A New Hospital Unit Mired in an Old Problem
By Peter Finn / The Washington Post Privately funded upgrades at a small hospital run afoul of the local bureaucracy.

Kyrgyz Children HIV Trial Looms
The Associated Press Kyrgyz prosecutors said late last week that 14 health professionals would face trial on charges of infecting children with HIV.

Armenians Rally After State of Emergency Ends
The Associated Press Several hundred opposition supporters held demonstrations across Yerevan on Friday after authorities lifted a 20-day state of emergency.

Moldova's Leader Nominates First Female Prime Minister
The Associated Press Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin has nominated an economist and former finance minister to become the country's first female prime minister.

U.S. Urged to Back Off Belarus
Reuters Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov has called on the United States to ease its pressure on Belarus and vowed support for its president, Alexander Lukashenko.

Duma Backs Georgia's 2 Separatist Republics
By Steve Gutterman / The Associated Press The State Duma has urged the Kremlin to consider recognizing the independence of Georgia's separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, stepping up the government campaign to keep Georgia out of NATO.

Turkmen Leader to Visit NATO Forum
Reuters Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov will attend a NATO summit in April, the first leader of his long-isolated homeland to seek closer ties with the Western security alliance, state media reported.

Judge Releases St. Pete Yabloko Leader
AP, Reuters, MT A St. Petersburg court on Friday ordered the release of local Yabloko leader Maxim Reznik, whose jailing on charges of hitting a police officer prompted protests and allegations that the case was politically motivated.

No More Squatting at Beijing Toilets
Reuters Beijing organizers are refitting the toilets at three main Olympic venues after complaints from foreign athletes about having to squat.

China Says Dalai Lama Is Taking Olympics Hostage
Reuters China accused the Dalai Lama on Sunday of using unrest in Tibet to back demands for Tibetan independence ahead of the August Olympic Games in Beijing.

New Taiwanese President Sees Long Road in China Relations
Reuters An end to the more than half a century of hostility and tension between Taiwan and China may be in the offing with the election of a more China-friendly president for the island, but progress will be slow and tortuous.

Pope Baptizes a Prominent Muslim
The Associated Press Pope Benedict XVI rejoiced over conversions to Christianity a day after he baptized a prominent Muslim, celebrating Easter Sunday in a rain-drenched appearance he used to renew calls for peace in Iraq, the Holy Land and Tibet.

Serbia Puts Blame on NATO, UN
Reuters Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica on Sunday accused NATO peacekeepers and United Nations police of using ""snipers and banned ammunition"" to quell a Serb riot against Kosovo's independence.

Hamas and Fatah Agree to Revive Direct Talks
By Mohamed Sudam / Reuters Rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas signed a Yemeni-sponsored deal Sunday promising to revive direct talks after months of hostilities, but differences remained over the future of the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

Tajik Stabbed to Death
The Associated Press A woman from Tajikistan was stabbed to death Friday in Moscow in what appeared to be a hate crime, Interfax reported.

Lavrov Calls on Israel to Open Gaza
The Associated Press Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday called for an end to the blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and demanded that Israel halt its settlement activity.

National Bolshevik Bolts for Ukraine
By David Nowak / Staff Writer The fiancee of opposition activist Yury Chervochkin, who died last year of injuries suffered in a murky beating, has fled Russia and requested political asylum in Ukraine.

Marshals Make Use of Break-In Authority
By Simon Saradzhyan / Staff Writer Court marshals break through the door of a woman's apartment to enforce a court order.

Business

Mitvol's Agency to Probe TNK-BP
By Max Delany and Miriam Elder / Staff Writers The Natural Resources Ministry said Friday that it would investigate TNK-BP's largest oil field, putting further pressure on the Russian-British firm one day after the Federal Security Service said it had charged an employee with industrial espionage.

Gazprom, Vekselberg's IES Will Bid Jointly for TGK-7
Reuters Gazprom and Viktor Vekselberg's Integrated Energy Systems will jointly bid for power producer TGK-7 and have set up a vehicle to do so, a source close to TGK-7 said Friday.

Inter RAO Electricity Firm to Be Folded Into Rosatom
Reuters President Vladimir Putin has decreed that all state-owned shares in the country's electricity import-export firm, Inter RAO, be handed over to state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom and signed into law other measures to create the corporation.

Transneft's Donations Outweigh Dividends
By Greg Walters and Torrey Clark / Bloomberg Transneft, the state-controlled crude oil pipeline monopoly, gave 14 times more money to charity in the third quarter of last year than it paid in dividends to its private shareholders for all of 2006.

Rosneft Puts Off Issue of Ruble Bonds
Reuters, Bloomberg Rosneft has postponed its ruble bond issues until market conditions improve, a company official said Friday.

Request for Yukos Probe Rejected
Bloomberg An Amsterdam court on Friday rejected a request for an investigation into the management of bankrupt oil firm Yukos' Dutch unit.

Severstal Buys U.S. Mill for $810M
By Robin Paxton / Reuters Severstal, the country's largest steel maker, will expand its U.S. presence with the $810 million acquisition of the Sparrows Point mill in Maryland, which ArcelorMittal is selling for antitrust reasons.

Belarus to Pay $128 for Gas
Reuters Russia will sell gas to Belarus at $128 per 1,000 cubic meters in the second quarter of 2008, up from $119 in the first quarter, news agencies quoted an Economic Development and Trade Ministry official as saying Friday.

Britain Contacted in Rozhetskin Case
The Moscow Times Police investigating the disappearance of Russian-born U.S. businessman Leonid Rozhetskin in Latvia on March 16 said they had contacted Britain's Scotland Yard for help in the case, The Mail on Sunday reported.

Red Tape, Corruption Seen Hampering Stores
Bloomberg Red tape, corruption and the sheer size of Russia are among the main barriers facing retailers and producers of consumer goods in the country, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.

One-Kopek Coin Faces the Ax
By Catrina Stewart / Staff Writer The country's state-owned mint is considering abolishing the one-kopek coin in a bid to save on production costs, a senior official said.

Opinion

U.S. Needs a New Bargain With Big Oil
By Joseph P. Kennedy II During the OPEC oil embargo more than 30 years ago, the price of crude rocketed to historic highs in the world market while the controlled domestic price hovered below $4 per barrel. A few years later, the oil industry and the U.S. government reached a bipartisan deal: Domestic oil prices would be allowed to float in exchange for a windfall-profits tax, with 25 percent of the bounty earmarked to help the poorest Americans who depended on hydrocarbons to keep warm. At the heart of the pact was the recognition that no one had a right to charge whatever they wanted for a commodity that the United States could not live without.

Penance for Bear's Bankers
By John Gapper The words ""suffering"" and ""banker"" do not go together often. But the rescue of Bear Stearns, the Wall Street investment bank, last week, is a rare case of their collision.

Sports

Ferrari Back on Track After Raikkonen Wins
By Peter Rutherford / Reuters Kimi Raikkonen cruised to victory in Malaysia on Sunday to put Ferrari back on the winning track and slash Lewis Hamilton's lead to three points.

City Wise

How to Stay Tuned In
By Maria Antonova Likbez

Old Dissident, New Career
By Maria Antonova / Staff Writer Alexander Gerasimov trained as an engineer and thrived as a political journalist -- what's he doing in commercial radio?

Business in Brief

Business in Brief
Dixy Sales Rise 48%Japan, Rosneft Sign AccordGazprom Eyes MethaneVTB Europe ChiefGazprombank and NovatekTitanium Field ClashSugar Duty to Stay

Hand Missile Defense to Medvedev's Kremlin
By Vladimir Frolov George W. Bush is trying to engage Vladimir Putin in a round of lame duck diplomacy before both of them step down as president, as implied by a trip by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to Moscow last week.

A Small Slice of Serbia
By Nathan Toohey / Staff Writer Yugos, one of the city's few Serbian restaurants, has just had a makeover. Dropping its previous beige color scheme, it has chosen a strikingly bright, patriotic mix of red, blue and white. The interior nonetheless remains cozy, and the Balkan pop shown on the plasma screens only adds an authentic touch.

Restaurant News
By Nathan Toohey Sausage restaurant chain Dymov No. 1's branch on Sofiiskaya Naberezhnaya (pictured) has raised its family-friendly profile with the opening of a new children's room. Open on weekends from noon to 5 p.m., the playroom has all kinds of entertainments to amuse children of all ages. The little ones can play with building blocks, toy cars, stuffed toys and dolls. Older kids will appreciate the Sony PlayStation and its large range of games. An experienced nanny is on hand to keep an eye on the proceedings. A special children's menu has also been added to occupy stomachs, as well as mischievous hands. 34 Sofiiskaya Naberezhnaya, 951-7571/3571, M. Novokuznetskaya. Children's restaurant Dom Oranzhevoi Korovy has introduced a spring menu.

Sympathy for the Devil
By Alexei Bayer Josef Stalin, as historian Simon Montefiore wrote in a recent book, was a poet in his youth. Yury Andropov -- besides heading the KGB in the 1970s, briefly leading the Soviet Union in the 1980s and acting as Vladimir Putin's ultimate boss -- also wrote poetry. Putin may lack talent for versifying, but in Dutch his last name is spelled Poetin.

Market Matters

Commodity Stocks Lose Golden Luster
By Catrina Stewart / Staff Writer Russian shares lost some of their shine this week as gold led a plunge in commodity prices that beat down metal and oil stocks.

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