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

Carbon Credits Get Cool Reception
By Miriam Elder / Staff Writer The streets of this sleepy Arctic town, 2,200 kilometers north of Moscow, are piled knee-high with snow, and locals still wear boots made of reindeer fur to navigate its icy roads.

Love, War and Spies at the Interclub
By Svetlana Osadchuk / Staff Writer Valentina Pavlenko first met U.S. seaman Bill Rowgraft at a large dance party in Arkhangelsk.Pavlenko, then 15, knew she would pay a heavy price for falling in love with the bright-eyed sailor depicted in a photo that she has kept for the past 65 years. Little did she know how much.

Sargsyan Wins Putin's Seal of Approval
By Anna Smolchenko / Staff Writer President Vladimir Putin and Serzh Sargsyan on Monday pledged continuity in bilateral relations, as the Armenian president-elect made Moscow his first destination after being declared the winner in a controversial election last month.

JPMorgan Raises Offer on Stearns
The Associated Press JPMorgan Chase increased its offer Monday for Bear Stearns to $10 per share from a bargain-basement price of $2 per share, hoping to assuage shareholders of the ailing investment bank.

Pakistan's Lawmakers Elect Bhutto Supporter as Premier
The Associated Press Pakistan's parliament elected Yousaf Raza Gilani, a former house speaker and a longtime aide to the late opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, as the nation's new prime minister Monday.

Bhutan's First Election Sees Landslide Win for Royalists
The Associated Press The Bhutan Peace and Prosperity Party, widely seen as the more royalist of the two parties seeking power, swept the first parliamentary elections ever in this secluded Himalayan kingdom, taking nearly every seat in the new legislature, the election commissioner said Monday.

Iraq Bombing Pushes U.S. Deaths to 4,000
By Ross Colvin / Reuters The death toll of U.S. soldiers in Iraq reached 4,000 on Monday, days after the fifth anniversary of a war that President George W. Bush says the United States is on track to win.

Patrons Say Interclubs Were Not Brothels
By Svetlana Osadchuk / Staff Writer Hundreds of girls swooned over British and U.S. sailors at three entertainment lounges set up by Soviet authorities during World War II.

Iran Applies to Join Shanghai Group
The Associated Press Iran's foreign minister said Monday his country had applied to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional security group dominated by China and Russia.

Car Bomb Injures 5 at Ingush Bank
The Associated Press A car bomb exploded outside a bank in Ingushetia on Monday, injuring at least five people, authorities said.

18 Sailors Trapped and Feared Dead
By Dikky Sinn / The Associated Press Eighteen Ukrainian sailors were feared dead Monday after they were trapped underwater in their capsized tugboat in Hong Kong for nearly two full days amid strong currents, rescue officials said.

Minsk TV Tells of U.S. Spy Ring
The Associated Press A report on state television in Belarus accused the U.S. Embassy of setting up a spy ring, the latest salvo in disputes that have led to unfriendly relations between the United States and the former Soviet republic's authoritarian government.

Cult Leader Accused of Inciting Religious Hatred
By Anna Malpas / Staff Writer Investigators have opened a new criminal investigation into the activities of the leader of a religious doomsday sect in the Penza region, accusing him of inciting religious hatred, a spokeswoman for the Investigative Committee said Monday.

Frustrated Baluyevsky Offers His Resignation
By Simon Saradzhyan / Staff Writer General Yury Baluyevsky, the chief of the General Staff, has asked to be relieved of his post as a result of his bitter opposition to Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov's plans for reforming the armed forces, Novaya Gazeta reported.

7 National Bolsheviks Are Convicted
By David Nowak / Staff Writer A Moscow court hands them light sentences for their role in a 2006 scuffle.

Business

Putin Asks Iraq to Revive Oil Deal
Combined Reports President Vladimir Putin on Monday called on Iraq to support Russian investments, as LUKoil chief executive Vagit Alekperov arrived in Baghdad for talks to revive a Saddam Hussein-era oil deal.

Protests Tarnish Olympic Ceremony
Reuters Human rights demonstrators breached tight security at the Olympic torch-lighting ceremony in ancient Olympia on Monday.

Norilsk's CEO Puts Own Firm at Core of Mergers
Reuters Norilsk Nickel should be at the core of any potential merger with one or more privately owned Russian miners, its chief executive said in an interview published Monday.

Meat Plant Faces Landmark Tax Case
By Tai Adelaja / Staff Writer Tax authorities have opened a tax-fraud case against a subsidiary of the Ostankino Meat Processing Plant, which could potentially give them ammunition to fight off-the-book payment schemes and convict hundreds of companies still believed to be using this method of tax evasion.

TGK-13 Posts Loss As Costs Soar 18%
By Nadia Popova / Staff Writer The power producer says $580 million in operating costs caused it to post a net loss of $45 million in 2007.

Unemployment Increases to 6.6%
Bloomberg Russia's unemployment rate rose more than expected in February after falling the previous month, the State Statistics Service announced on Monday.

Aeroflot Faces Delay in First Delivery of New Superjets
Reuters State-owned United Aviation Corp. said Monday that it might delay delivery of its new Superjet 100 passenger planes to Aeroflot beyond its contractual deadline of end-2008 as the plane has not yet launched.

Forecasts Raised for GDP, Urals
Bloomberg The Economic Development and Trade Ministry on Monday raised its forecasts for inflation, gross domestic product growth and the average price for Urals crude for 2008.

Between the Lines

Toilet Paper, Spam and a Political Hit
By Alexei Pankin Two journalists were killed on Friday -- Channel One television correspondent Ilyas Shurpayev and Gadzhi Abashilov, head of state television GTRK Dagestan.

Business in Brief
Graft Watchdog OpposedNabiullina on EBRD BoardTransport Upgrade CostRussia's Egypt Atomic BidMore Trust in BanksMordashov Backs TUI Split

Where Europe Draws the Line
By Jackson Diehl Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili kicked off the second wave of freedom movements in formerly Communist Europe in 2003 when he strode into the parliament, rose in hand.

U.S. Must Take a New
By Joseph Biden In six weeks, Dmitry Medvedev will take over as president. His ascension comes at a critical moment.

Ready for the Competition
By Nataliya Vasilyeva / Special to The Moscow Times Two new English-language schools provide more options for expatriate parents and their children.

What to Do: Discuss Women's Issues
By Maria Antonova The International Women's Club is holding an international conference in Moscow on March 27 to coincide with the organization's 30th anniversary.

Chef's Secrets: Barbecue Wings
A recipe from Alexei Strukov, brand-chef of the beer restaurant chain Kolbasoff.

Elite Organic Offerings
By Nathan Toohey / Staff Writer The recently opened Real Food Restaurant in the Crowne Plaza hotel at the Moscow World Trade Center has turned out to be an unexpectedly innovative and interesting eatery.

Military Service in Absentia
By Alexander Golts As Moscow's political analysts turn into charlatans who do nothing but guess how the new power vertical will function with two chiefs, we occasionally hear a couple of questions reminiscent of the ""cursed 1990s.

News in Brief
Shchekochikhin DenialLetov Died From AlcoholPutin Orders Aid for Kosovo

Constructivist Edifice Sees New Life as Hotel
By John Wendle / Staff Writer The 'monument to revolutionary rationalism' is to be restored and transformed into a luxury hotel.

Immoeast Assets Suffer Q3 Losses
Bloomberg Austrian real estate developer Immoeast, which has half of its assets in Romania, Bulgaria, Russia and Ukraine, made a fiscal third-quarter loss as it cut the value of its properties, the company said in a statement Friday.

Real Estate Investors Await Balkan Stability
By Ivana Sekularac / Reuters Residential real estate is booming in the Balkans as the region recovers from the wars and stagnation of the 1990s, but big corporate investment will only come with real political stability, a top sector executive said.

Credit Crunch Slows Building
By Rodney Jefferson and Nariman Gizitdinov / Bloomberg Kazakh homebuyers are being left out in the cold by the global credit shortage.

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