AIDS may seem like an issue that applies primarily to countries far away from home, in Africa and elsewhere.

Almost nonexistent 12 years ago, Russia now has one of the highest HIV infection rates in the world.

The INS, it seems, has one phone working on the Memorial Day weekend and it's in Burlington, Vermont.

In Barcelona recently, I was visited by the memory of a young Spanish girl whom I had met back in 1946.

In his recently published diaries, Kenneth Tynan, the English theater critic and self-proclaimed socialist, related a conversation with some like-minded friends.

A pledge to raise domestic natural gas prices closer to world levels appears to have been key to the European Union's decision to grant Moscow market economy status, a U.S. official said Thursday.

Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov approved a new bilateral agreement with the European Union that will permit Russia to increase steel product exports to the EU.

The board of national power monopoly Unified Energy Systems approved a plan to auction off part of a power plant and ordered management to work out details of a controversial share options proposal Friday.

The European Commission is determined to change existing long-term gas import contracts with major supplier Gazprom that stop importers from selling gas on to third countries.

Leading shares rose Friday, with Yukos setting the pace on the day it was officially added to the key MSCI index.

Sibur Head Quits MOSCOW (Vedomosti) -- Sibur president Vyacheslav Skvortsov resigned Thursday, announcing his decision after a press conference with the company's management. At the press conference, Skvortsov said blocks of shares in Sibur companies controlled by firms close to the former management had been seized and will soon be returned to Sibur. The petrochemical holding will then be able to function normally and there will be no need for its bankruptcy, Skvortsov said. It is not entirely clear why Skvortsov left his post. A source in Sibur said Skvortsov and his team had trouble getting access to the top managers of chief shareholder Gazprom and that managers feared decision-making responsibilities. ""His decision is purely technical and I wouldn't start looking for other motives,"" a source at Gazprom said. BA Mulls Move MOSCOW (MT) -- British Airways said Friday it will make its final decision on whether to move from Sheremetyevo Airport to crosstown rival Domodedovo Airport by the end of the year.