A brief look at the stories making headlines in the Russian-language press

Power is the ability to influence others to get what you want. There are ultimately three main ways for a nation to wield power: by using or threatening force; by inducing compliance with rewards; or by using ""soft power"" -- attracting followers through the strength of a country's values and culture, and the inclusiveness of its policies. When a country can induce others to follow by employing soft power, it saves a lot of carrots and sticks.

The 2008 presidential campaign hasn't even begun, but the first casualties are already being carted off the field in stretchers.

Mayhem in Nigeria, the fifth-largest oil supplier to the United States and Africa's most populous country, is escalating. Since mid-December, crime and violence have regularly shut down about 10 percent of the country's oil output.

Sergei Kiriyenko is a small man with big ambition. When he traveled to Tehran last week for the latest round of talks on Moscow's proposal to enrich uranium for Iran, Kiriyenko, head of the Federal Atomic Energy Agency, was positively beaming.

The recent spate of protests by would-be homebuyers shifted attention last week to a new and unlikely target -- the Defense Ministry.

Moscow's real estate prices are soaring, and market participants say this year's increase might even break the record set in 2003, when apartment prices rose by 40 percent.

The wave of violence triggered by the destruction of the Golden Mosque has heightened fears of civil war.