Microsoft founder Bill Gates hands over the reins, with some wondering if the new leaders can keep the company on top.

Next year will mark 200 years of diplomatic relations between the United States and Russia, an occasion that America would do well to observe by offering the Russian Federation something other than high-handed reprimands.

President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that he plans to step down after serving his constitutional limit of two terms in office. For his Kremlin entourage, this has meant that the search for a successor has been on since at least the 2004 presidential election.

Lower Price for Rosneft? LONDON -- Rosneft is worth $20 billion less than its proposed valuation, according to investors considering buying stock, Britain's Independent reported Sunday, without saying where it got the information. Investors attending presentations by Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, ABN Amro and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, the four banks advising on the transaction, rejected the valuation range of between $80 billion and $90 billion, the newspaper reported. F&C Asset Management will boycott the sale because of a lack of clarity about the effect of future litigation on Rosneft's finances, the paper said, citing Karina Litvack, F&C's head of corporate governance. (Bloomberg) Moscow Region FDI Foreign investment into the Moscow region is set to top $3 billion by the end of this year, a Moscow region government official said Friday. In the first quarter of 2006, foreign investment surpassed $800 million, Tigran Karakhanov, who oversees Moscow region's economic relations, told Interfax.

After a turbulent four days of trading in which Russian stocks dropped more than 9 percent on Tuesday, then recovered later in the week, analysts forecast a significantly calmer market for the week ahead.

The derivatives market received a boost Friday as a bill that will provide legal protection for trading in the financial instruments cleared its first hurdle in the State Duma.