The Moscow Times

Market Matters : Oil and Metals Shine as RTS Breaks 2,100
The RTS, the country's benchmark stock index, breached the 2,100 barrier for the first time this year, as oil and metal stocks pulled away from the field.

News

Moscow Electricity Supplier Rebuked
By Nadia Popova / Staff Writer Unified Energy System on Thursday lashed out at Gazprom-owned Mosenergo, Moscow’s main electricity supplier, accusing it of failing to build new capacity to meet burgeoning demand.

Prokhorov Sells 25% in Norilsk to RusAl
By Nadia Popova / Staff Writer Months of negotiations and rumors came to an end Thursday as Oleg Deripaska’s United Company RusAl closed a deal to buy a stake of 25 percent plus one share in Norilsk Nickel, the world’s biggest producer of the metal.

A Just Russia Looks to Spring Cleaning
By Nabi Abdullaev / Staff Writer A Just Russia is to hold its third annual congress Friday at the Kremlin, where the party is expected to expel thousands of members who were not aware that they were members and to tweak the colors scheme of its logo.

City Hall Rains on Gay Pride Parade
By Matt Siegel / Staff Writer Gay rights activist Nikolai Alexeyev lashed out at City Hall on Thursday after Mayor Yury Luzhkov's office assailed his proposal for a gay pride parade during the holidays at the start of May.

Irkutsk Man Kept Bears on Balcony
The Moscow Times An Irkutsk man is facing a possible fine after police caught him keeping a bear in his apartment, Gazeta.ru reported Thursday.

Euro Court Rules for Uzbeks
The Associated Press The European Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday that Russia breached the rights of 13 businessmen charged by Uzbek authorities with financing a 2005 anti-government uprising.

Belarus Activist Gets 2 1/2 Years
By Andrei Makhovsky / Reuters A court in Belarus has jailed a business activist for 2 1/2 years for assaulting a prison guard, the second such sentence in as many days imposed on opposition figures, an opposition leader said Thursday.

Turkmenistan Decides Year Will Start Off With January
Reuters January is January again in Turkmenistan.

Uzbeks to Lose EU Sanctions
Reuters European Union foreign ministers will agree next week to suspend sanctions on Uzbekistan for another six months but warn they can be reapplied if human rights conditions do not improve.

Saakashvili Wants Peacekeepers Out
Reuters Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said Thursday that he would seek Western support for his efforts to replace Russian peacekeepers in the breakaway province of Abkhazia with an international force.

Armenia to Push 'Genocide' Issue
By Hasmik Mkrtchyan / Reuters New President Serzh Sargsyan says he will seek ""historic justice"" for Armenians killed by Ottoman Turks.

Penis Panic Sweeps Congo City
Reuters Police in Congo have arrested 13 suspected sorcerers accused of using black magic to steal or shrink men's penises after a wave of attempted lynchings triggered by the alleged witchcraft. Reports of so-called penis snatching are not uncommon in West Africa, where belief in traditional religions and witchcraft remains widespread, and where ritual killings to obtain blood or body parts still occur.

Berliners Debate Fate of Blockade Savior
By Kerstin Gehmlich / Reuters At the age of 7, Mercedes Wild waved excitedly at each U.S. plane that circled over her Berlin home and landed at Tempelhof Airport, packed with supplies to feed Berliners during the Soviets' Cold War blockade.

Hamas Offers Truce Terms to Israel
By Jonathan Wright / Reuters Hamas leaders handed over on Thursday proposals for a truce with Israel in the Gaza Strip, with a timetable for extending it to the West Bank, at a meeting of the Palestinian Islamist group with Egyptian mediators.

Arms Ship Sent Back to China
Reuters A shipment of Chinese arms bound for Zimbabwe will be recalled after South African workers refused to unload the vessel and other neighboring countries barred it from their ports, China said on Thursday.

Belarus Demand 'Unprecedented'
The Associated Press Belarus’ demand that the United States cut its staffing at its Minsk embassy to five diplomats is “unprecedented and unwarranted,” the embassy said Thursday.

EU Stalled on Mandate for Russia Partnership
By Paul Taylor and Conor Sweeney / Reuters European Union efforts to agree on a long-delayed mandate for partnership negotiations with Russia stalled again Thursday despite a prediction of imminent agreement from Luxembourg’s prime minister. Diplomats said Lithuania maintained its veto on starting the talks to demand assurances on energy supplies, cooperation over a missing businessman and Russian movement on frozen conflicts in former Soviet republics.

Business

British Car Dealer to Buy Musa
By Tai Adelaja / Staff Writer Inchcape car dealership group, the world’s largest automobile retailer, said Thursday that it would buy Russia’s Musa Motors Group, paying up to $700 million in a move to strengthen its foothold in one of the world’s fastest-growing car markets.

Fukuda to Build Ties Before G8
By Anna Smolchenko / Staff Writer Talks between Japan and Russia this weekend will likely focus on preparations for the upcoming Group of Eight summit, the possible sale of carbon credits by Russian companies and a decades-old dispute over the Kuril Islands, officials from both countries said Thursday.

TNK-BP Oligarchs Dismiss Talk of Sale
By Miriam Elder / Staff Writer The Russian shareholders who own half of embattled oil major TNK-BP issued a rare statement Thursday strongly denying any intention to sell their stakes in the British-Russian venture.

Chemezov Asks to Be State Arms Buyer
Reuters Russian Technologies has asked the government to make it a state arms purchaser and give it access to state funds of more than 1 trillion rubles ($42.8 billion), Kommersant reported Thursday.

Central Banker Hints at Ruble Appreciation
Reuters The Central Bank is ready for monetary tightening as capital inflows into the country have resumed and price growth has accelerated, first deputy chairman Alexei Ulyukayev said Thursday.

Governor Says RusAl May Close Smelter
Bloomberg United Company RusAl may close its Novokuznetsk plant and build a new smelter complex should it fail to meet targets to cut pollution, Kemerovo Governor Aman Tuleyev said.

Yakunin Signs North Korea Rail Link Deal
Reuters Russia Railways chief Vladimir Yakunin on Thursday signed a long-awaited deal to rebuild a railway line to North Korea, a step Moscow says could eventually boost trade between the secretive state and South Korea.

Levitin Says $600Bln in Upgrades Needed
Bloomberg, MT The transportation minister says the spending is needed for infrastructure upgrades.

Opinion

Cold War Culture, Russophobia and Stupidity
To Our Readers The Moscow Times welcomes letters to the editor. Letters for publication should be signed and bear the signatory's address and telephone number. Letters to the editor should be sent by fax to (7-495) 232-6529, by e-mail to oped@imedia.ru, or by post. The Moscow Times reserves the right to edit letters. Email the Opinion Page Editor In response to ""West's Criticism, Not NATO, Worries Putin,"" a column by Alexander Golts on April 8. Editor, What amazes me by reading Golts' comments on President Vladimir Putin's alleged Cold War rhetoric at the NATO meeting is that the Cold War has never departed from the U.S. political culture. Living in the United States for over 50 years, I can confirm that very few positive comments are published in the mainstream media. The only difference is the name of the country has been changed -- instead of the Soviet Union, the U.S. media now uses Russia, but the main message remains the same: Russia is always presented as an enemy. Some days ago, U.S.

Reinventing Energy
By Jeffrey D. Sachs The world economy is being battered by sharply higher energy prices. While Russia and OPEC countries are reaping huge profits, the rest of the world is suffering as the price of oil has topped $110 per barrel and that of coal has doubled.

Business in Brief

Barca Dominates, But Honors Shared
By Simon Baskett / Reuters Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo fluffed an early penalty as his side drew 0-0 with a dominant Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal at the Camp Nou on Wednesday.

Spring Weather Brings Spring Illnesses
By Michele A. Berdy Over my years of living in Moscow, I have come to embrace a number of Russian cultural concepts. I accept superstition as a viable lifestyle. I believe that all plastic bags should be saved until the end of time. I check the sunspot activity forecast before leaving the house. And I'm beginning to think that vesennee obostrenie -- the belief that all mental and physical processes go kerflooey in the spring -- might exist. The list of what can go wrong when the weather gets nicer certainly makes you take notice.

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