World Headlines: Issue #1685(47), Wednesday, November 30, 2011

The St. Petersburg Times Issue #1685(47), Wednesday, November 30, 2011
LOCAL NEWS
Business Community Criticizes Smoking Bill		Zenit Needs Porto Victory to Qualify
A new smoking law threatens to severely damage small businesses throughout Russia, campaigners say. The draft law aims to reduce tobacco use and improve the health of the nation, yet could prove to be harmful in other ways, according to its opponents. Read the story...		Zenit St. Petersburg has complicated its chances of entering the Champions League knock-out stages after a frustrating 0-0 draw at Petrovsky stadium last Wednesday to Cypriot champions APOEL. The game's outcome was to decide which of the two teams would move forward into the last 16 of the competition before the final group games on Dec. Read the story...
Residents Call on Governor To Restore Historical Street Names		Britain Rules To Let 'Spy' Remain
About 1,500 city residents have appealed to St. Petersburg City Governor Georgy Poltavchenko requesting that a number of St. Petersburg streets and squares be given back the names they had before the 1917 Revolution, and that the names of streets named after those who took part in criminal activities be changed as well. Read the story...		LONDON — A special immigration tribunal ruled Tuesday that a Russian former lawmaker's aide who was accused of being a spy can stay in Britain. The tribunal concluded that Ekaterina Zatuliveter — who had an affair with her boss, a British lawmaker — was not a threat to national security despite government claims. Read the story...
Spanish Architect Visits City to Monitor Project		Deputy: Gays Shouldn't Be Seen
Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill visited the city earlier this month to check on his first creation in St. Petersburg, an elite business center and apartment complex on Novgorodskaya Ulitsa. Bofill, or "Maestro" as he was referred to at a press conference organized in honor of his visit to the city, has designed more than 1,000 projects for more than 50 countries and owns the Taller de Architectura workshop in Barcelona. Read the story...			A deputy of St. Petersburg's Legislative Assembly and one of the supporters of the ruling United Russia party's controversial "gay propaganda" bill introducing fines for "promoting sodomy and lesbianism … to minors" effectively suggested that gays should go back in the closet last week. Read the story...
Two Parachutists Jump From Peter and Paul Fortress Spire
A wild video was posted on YouTube showing two base jumpers parachuting off the bell tower of the St. Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, although authorities claim the high-flying stunt never occurred. Read the story...
NATIONAL NEWS
Report: Capital Lawyer Beaten to Death		Dzhioyeva Victorious In Election
	MOSCOW — New evidence released Monday added weight to suspicions that Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was beaten to death by prison guards in 2009 and did not die from health problems as previously claimed by the authorities. Read the story...	MOSCOW — The situation in South Ossetia was tense Monday after authorities declared opposition candidate Alla Dzhioyeva the winner in a presidential runoff, a result that her Kremlin-supported opponent Anatoly Bibilov loudly disputed. Read the story...
U.K. Prince Comes To Rescue of Russian Sailors		United Russia Nominates Putin as Candidate
MOSCOW — In a dramatic rescue, a team of British coast guards, including Prince William, plucked two Russian sailors from the Irish Sea after their freighter sank in foul weather Sunday. But at least one sailor died, and five others from the all-Russian crew remain missing. Read the story...			MOSCOW — In a show of unity amid sagging ratings and growing public dissatisfaction, United Russia on Sunday nominated its leader Vladimir Putin as its presidential candidate Soviet-style — with 614 of 614 ballots cast in his favor. Read the story...
Electoral Mutiny Ensues In TV Commercial Ban		Olympic Building on Track
MOSCOW — Campaign ads by opposition parties have been banned on state television by order of the head of the Central Elections Commission, who has no authority to do so, Vedomosti reported Monday. Vladimir Churov's actions prompted a mutiny among the commission's working group, whose job is to review such videos, but which was only asked to do so after they were banned, the newspaper said. Read the story...		SOCHI — International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge praised Russian organizers for making significant progress in preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Rogge was given a tour of the venues last week by Dmitry Chernyshenko, head of Sochi's local organizing committee. Read the story...
NATIONAL BUSINESS
Baltic Pearl Construction Pushes Forward		Gazprom Deal Gives $2 Billion In Savings
	An inauguration ceremony dedicated to the opening and sale of the premium-class residential property Duderhof Club, part of the Baltic Pearl multi-functional complex, was held in St. Petersburg last week. Read the story...	MOSCOW — Gazprom on Friday agreed to slash its gas price for Belarus as the two neighbors prepare to move their economies closer next year. Gazprom will charge Belarus $165.60 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas next year, down from $244 this quarter, according to Gazprom and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Read the story...
Road Repairs Made Priority By Transportation Ministry		Vladimir Putin Announces Foreign Investment Has Reached $36 Bln
MOSCOW — The Transportation Ministry determined it needs to concentrate on repairing existing roads and constructing toll roads as it lacks funds for anything else. Transportation costs account for 15 to 20 percent of production in Russia, as opposed to 7 to 8 percent in developed countries, and population mobility in Russia is half that of the developed countries. Read the story...		MOSCOW — Foreign direct investment in Russia reached $36 billion in the first 10 months of the year, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Monday during a meeting of the government's commission on foreign investment, citing the Central Bank. Read the story...
OPINION
Climate Change in Russia's Court		An Obedient Duma
	There is one boat only, and we are all in it. Science is clear on what needs to be done to avoid rocking the boat: The world needs to keep global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius to prevent catastrophic climatic events. Read the story...	The fifth convocation of the State Duma ended its work last week with a final session devoted to the giving and receiving of awards and congratulations. Even the opposition members' refusal to stand up when Prime Minister Vladimir Putin entered the room did not ruin the celebration of unity among the executive and legislative branches of government. Read the story...
FROM A SAFE DISTANCE: Misplaced Hopes for Political Change
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was booed at a wrestling match a week ago, and Russia's liberal intelligentsia felt encouraged. When Putin announced that he would seek another presidential term, disgust around the country was palpable. Read the story...
CULTURE
Dancing with bears		TALK OF THE TOWN
	Jenia Lubich, a St. Petersburg indie pop singer-songwriter whose voice can be heard on Nouvelle Vague's most recent albums and whose star is in the ascendant in Russia, will launch her debut album with a concert in St. Read the story...	It's Scotland Week at the Hotel Astoria, and the hotel has gone all out to bring a bit of Celtic charm to the city, culminating in the annual St. Andrew's Ball, which takes place on Saturday evening at the hotel. Read the story...
Art without color		the word's worth: Putin's PR boo-boo
	Color is starkly absent from the "Expression Beyond" exhibit that opens Dec. 1 in an ex-factory building now used by the Rizzordi Art Foundation. For the "Expression Beyond" project, the curators of the Rizzordi Art Foundation Loft exposition area, which recently opened on Kurlyandskaya Ulitsa in the former industrial area near the city's port, have selected 10 artists from all over the world whose work is characterized by their use of black and white. Read the story...	Освистывать: to boo, shout catcalls The political buzz this week in Moscow was: Did they or didn't they? Boo Vladimir Putin at the boxing match, that is. But I was buzzing about the verb used to describe the audience reaction: освистать, which comes from the root word свист (whistle). Read the story...
New Israeli cinema		in the spotlight: Lips you can see from a distance
	Modern Israeli cinematgraphy is making a strong impression on the international market — Israeli documentaries have already become a well-known brand, and feature films are catching up, claim the organizers of the Israeli Film Festival that takes place in the city from Dec. Read the story...		This week, Britain's Daily Mail highlighted the case of Kristina Rei from St. Petersburg, who has enormous lips springing out of her face, created with what it said was £4,000 ($6,215) worth of silicone injections. Read the story...
THE DISH: La Marеe restaurant and fish boutique
Tipping the scales Building on the success of their three restaurants in Moscow headed by Tunisian brand chef Zitouni Abdessatar, La Maree company, the largest importers of luxury seafood products into Russia, opened a restaurant in St. Read the story...
FEATURES
Culture and Smiles Transplanted to Novosibirsk		Josef Stalin's Daughter Dies in Wisconsin at Age 85
	Strangers are apt to approach you and strike up a conversation, a grandfatherly voice wishes you well on the metro intercom "vsego vam dobrogo," and the ruddiness of people's cheeks is due primarily to the cold. Read the story...	MADISON, Wisconsin — Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's daughter, whose defection to the West during the Cold War embarrassed the ruling communists and made her a best-selling author, has died. She was 85. Read the story...
Tomaso Trussardi on Using Fashion to Show Values
	Smart opinionated chic: This is what Trussardi women are all about, according to Tomaso Trussardi, general director for development of the Trussardi fashion house, who was in St. Petersburg last week for the Russian premiere of the Trussardi Spring/Summer-2012 Women's Collection. Read the story...
WORLD
UN: Syria Killed and Tortured 256 Kids		Elections In Egypt Bring Big Crowd
	BEIRUT — A UN investigation has concluded that Syrian forces committed crimes against humanity by killing and torturing hundreds of children, including a two-year-old girl reportedly shot to death so she wouldn't grow up to be a demonstrator. Read the story...	CAIRO — The head of Egypt's election commission said turnout was "massive and unexpected" for the first elections since Hosni Mubarak's ouster, with millions participating peacefully in a spirit of hopefulness that surprised many after new protests broke out in the days leading up to the vote. Read the story...
Mass Killer Undergoes Psychiatric Evaluation		Pakistan Upset by NATO
OSLO, Norway — The forensic psychiatrists who evaluated the mental state of confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik handed over their assessment to a Norwegian court on Tuesday. One of the psychiatrists, Torgeir Husby, told The Associated Press that the report draws a "clear conclusion" about Breivik's mental health, but declined to give details. Read the story...		ISLAMABAD — Pakistan said Tuesday it would boycott an upcoming meeting in Germany on Afghanistan to protest the deadly weekend attack by U.S.-led forces on its troops, widening the fallout from an incident that has sent ties between Washington and Islamabad into a tailspin. Read the story...