Europe Intelligence Wire articles from June 2008

Europe Intelligence Wire archives from June 2008

State Says It Backs Ethics in Business.
June 2, 2008... (From The Moscow Times) Coming against the background of boardroom battles at TNK-BP and Norilsk Nickel, a conference Friday on the issue of corporate governance appeared to be either the lucky beneficiary of current events or the victim...

Khodorkovsky's Parents Worry and Remember.
June 2, 2008... (From The Moscow Times) KORALLOVO, Moscow Region When the prison gate opened, Marina Khodorkovskaya rushed toward the gray building, she said. She was only allowed to see her son, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, for three hours, and she wanted...

No More Work Permits For Foreigners for Now.
June 2, 2008... (From The Moscow Times) The Moscow branch of the Federal Migration Service abruptly stopped accepting new applications for foreign work permits last week, creating a new headache for companies planning to hire foreign employees. ...

Taking Flight On a Budget.
June 2, 2008... (From The Moscow Times) Marina Bukalova's office looks out on a peaceful country landscape of trees and blue skies rather than clogged streets of central Moscow. But once every 10 minutes, a deafening sound fills the building as planes...

Smelt at St. Petersburg.
June 2, 2008... (From The Moscow Times) Nothing heralds the arrival of spring in St. Petersburg more surely than the appearance of smelt on the Northern capital's menus. It is a tradition to ring in the new season with a large helping of these fine fish....

Putin Seen Tapping Ambassador To U.S.
June 2, 2008... (From The Moscow Times) Russia's ambassador to the United States is expected to be recalled to Moscow to oversee Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's foreign policy team, a government spokesman said Friday. The recall of Yury Ushakov, a...

Investigator Criticizes Former Boss After Firing.
June 2, 2008... (From The Moscow Times) A senior Investigative Committee official fired last month has accused his former boss, committee head Alexander Bastrykin, of opening high-profile criminal cases with little regard for the law. In an interview...

Gay Paraders Opt for Safer Approach.
June 2, 2008... (From The Moscow Times) Gay rights activists protested in defiance of a City Hall ban on Sunday, marching in front of the Moscow State Conservatory and unfurling a banner demanding greater rights for gays and lesbians from the window of an...

Investigation Suspended Into Killing of National Bolshevik.
June 2, 2008... (From The Moscow Times) Prosecutors in the Moscow region have suspended the investigation into the mysterious beating death of opposition activist Yury Chervochkin, citing lack of evidence, opposition coalition The Other Russia said...

Arkhangelsk Mayor Narrowly Wins Recount.
June 2, 2008... (From The Moscow Times) Acting Arkhangelsk Mayor Viktor Pavlenko was narrowly elected mayor of the northern city after a recount in last week's ballot that originally indicated his opponent had won. Pavlenko, 46, defeated entrepreneur...

Hungarian Carrier Not in State Sights.
June 2, 2008... (From The Moscow Times) Russian Technologies will not be making a play for Hungarian carrier Malev despite gobbling up the state's stakes in parent company AiRUnion, the recently formed state corporation said in a statement. After...

Armed Forces Chief Shown the Door.
June 4, 2008... (From The Moscow Times) President Dmitry Medvedev fired General Staff chief Yury Baluyevsky on Tuesday in a much-anticipated move after regular reports of disagreements with Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov over the direction and...

Catching a Ride to Sochi the Air Taxi Way.
June 4, 2008... (From The Moscow Times) SOCHI, Krasnodar Region For many in Russia, catching a taxi involves haggling over 50 rubles with the driver of a beat-up Zhiguli but Yevgeny Andrachnikov's company is aiming much higher than that. On one such...

$84Bln Targeted at Traffic Jams.
June 4, 2008... (From The Moscow Times) The federal government will invest more than $84 billion over five years to help solve the city's traffic woes, a senior government official said Tuesday. More than 2 trillion rubles ($84.5 billion) will be...

Million Rubles Offered For Car Arsonist's Arrest.
June 4, 2008... (From The Moscow Times) Police on Tuesday offered a 1 million ruble ($41,600) reward for information leading to the arrest of a serial arsonist suspected of setting fire to 15 cars in southern Moscow over the past five nights. Police...

Roof Collapse Investigation Suspended.
June 4, 2008... (From The Moscow Times) Investigators have suspended the probe into the 2006 roof collapse at the Basmanny Market, saying Tuesday that they had failed to identify the guilty party. Sixty-six people -- mostly Azeri vendors -- were...

Israeli Woman Knifed to Death.
June 4, 2008... (From The Moscow Times) An Israeli woman who worked at a local Jewish kindergarten has been stabbed to death in central Moscow in a robbery attempt. Yael Anetdinova, 27, was waiting for her husband near a synagogue on Ulitsa Pokrovka...

16 OGK-2 Execs Quit For Payout.
June 4, 2008... (From The Moscow Times) Sixteen senior managers at power generator OGK-2 have quit en masse to collect a combined payoff of $23 million in a step that has enraged its owners, Gazprom and Unified Energy System. The managers resigned...

Foreign Bank Accounts Prevent War.
June 4, 2008... (From The Moscow Times) To Our ReadersThe 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...

Be Fruitful And Multiply.
June 4, 2008... (From The Moscow Times) Andrei Malik, a logistics specialist from the Moscow suburb of Odintsovo, was shocked when he found out that he was going to become the father of three boys at once. Doctors first insisted that his wife,...

Rytsarsky Goes French.
June 4, 2008... (From The Moscow Times) Rytsarsky Club has undergone a complete culinary transformation. The restaurant, which is well liked for its spectacular position perched atop Sparrow Hills, has dropped its Georgian menu in favor of a predominantly...

We missed out on referendum.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Lib Dem MEP Graham Watson, with the adroitness so typical of a politician, chooses to miss the point of Mr Wells' letter (Your Say, May 21). Firstly, the UK has not had a referendum on UK membership of the EU...

The battle of the bins.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Sir Francis Drake would turn in his grave if he could hear what is being proposed by his local council down the M5 in Plymouth - and the rest of us should start worrying now. For this is the age of rubbish;...

Heroics to be savoured.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Just once in a while it seems that the world moves rather faster than it ought to. I was keeping one eye on the news of Ranulph Fiennes' bid to climb Everest, and rather enjoying the suspense. He must...

An obvious sign of the times.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) I Was driving along the M4 over half-term. The sheets of rain were so thick that we went into second gear and started praying; lorries were chucking up spray so dense you could surf on it. And in the back of...

Passport to purgatory.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Police in Bath seized a fake passport in a pub, it was reported last week. Presumably the cops think they may have foiled a link to drug dealers, terrorists and people trafficking. Nonsense - anyone who...

Keeping homes safe from floods.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) John Bosworth (Comment, June 3) highlights the dilemma of building on floodplains but the answer is in your picture of a woman pumping out water over a wall. Build a metre-high waterproof wall around each...

Why phones are facing the axe.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) I Feel I must take issue with the article, "BT set to hang up on red icon of British life" (June 2), which incorrectly claims red kiosks are facing extinction and that the phone-box cull is aimed specifically at...

We can keep up this challenge for the top title.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) What a feeling it is to be top of the County Championship after five games! There's a long way to go, but Somerset history could be in the making this summer. I'm sure our supporters are excited and I think...

Tough love for staff facing axe.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Orange announced yesterday it is to axe 450 jobs with most of the cuts likely to come at its Bristol headquarters. But the telecoms giant said it was creating 500 new customer service jobs in a bid to become...

Tool supplier bucks the downward trend.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) West trade tool supplier Screwfix was the star performer as B&Q owner Kingfisher reported poor first quarter sales yesterday. Uk sales for the group dropped nearly eight per cent on last year to GBP1.13...

Builder Mears keeps up momentum.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Builder Mears has won GBP80 million of contracts in the first part of the year. The Gloucestershire-based firm, which specialises in social housing, said yesterday that its performance for the first four...

Hbos call for GBP4bn boost from investors.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) The country's biggest mortgage lender is writing to its 127,000 shareholders in the West asking them to back its GBP4 billion fundraising plans. Halifax Bank of Scotland's legion of smaller investors -...

Cobham in GBP200m move for us firm.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Defence company Cobham has announced that it has completed the acquisition of US company Sparta for just over GBP200 million. The Dorset company is looking to expand into the States and Sparta builds...

Rolls puts GBP11m more into plant.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Engineering giant Rolls-Royce is investing a further GBP11.6 million for new facilities and equipment at its factory in Patchway near Bristol. The money will support the RB282 civil engine development and...

Us fears bring fall below 6,000 mark.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) The Ftse 100 Index fell below the 6,000 mark yesterday for the first time since April 17 as a stronger dollar hit oil and mining stocks. The session was overshadowed by US Federal Reserve chairman Ben...

Group cuts losses with radio sale.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Gcap, the radio broadcast group with its roots in the West, yesterday reached an agreement to sell national digital station Planet Rock to a new company called Rock Show run by entrepreneur Malcolm Bluemel. ...

Don't swamp our village with a tide of concrete.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Residents adore living in the quiet village of Shortwood. They can see deer and hares in their gardens and have a community spirit that can be hard to find today. But the tranquility of their South...

Can summit fix the food crisis?
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) When they started to plan the food summit in Rome a year ago, it was going to be about the impact of climate change and biofuels on the world's food supply. However, it is turning out to be mainly about the...

Why can't manhole be fixed?
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) West residents suffering sleepless nights because of two noisy manholes have been dismayed to learn only one will be repaired. South Gloucestershire Council says it cannot do anything about the other...

Now benn the movie.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) A quarter of a century after he lost the Parliamentary seat he had occupied for 33 years Tony Benn will relive those times in Bristol. The one-time Bristol South-East MP will return to the city for a public...

She can watch where I'm going.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Most couples would balk at the thought of cycling 1,000 miles together on a tandem. But this week a deaf man who is going blind is putting his life in his wife's hands as they cycle the length of Britain....

VIPs to see pioneering mine work.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Public figures will be donning their hard hats and venturing into Combe Down Stone Mines, Bath, tomorrow. The GBP160 million mines project, based on Firs Field, aims to stabilise abandoned underground...

Winners in the frame.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) One of Bath's most prolific businesses has scooped a prestigious national award. The Framing Workshop, which next year celebrates 20 years in the city, fought off finalists including a national publishing...

Bid to save old offices.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Campaigners are making a last ditch attempt to stop their district council from bulldozing its old offices. West Somerset Council is poised to order the demolition of the building in Williton, worth up to...

Cash incentives to push up care home standards.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Top-rated care homes in Somerset will be handed a cash bonus while below-par homes will not receive a penny as the county becomes the first in the country to use financial incentives to drive up falling...

Thank you for not turning a blind eye.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Three off-duty fire brigade managers have been hailed as heroes after saving the life of a man subjected to a vicious assault at a train station. Married firefighters Gary and Jane Heap and their friend Mandy...

We expect Nelson's victory letter to sell for a tidy sum.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) He was the great English hero who defeated the Span-ish and the French at one of our most famous victories. Now, a letter written by Lord Nelson to his friend in Bath has been uncovered, providing a...

NHS is now a patient in need of some intensivecare.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) It seems the death knell may finally have sounded for the NHS, 60 years after the dream was made a reality by the Labour Party. Many now take the NHS for granted but we only have to go back to 1948 when health...

Monstrosity or marvel?
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Like it or loathe it, Somerset's first giant wind turbine is up and turning despite opposi-tion from locals and wind power sceptics including Sir David Bellamy and Noel Edmonds. Some have welcomed its...

Wood relishes his return to county matchplay.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) David Wood celebrated his recall to the Gloucestershire team by recording only the second ace of his distinguished career at his home club Chipping Sodbury this week. Wood, aged 45, holed a seven-iron at the...

Morss shows he can still spring shock.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Cumberwell Park teaching professional Paul Morss seldom ventures on the course, but is still capable of a surprise when he does. He shared first place in the West Region PGA pro-am at Cotswold Hills with...

Let's invest in rail network.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) There is growing demand for improved rail transport. Commuters are being encouraged to car-share and make more use of public transport, with the possibility of increased train capacity. Suddenly, people...

Bring in ban on ageism.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Research reveals that many people are quite concerned about how they will be treated by society after they reach the age of 65. Too often, older people are disregarded and are frequently the butt of jokes...

Why homeowners do need to have that hip inspection.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) There has been so much controversy over the proposed Home Information Pack (HIP) that I am sure the general public would like to know whether it is compulsory or not. Obviously, estate agents and solicitors...

The fashion's ok with me.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Helen Reid complains that the fashion for women's clothes this summer will be deep plunge necklines and very short skirts. Can't think what she is moaning about. I'm sure I speak for millions of men when I...

GBP2m crusade to breathe new life into hidden gem.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Bristol's oldest church has seen many milestones in the city's history, from the time of the plague and the Civil War siege through to the nightmare of the Blitz. Centuries ago, St James Priory was home to...

Gunman haunts star.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Tennis star Andy Murray has told for the first time how he attended boys' clubs run by Dunblane gunman Thomas Hamilton. Murray, who was brought up in Dunblane, Scotland, also revealed how the killer had...

Sudden death of Betty.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) A grandmother and pillar of the community has died, at 77, after collapsing at her home just three days after returning from a holiday in Spain. Betty Flower and her husband Ron had lived in the village of...

Baby girl delights journalist.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Journalist Rosee Woodland and her husband Alex are celebrating the birth of their daughter, Storm Josephine Frances Woodland. Baby Storm was born at St Michael's Hospital in Bristol, weighing 6lb 7oz. ...

Wives duel for first prize.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Two clever, successful mothers who put their children's lives first will battle it out to enter the White House as first lady next January. Michelle Obama, 44, who would be the first black first lady, will...

Time to heal party rifts as obama sets his sights on white house.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Barack Obama set out to unite the Democratic Party yesterday as his campaign to become the first black President of the United States focused on healing rifts with rival Hillary Clinton. The 46-year-old...

Hill to study new laws on busman's holiday.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Richard Hill is embarking on a working holiday in South Africa in an attempt to get a head-start when it comes to understanding rugby's forthcoming law changes. The much-debated Experimental Law Variations...

Safina victory.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Dinara Safina reached the final four of a grand slam for the first time yesterday with a hugely entertaining 4-6 7-6 (7/5) 6-0 win over fellow Russian Elena Dementieva in a match that had eerie parallels with...

Teacher is victim of M5 crash.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) A man who died in a motorway smash that left his wife and daughter seriously injured when a delivery van crashed sending beer barrels flying was named yesterday. Head teacher Daniel Slinn, 44, died instantly...

Sir parky speaks up for Royal photos sale.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Sir Michael Parkinson has defended his personal assistant's decision to sell photos of her wedding to Peter Phillips to a glossy magazine. Hello! is rumoured to have paid GBP500,000 for pictures of last...

Somerset get ready for all the options.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Somerset and Kent will try to play their Friends Provident Trophy quarter-final against Kent this lunchtime. All hope of a start at Canterbury was abandoned at 10am yesterday and the teams will,...

No one takes rap over Concorde death plunge.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) The tragic last moments of pensioner Horace Livall's life were shown to an inquest jury yesterday. The 10 men and women sitting at Kings Weston House, Bristol, watched distant CCTV footage of the disabled...

Lord's dream dies after early batting collapse.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Gloucestershire were left to rue an early batting collapse as Yorkshire reached the Friends Provident Trophy semi-finals with a six-wicket victory at Bristol. The county's powerful batting unit had been...

College staff vent their anger.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Thousands of college staff, ranging from lecturers to cleaners, staged protests across the country yesterday ahead of crucial talks aimed at resolving a pay dispute. Unions representing 250,000 lecturers,...

Van driver honoured for saving stab victim.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) A van driver who saved the life of the victim of a frenzied knife attack will be honoured for his bravery today. Michael Morgan, 51, of Henbury, Bristol, came to the rescue of Kelly Parker as she was attacked...

Players get animated for the euros.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) The award-winning firm behind Wallace and Gromit has teamed up with the BBC to produce the title sequence for the 2008 European Football Championships. Aardman Animations is producing a sequence that will...

'Fantastically useful, this thing is real fun'.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) He went from Genesis to a Sledgehammer and became a guru of world music, but now West legend Peter Gabriel is pioneering a very 21st century innovation in music - a computer which knows what music you like. ...

Road protest goes to court.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Green campaigners are taking legal action against Swindon council in a bid to halt a "hazardous and hostile" road scheme which will open the door for a controversial M4 tunnel. The High Court proceedings...

Anger over lack of school places.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) More than 1,000 people have signed a petition protesting about the shortage of places at schools in Long Ashton, North Somerset. A number of children living in the village have not been offered places at...

How a cottage stargazer has put the world's top astronomers in a spin...
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Ever since he was six years old, when he gazed into the cloudless sky at night to be mesmerised by the wonder of the Milky Way Richard Miles has been fascinated by the cosmos. He and his older brother John...

GBP14,000 for Diana gift.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) A gold necklace given as a gift by Diana, Princess of Wales, to her medium was sold for nearly GBP14,000 yesterday, more than double its top estimate. Expected to fetch GBP4,000 to GBP6,000, the necklace was...

Concerns over air ambulance.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) The uncertainty over the future of a pioneering air ambulance had to be resolved urgently, MPs warned yesterday. They told a special Commons debate the Wiltshire service had a remarkable record, but people in...

Surgeries' size doesn't matter.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) New "super surgeries" will force patients in rural areas to travel further for treatment and will not ease pressure on hospitals, a new report warns today. The major analysis of the Government's...

Bird watchers are electrified by sight at power station.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) One of the rarest birds in Britain has been seen at a West power station. A bearded tit was last seen in South Gloucestershire in 1981, but a group of bird watchers recently spotted a male at a lagoon at Oldbury...

In floods of tears all over again.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) More rain is set to descend on flood-hit Wilt-shire today as residents are forced to face the devastating consequen-ces of flash flooding once again. Many residents were close to tears in areas of Wiltshire...

Rovers halt ticket sales until Monday.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Bristol Rovers have frozen any further season ticket sales until Monday in the wake of the announcement that they will be staying at the Memorial Stadium for another 12 months. The club were expected to...

Fleetwood closes in on addicks deal.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) Forest Green Rovers striker Stuart Fleetwood is expected to finally complete his move to Charlton Athletic next week. Fleetwood, 22, plundered 34 goals in the Blue Square Premier last season, making him one...

Goa case may collapse.
June 5, 2008... (From Western Daily Press) The case against two men accused of raping and murdering a British teenager in Goa could collapse after test results appeared to show she had no sexual contact on the night she died. The results from swabs...