russia

Dear all,

Sochi which is a city in the Southern Federal District of Russia the central city of which is Rostov-on-Don was Elected as Host City of XXII Olympic Winter Games 2014. The announcement has just been made by IOC President Jacques Rogge in Guatemala City, where the IOC members are meeting. Sochi was elected in the second round of voting with 51 votes against 47 votes for PyeongChang.

Власти страны защитят национальные компании от иностранцев

Serbia:

Ukraine:

The following article probably is not of particular interest to many MILE students, but definetely is for those who are following after amazing political games around accession of former Soviet countries to WTO. It is well known that Russia has been putting enourmous economical pressure on Georgia, in particular it has been using its powerful energy sector to pursue its political aims. Now it is up to Georgia to put Russia in not comortable situation - this time Russia's destiny on the road to WTO accession is in the hands of Tbilisi.

By Andrew McChesney (Moscow Times)
Staff Writer

DAVOS, Switzerland -- Ernst & Young CEO James Turley didn't mince words when he took the microphone at the World Economic Forum.
"I think the question that is on everyone's minds out here is: 'Is Russia reliable?'" he told a packed hall of about 1,000 people who had showed up Saturday to get the lowdown on Russia.

By Max Delany
Staff Writer

When the inaugural Sky Express flight takes off from Moscow's Vnukovo Airport for Sochi on Monday afternoon, the low-cost airline phenomenon familiar in Europe and the United States will have finally come to Russia.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article2145145.ec...

By Steve Connor
Published: 12 January 2007

A Stone Age archaeological site on the banks of the river Don in southern Russia has been identified by scientists as the earliest known settlement of modern humans in Europe.

The discovery has provided support for the idea that the first migration of modern humans out of sub-Saharan Africa occurred less than 50,000 years ago.

Scientists have dated the artefacts from the Russian site to 45,000BC, which would make the inhabitants the earliest known ancestors of Europeans today.

Art on Ice performances 2007

Enjoy the Art on Ice shows in 2007, starring top music stars and European, World and Olympic Figure Skating Champions performing on the ice.

Zurich 1 to 4 February 2007

Lausanne 6 and 7 February 2007

Sheffield, UK 10 and 11 February 2007

St. Moritz 15 February 2007

Stars on stage

Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees
Gölä
Freda Goodlett

Stars on ice

World Champion Stéphane Lambiel
Olympic Champion Evgeny Plushenko (RUSSIA)
and other top figure skating stars

Flamenco rhythms at Art on Ice

Stéphane Lambiel's flamenco teacher Antonio Najarro performs at Art on Ice in Zurich and Lausanne.

Ukraine did not complete the multilateral round of negotiations for WTO membership in time to join this year because the Supreme Rada did not send laws it had passed to World Trade Organization headquarters in Geneva on time. Now the report of the Working Group on Ukraine can be considered only in February 2007, possibly simultaneously with the report on Russia. Formal the accession will possibly take place in July 2007. The report of the working group is the last substantive obstacle to Ukraine's admission to the WTO. The group's February meeting, according to a source in the WTO, “won't be the last either.”

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Post has started delivering 4.5 tonnes of letters and parcels that were sent from the United States in 1999.

The state-owned postal service said the delay was not its fault -- a shipping container with the mail inside had languished at a port in Finland for years.

The container finally reached Russia on December 8.

"The loss of mail usually happens because of force majeure circumstances, such as natural disasters, traffic and other accidents," Russian Post told Reuters via e-mail.

"All of the mail has been very well preserved because the container was hermetically sealed."