Russia

Q2 Report Spotlights Importance of Global Reach for Domain Name Registrars

Mountain View, CA, August 29, 2007 – The number of domain names registered globally now totals more than 138 million, according to the second quarter 2007 Domain Name Industry Brief published by VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN), the leading provider of digital infrastructure for the networked world.    » read more »

By David Byrd
Osaka, Japan
29 August 2007

Bernard Lagat has won his first world championship and his first major title since becoming an American citizen. From the World Athletics Championships in Osaka, Japan, VOA's David Byrd reports on the 1500 meters race and the rest of the day's action.

Bernard Lagat wanted to win his first gold medal before Wednesday. He had come close, winning world and Olympic silver medals while running for his native Kenya.

When he became an American citizen, he could not compete in the 2005 World Championships because of citizenship regulations.    » read more »

28 August 2007Osaka, Japan (By David Byrd) -- Kenyan athletes have won four medals, including two golds, on the fourth day of the World Athletics Championships in Osaka, Japan. As VOA's David Byrd reports, the Kenyans won gold in both men's and women's races.

Kenya has traditionally dominated men's steeplechase, and Tuesday was no exception. Kenyans swept the medals with Olympic silver medalist Brimin Kiprop Kipruto taking gold in eight minutes, 13.82 seconds.    » read more »

Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele won his third world 10,000 meters championship

28 August 2007, Osaka, Japan (By David Byrd) -- Jamaican sprinter Veronica Campbell has won the women's 100-meters title at the World Athletics Championships in Osaka, Japan. As VOA's David Byrd reports, Campbell edged defending champion Lauryn Williams to take the crown.

By the narrowest of margins Veronica Campbell walked away with the gold medal in a photo finish. In the end, both the Jamaican and defending champion Lauryn Williams of the United States were credited with the same time of 11.01 seconds.    » read more »

MOSCOW, Aug. 22, 2007 -- Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) will require 1,060 new airplanes worth about $70 billion over the next 20 years, according to The Boeing Company's [NYSE:BA] updated annual forecast for the commercial airplane market. The complete forecast, known as the Boeing Current Market Outlook, is available on the Boeing web.

This year marks the first year that Boeing has published its forecast for the Russia/CIS region as part of the Current Market Outlook.    » read more »

MOSCOW, Russia, Aug. 23, 2007 -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] and Atlant-Soyuz announced today at the 2007 Moscow Air Show that the Moscow-based carrier is the customer for four Next Generation 737-700s. The order, worth $249 million at 2007 list prices, was listed as unidentified on Boeing's Orders & Deliveries Web site in 2006 and is accounted for in 2006 order totals.    » read more »

MOSCOW, Aug. 23, 2007 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] is helping Aeroflot-Cargo improve its operational efficiency and adapt to growing cargo market demands by converting two MD-11 passenger airplanes into freighters and updating their flight deck features and cargo-handling system so that they are consistent across Aeroflot-Cargo's fleet.    » read more »

22 August 2007 -- Georgia's Ambassador to the United Nations Irakli Alasania is accusing Russia of new airspace violations. Georgia is already pursuing investigations into an alleged incursion and missile launch earlier this month.

Ambassador Alasania says Russia committed two new violations of Georgian airspace on Tuesday near the pro-Russian breakaway Abkhazia region. Alasania says Georgia's foreign affairs ministry is demanding an explanation from its Russian counterpart.

Russian news agencies quote a Russian military officer as denying the claim.    » read more »

21 August 2007 -- Earlier this month a Russian expedition to the North Pole planted a Russian flag on the Arctic Ocean floor. In Focus, VOA's André de Nesnera looks at the Russian feat and discusses the Law of the Sea that governs the earth's oceans.

The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea is a comprehensive document that sets rules for the use of the world's oceans.

Michael Byers, Law of the Sea expert at the University of British Columbia [Liu Institute for Global Issues], says the treaty has specific guidelines concerning the Arctic Ocean.    » read more »

21 August 2007 -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel says that her country's dependence on Russian energy will not prevent her from criticizing Russia's human rights record. Ms. Merkel made the comments during a visit to Budapest, where she also discussed the future of Kosovo, the predominantly ethnic-Albanian province of Serbia.

Energy issues were high on the agenda during German Chancellor Merkel's one-day visit to Hungary. There is growing unease in Germany, as well as in former Soviet satellite states, about their dependence on Russian oil and gas supplies.    » read more »

Budapest, Hungary, August 17, 2007 -- The Budapest-based human rights organization Freedom House Europe today strongly condemned the closing down of the International Youth Human Rights Movement (YHRM) by a Nizhniy Novgorod court at the demand of Russia’s Federal Registration Service (FRS).    » read more »

16 August 2007 -- Russia's ambassador to the United Nations says the Security Council should not take any action on Georgian allegations that Russia violated its airspace until after officials of the two countries carry out their own investigation.

Ambassador Vitaly Churkin says Russian and Georgian experts will jointly probe allegations that Russian fighter jets entered more than 75 kilometers into Georgian territory and launched a guided missile on August sixth.    » read more »

August 15, 2007, Moscow – Citibank and Miles & More today set an unlimited lifespan of Miles & More award miles for Citibank Miles & More credit cardholders.    » read more »

16 August 2007 -- A company with reported ties to Russia's state-owned oil giant Rosneft has won an auction for the foreign assets of the bankrupt Yukos oil company.

Promneftstroi bought the Dutch-registered Yukos Finance Wednesday for $306 million - far less than what former Yukos managers say it is worth.

Assets of Yukos Finance include a large stake in Slovakia's oil pipeline monopoly and revenue from a Lithuanian refinery.    » read more »

15 August 2007 -- Greece, Bulgaria and Russia earlier this year agreed to spend over $1 billion to build a 230-kilometer oil pipeline from Bulgaria's Black Sea port of Burgas to Alexandroupolis on Greece's Mediterranean coast. VOA's Barry Wood reports from Alexandroupolis that when the pipeline is completed in 2011, fewer tankers will have to pass through the crowded Bosporus Straits next to Turkey's biggest city, Istanbul.    » read more »