Business Market Blackout By Marina Pustilnik On Monday I flew in to Moscow from three weeks of information-less bliss. I knew nothing of what had happened in the world since New Year. As we were driving into Moscow, the taxi driver turned on the TV news and I saw the ending bit of a story covering the stock market crisis.

News Medvedev Kicks Off Election Campaign By Kirill Bessonov First deputy prime minister Dmitri Medvedev made his first program speech on Tuesday, the day after after being officially registered as a presidential candidate. Medvedev concentrated on social policies and touched upon international and domestic politics while deliberately bypassing the economic issues which he promised to talk about in his next speech.

News In Brief - NATO Invites Russia's Putin To Summit In April NATO Invites Russia's Putin To Summit In April, Latvia Expels Russian Diplomat As Security Risk, Rights Activists Sue Over British Council Closure

News Top Brass Defends Russia's Right to Preemptive Strike By Anna Arutunyan Russia underlined its right to a "preventive" nuclear strike this week in what military analysts interpreted as a move to introduce more clarity into the nation's defense doctrine. The statements, made by Chief of General Staff Yuri Baluyevsky on Saturday, were followed by naval exercises in the northern Atlantic that will feature over 40 aircraft of the Air Force. Though unrelated, the developments pointed to a Russia not so much on the offensive as a one that was eager to bring its defense doctrine in line with that of the Western world and make it more up to date with contemporary military demands.

News Rice Attacks ‘Unwise' Russian Rhetoric DAVOS (Reuters, RIA Novosti) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday Russia was guilty of unwise and irresponsible rhetoric, but dismissed talk of any return to Cold War tension.

News Crime Briefs - Moscow Policemen Acquitted in Illegal Eavesdropping Case Moscow Policemen Acquitted in Illegal Eavesdropping Case, Moscow Bus Driver Held for Dealing Heroin to Passengers, Violence in Ingushetia Claims Several Lives, British Citizen's Car Stolen in Moscow

Local US Democrats in Russia Unite By Robert Bridge Following the bitter defeat of Al Gore in the 2000 US presidential elections by the Republican candidate George W. Bush, the Democratic Party vowed to better organize their numbers around the world. The result of those efforts is a revitalized Democrats Abroad, the official Democratic Party organization, which brings together 6 million American citizens who live outside the U.S.

News In Brief - Anti-Rabies Vaccinations Offered Around City Anti-Rabies Vaccinations Offered Around City, Moscow Mayor Floats ‘Parallel' Metro Idea, Drivers Who Use Remote Parking Lots Will Get Metro Discounts, North Moscow Prepares to Get a Little Greener

Local Ski Moscow! By Theodore Merz You are somewhere in the French Alps, skiing down a slope covered in fresh, crisp snow. The air is clean, the sky is blue and all that can be seen for miles around are dazzlingly white mountains and the occasional chalet.

Local Irony of Fate for Tatianas By Nathalie Cooper As January 25th approaches, students and women with the name of Tatiana have particular reason to look forward to the newly released film, Irony of Fate. The Sequel. Between February 21 and 25, any student or woman named Tatiana is able to get a discount to see the matinee sessions of the movie.

Local Emergency Landings By Nathalie Cooper A plane flying from Orenburg to Moscow safely completed an emergency landing at Domodedovo Airport on Friday. As the Orenburg Airlines (Orenburgskii Avialinii) plane approached the Moscow airport, the emergency system came on inside the cock-pit, signalling a flare-up in one of the plane's engines.

Local Fire Safety System Planned (RIA Novosti) - Moscow city authorities have allocated over 16 million rubles to equip the city metro with the newest fire detection system, a source in the city administration has reported to RIA Novosti. The source said that the system would be installed on all structures and technical and utility rooms on the metro stations.

Local Where There's Smoke... By Rebeccah Billing Members of the Grand Havana Room can now sate their appetite for Cuban cigars in style, as the first branch of the exclusive private cigar club outside the U.S. has opened in Moscow.

Local Muscovites Adopt Zoo Animals MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) - Raccoons, penguins and kangaroos are the most popular animals among those of the city residents who "adopt" animals in the Moscow Zoo, spokesperson Raisa Koroleva told RIA Novosti.

Local Embassies Collide By Nathalie Cooper This week did not start well for the representatives of Guinea Bissau and the Republic of Korea as their embassies' cars were involved in an accident late Sunday night.