News Moscow Brims With Billionaires Moscow now has 74 billionaires with average wealth of $5.9 billion, placing it above New York, Forbes Magazine said in its annual rich list. According to the list, New York has 71 billionaires, followed by London with 36, Istanbul with 34, and Hong Kong with 30.

News Medvedev is First Russian President-elect By Kirill Bessonov Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a special decree determining the status of his successor Dmitry Medvedev. For the first time in modern Russian history the President-elect post has been established. Now, the relevant government structures receive instructions for the period between the completion of elections and president's inauguration.

News In Brief - Russia to Send Helicopters to Forces in Chad, Darfur Russia to Send Helicopters to Forces in Chad, Darfur, Germany's Merkel to Test Waters with Medvedev in Weekend Visit, Russian Arms Dealer Nabbed in Thailand, Russian Bomber Intercepted Near U.S. Navy Ship

News Foreigners Urged to Get Legal By Anna Arutunyan Immigration officials in Moscow are giving illegal migrants a new chance to get legalized in what has incorrectly been termed a "migration amnesty." While the Federal Migration Service has denied issuing any amnesty, it explains that foreigners in Moscow can legalize their status through their employer and avoid legal measures against them. All they would have to do is pay a 2,000 ruble ($81) fine and bring along an employer.

News Kadyrov Accepted, then Rejected by Journalists Union Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov became a journalist for a day after the Chechen Journalists Union accepted him as an honorary member Wednesday. He was expelled the following day by the union's central secretariat, however, after it was determined that he was not an actual journalist.

News Russian Watchdog Bans Cruel Cartoons from TV A Russian television channel had to remove the "Happy Tree Friends" and "Adventures of Big Jeff" cartoons from schedule after Russian media watchdog Rossvyazokhrankultura issued a written warning to the channel saying that the cartoons "propagate the cult of violence and cruelty."

News Crime Briefs - Russian Woman Kills Grandchildren with Soup Russian Woman Kills Grandchildren with Soup, Madagascar Releases ‘Insect Smugglers', One Chinese National Killed, Three Injured in Attack in Yekaterinburg, Tow Truck Hauls Car to Sell for Scrap Metal

Local Flu Hits Epidemic Levels in Moscow By Tom Washington Winter flu levels have taken their toll and the rate of infection is now at epidemic levels among children under the age of 14, according to the latest figures from Moscow's health ministry, Rospotrebnadzor. Among adults, the infection rate is currently below epidemic levels, but rising.

Local Red Square Makeover By Nathalie Cooper Red Square is to undergo major repair work later this year, the main bulk of which will be the replacement of all its paving stones. Although the president's administration is unable to say as yet how much time the renovation will take, it has promised that Moscow's main tourist spot will not be shut for very long. Repair works are set to begin after the Victory Day parade on May 9 to avoid further damage to paving stones by military equipment, Interfax reported.

Local In Brief - Single Transport Ticket to Arrive In Moscow Single Transport Ticket to Arrive In Moscow, Single Transport Ticket to Arrive In Moscow, Minimum Wages in Moscow Rise, Two Month Fest of ‘Social Advertising' Planned, City to Get More Low Riding Buses

Local 103-Year-Old Russian Artist By Nathalie Cooper Walk through the long halls of the New Tretyakov Gallery, past all the famous masterpieces of the beginning of the 20th Century, and you are reminded of a bygone age, just before the 1917 Revolution when the arts scene was exploding with new liberal possibilities and new dynamic movements; the World of Art, Sergei Diaghilev, the Ballets Russes with their fantastic décors and costumes by the new leading artists of the Avant-Garde, and then the colorful "Jack of Diamonds" group with its Russian folk undertones. This was before the "rot" of Socialist Realism set in and artists were forced to conform to the Socialist movement - under the threat of lost work, reputation or even their very lives. A bygone age whose main protagonists have long since disappeared from the art world. Or have they?

Local Indoor Skiing By Theodore Merz It is March, and winter sports enthusiasts would normally be putting their skis and snowboards back into storage for another year. But now, thanks to the newly constructed Snezh.kom, an indoor ski slope in a northern suburb of the capital, the ski season never has to end.

Local Eastern Slavs: Still United? By Daria Chernyshova The paths of these three countries and nations have criss-crossed many times. At first, a number of tribes were united into so-called Kievan Rus. Today's Ukrainian capital, Kiev, became the "mother of the Russian cities," but the period of feudal upheaval altered the situation. Several countries appeared on Eastern Slav territory, and history reunited them - for awhile. But things did not turn as planned.

Local Stimulate Your Date By Theodore Merz Times have changed since the coffee shortages of the Soviet days. Now cafés are everywhere in the capital, and sorting the mocha-wheat from the low-fat chaff can be hard. The Moscow News takes the caffeine hit of five of Moscow's major coffee houses and chains so you don't have to.

Local Great Women of Moscow By Phoebe Taplin Women's Day is this Saturday, of course; so here is a walk that celebrates a few of the many talented women who have called Moscow home. Our journey ends at the striking Novode­vichy Convent, which was a refuge or prison for many influential noblewomen in the 18th century while the cemetery next door remembers women from every field (If you wish to take a trip just to Novodevichy, take the number 15 trolley - tickets are 25 rubles from the driver - passing close to the houses of a number of Moscow's famous females).