MegaFon Ural is to launch its new Vacation tariffs on April 21, 2008; the new tariffs provide free incoming calls for a subscriber located outside their home network. If you use the Vacation in Russia option, all of your incoming calls will be free as long as you stay within the Russian borders. The offer is available for 400 RUR (VAT included). If you choose to use the Vacation Abroad option, all the incoming calls you get in any part of the world will be free of charge. This offer is available for 900 RUR (VAT included), MegaFon Ural’s press officer reports. A subscriber can use these

A group of delegates from Sverdlovsk Region, headed by Governor Eduard Rossel, is to take part in an economic forum in Baden-Baden, Germany, on April 16-19, 2008, the spokesperson for the Governor reports. The 9th Baden-Baden Economic Forum is one of the major international forums that the Governor normally takes part in every year. Eduard Rossel is going to make a report on Sverdlvosk Region in the course of the forum’s second section devoted to regions as the driving force behind the foreign economic cooperation and presentations of their foreign economic potentials. In addition, the

Experts from Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant and Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (members of ChTPZ Group) and Uraltrubostal’s sales managers are to participate in the 13th international exhibition known as Iran Oil Show 2008 in Tehran, ChTPZ Group’s press officer said to UrBC. Iran Oil Show is one of the Middle East’s fastest-developing annual exhibitions, with over 1,000 companies from all over the world taking part in the event every year. For the first time this year, the show is supported by the Russian Federation Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The Group’s press officer says the company is

Sberbank’s Ural branch provided small businesses with 106.9 billion RUR worth of loans in 2007, while the amount of debt on this type of loans came to 44.4 billion RUR on January 1, 2008. This debt rose by 3.9 billion RUR within the first quarter of 2008 and thus reached 48.3 billion RUR. Small businesses make up some 86% of all the borrowers in the legal entities and sole traders category; the bank has about 10,000 loan agreements with these. ‘The lending technologies we employ with smaller companies take into account the peculiarities of their way of running business, which means we offer

‘The dollar’s position might slightly improve this week, but this won’t last long,’ says SKB-Bank’s Dealing Director Anton Khavin. ‘The European Central Bank’s meeting that resulted in the decision to keep the refinancing rate as it is (that is, at 4%), was definitely the highlight of last week. Despite the bank’s anxiety related to inflation, they might still go through with decreasing the rate further in the second half of the year because of the poor performance of some European countries,’ he said. ‘In the meantime, according to the U.S. Federal Reserve System’s minutes, no dramatic rate

Representatives of SMS Demag and WISDRI visited the premises of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) in order to discuss the implementation of the Mill 5000 project. First, the company’s Construction Director Valentin Antonyuk took the visitors to the construction site where over one thousand people are working on the mill. The foundation work is nearly complete, and 19,000 tons out of 32,000 tons of metalwork have been assembled already. ‘We get new impressions every time we visit. The project is being implemented on a gargantuan scale, and we can definitely see serious progress in

According to the National Managers’ League’s profitability ranking of unit investment trusts, the share price of BCS Bank Stock Fund (BrokerCreditService Management Company) has gone down by 18.26% since the beginning of the year.

UC RUSAL published a quarterly report for January-March 2008. The company’s bauxite output went up by 13.1% compared to the first quarter of 2007 and reached 4,537,288 tons. The alumina production rose by 3.5% against a year earlier, coming to 1,096,236 tons thanks to Khakas aluminum plant reaching its full capacity. RUSAL’s high value-added foundry production increased by 17.8%; the share of these goods came to slightly over a half (52%) of the total aluminum products output. The foil mill output went up by 18.4%. The company invested $457m in business development in January-March 2008,

Sverdlovsk Region’s division of Federal Antimonopoly Service filed a complaint against Bank24.ru, charging the business with violating the federal law on advertising, the Service’s press officer reports. The bank’s express loan ad is reported to be missing some information essential to determining the actual cost of a loan to a borrower and to provide inaccurate data as to the price of the product, the terms of payment, the discount rates, and other terms of purchase. Similar problems were detected in the bank’s Universal loan ad. The case is to be considered by Sverdlovsk Region’s division

‘On June 15, 2008, it will become illegal for bulky cargo trucks to enter Yekaterinburg’s roads. This is based on the existing environmental legislation, and all the perpetrators will be fined heavily. One company has recently had to pay a 450,000-ruble fine, for example,’ head of Sverdlovsk Region’s road police department Yuri Demin announced at a press conference. ‘Bulky vehicles must steer clear of the city’s highways. All the logistics terminals must be located outside its boundaries,’ he added.

Kate Moss’s biography by a Ms Alena Alpenshtal is now available in bookstores all over Russia, including some copies found by a Politsovet reporter in one of Yekaterinburg’s largest stores. In terms of quality, the book is not much better than a bundle of photocopies; one half of the 128-page book almost fully consists of the supermodel’s photographs, printed without any reference to either the possessors of rights or the photographers, which might mean that the photographs were used illegitimately. Moreover, the book features Vogue and People magazine covers that are protected by copyright,