Russia’s association of tour operators declared it cannot agree with the stance taken by Rospotrebnadzor: the consumer rights watchdog insists that the travel companies must give a 100% refund to tourists who decided to cancel their trips to Egypt, ITAR TASS reports. Gennady Onischenko said Rospotrebnadzor would help the customers get their money back from the tour operators who are unwilling to reimburse the travelers who do not want to go Egypt because of the risk of a shark attack. The association agrees the agency’s demand makes sense, but meeting it could lead to even greater losses and

A workers’ strike at Finland’s largest air carrier came to an end today after a new three-year agreement had been signed, ITAR TASS reports. The strike, which started on November 30, 2010, was caused by the disagreements regarding the number of days off after a transcontinental flight between the flight attendants’ trade unions and the company’s management. Between 160 and 200 domestic and international flights had to be cancelled daily due to the strike. Some of the flights that were called off were actually bound for Yekaterinburg. Experts estimate Finnair’s losses at about ?2m a day, ITAR

Sverdlovsk Region’s presentation for the potential investors was coordinated on the premises of Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s permanent representation under the Russian Federation President in Moscow. The presentation was organized by the region’s Economics Ministry. Sverdlovsk Region was represented by First Deputy Head of Government and Economics Minister Mikhail Maksimov, First Deputy Economics Minister Vitaly Nedelny, and Deputy Minister Viktor Dolzhenko. The government officials presented the Mid-Urals’ potential to the heads of Siemens, SKF, Lafarge SA, MAN B&W DIESEL, Veolia

The authorized representatives of Russia’s Central Bank have been appointed in twenty-one Russian banks, the Bank of Russia’s PR Department reports. The Central Bank still keeps a close eye on such Urals-based banks as OAO Bank24.ru, OAO Bank Severnaya Kazna, and OAO Khanty-Mansiyskiy Bank. In addition, the bank’s representatives are still operating in Bank VTB, OAO Alfa-Bank, Sberbank of Russia, OAO Bank of Moscow, ZAO Bank Russkiy Standard, OAO Rosselkhozbank, and some others.

The shoe manufacturing company Ecco that is currently working on the introduction of a chain store network in Russia is planning on expanding its retail sales. Ecco Russia Development Department’s Director Dmitry Chuikov says the company will probably set up ten new stores in cities whose population comes to at least one million people and in the neighboring towns next year. This means that in 2011, the new mono-brand shops could open in Novosibirsk, Chelyabinsk, Ufa, and Tyumen, among others. Ecco is going to focus on the stores located within large shopping malls. According to Molly.ru, a