Itar-Tass overnight news cycle for November 18 - 2.

.Siberia has unemployment, shortage of skilled hands.

ULAN-UDE, November 18 (Itar-Tass) - Presidential envoy in the Siberian
Federal District (SFO) Viktor Tolokonsky said the problems of the labor
market in Siberian regions should not be reduced solely to unemployment.
Paradoxically, along with unemployment, large industrial companies
complain about the shortage of skilled labor force.
Tolokonsky was speaking at a visiting session of the government
commission which looked into the situation on the labor market. Russian
Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov chaired the session of the
commission in Ulan-Ude on Wednesday.
Prior to the session, the presidential envoy visited the Ulan-Ude
aircraft making plant, where executives told him that they are unable to
find suitable personnel for the vacant jobs.
"This problem is typical for practically all the regions of the
Siberian Federal District. To resolve it, it is necessary to adjust the
education system. We need to increase the share of vocational training and
higher education in engineering. The truncated "school-college" chain is
insufficient," Tolokonsky underlined.
According to the government commission on the labor market situation,
the allocations to Siberian regions for the program to stabilize the labor
market will reach over five billion roubles this year.
The level of registered unemployment has decreased from 3.1 to 2.1
percent of able-bodied population. The number of vacancies declared by
Siberian employers, has increased by 75,000 since the beginning of this
year, and now exceeds 150,000.
The tension coefficient on the labor market of the Siberian Federal
District has decreased from 4.4 to 1.6.


.Belarus poised to place bonds in Russian, Asian markets.

FRANKFURT-AM-MAIN, November 18 (Itar-Tass) - Belarus is preparing to
place its bonds in Asian financial markets, Belarussian Prime Minister
Sergei Sidorsky stated on at the Belarussian investment forum in
Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, on November 17.
'We're preparing to enter the Asian financial market to place
government bonds. We pin serious hopes on Hong Kong and Singapore
investors. Last week, we presented our country both in Hong Kong and
Singapore, and felt a great interest in our economy and the placing of our
securities in the markets of these states," Sidorsky said.
Belarus has also decided to place 500 million dollars of Belarussian
government bonds in the Russian market, PRIME-TASS reported.
"Entering the Russian financial market will be a debut not just for
our state, but also for Russians, who're opening their market to foreign
bonds," the prime minister said.
"Although Belarus has increased borrowings in the past few years, the
ratio of external public debt is less than 20 percent, versus 60 to 80
percent in many developed countries here in Europe," he added.
Sidorsky reminded that in 2010, Belarus entered the external market
for the first time, by placing government securities worth one billion
dollars.
"The bonds were placed in two stages, with annual yield at 8.7
percent. At present, the bonds are in demand, with the yield at 8
percent," Sidorsky said.


.Court upholds decision to drop car crash case involving Lukoil exec.

MOSCOW, November 18 (Itar-Tass) - The Moscow City Court on Wednesday
upheld the decision to dismiss the case over the road accident in Leninsky
Prospekt (Avenue) in February 2010, which involved the car carrying Lukoil
vice-president Anatoly Barkov.
The court thereby turned down the complaint by relatives of Olga
Alexandrina, one of the two fatalities in the crash.
"The court rules to uphold the resolution by the Tverskoi district
court, which did not meet Sergei Alexandrin's complaint about the
investigator's resolution to drop the probe," a Moscow City Court judge
announced.
At the Moscow City Court hearing, Alexandrina's representatives noted
that they had asked the Constitutional Court to recognize as
unconstitutional the provision under which the investigator made the
decision on the dead person's culpability.
Under this norm of law, the investigator named Olga Alexandrine the
culprit behind the car crash. Lawyer Lyudmila Aivar stated at the
Wednesday hearing that the investigator had not given an evaluation of the
Lukoil driver's actions and taken out a number of witnesses' statements
from evidence.
"The investigation was biased and superficial," Aivar stated.
The road accident occurred in Leninsky Prospekt on February 25, 2010.
A Citroen driven by Moscow region resident Olga Alexandrina collided with
a Mercedes S-500 carrying Lukoil vice president Anatoly Barkov.
Barkov was hospitalized.
The Citroen's driver and her passenger - Prof Vera Sidelnikova - were
killed in the crash. They worked in the Kulakov obstetrics research
centre. They were driving to work, when the road accident occurred.
The investigator said Alexandrina had caused the crash and dropped the
probe due to the death of the injured partly. On October 7, 2010, the
Tverskoi court upheld the decision to drop the criminal case, but
Alexandrina's relatives challenged the decision.
-0-myz


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